The Land Report

Spring 2017

The Magazine of the American Landowner is an essential guide for investors, landowners, and those interested in buying or selling land. The award-winning quarterly is known for its annual survey of America's largest landowners, The Land Report 100.

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88 The LandReport | S P R I N G 2 0 1 7 LANDREPORT.COM Agriculture Deal of the Year Wilder Farms Acquisition by Farmland Partners I t's not often that more than a dozen square miles of Illinois farmland come to market at one time, but that's exactly what happened last December. The 46 tracts were spread out over two counties, just east of the Iowa state line. Some tracts bordered the Mississippi River; others, the Illinois River. R.D. Schrader and his team at Schrader Auctions spent months preparing: mapping the tracts, getting aerial footage, digging down into the legal specs, and making sure as many qualified buyers as possible were on hand. "When you're selling this much land, you naturally want to get the larger institutional investors and funds involved," said Schrader. "As it turned out, we had one buyer [Farmland Partners] for all the land. But it's important to reach the local operators as well and give them every opportunity." Schrader's efforts paid off handsomely. On December 12, 64 registered bidders showed up at Western Illinois University in Macomb. Although many bidders eyed individual tracts, the auction quickly became a two-horse race. Denver-based Farmland Partners emerged victorious, paying $55.3 million, or $6,400 per acre. At press time, the publicly traded company (FPI) owned 152,000 acres of high-quality farmland throughout North America "These two farms ... represent a truly unique investment oppor- tunity in the Midwest," said Farmland Partners Executive Chairman and CEO Paul Pittman. "We expect significant long-term appreciation on these properties due to their size and the incredibly efficient operating environment we expect to pro- vide to our tenants." — Eric O'Keefe Wilder Farms Fulton & Mercer Counties, Illinois Seller: Wilder Corporation of Delaware Auctioneer: R.D. Schrader Schrader Real Estate and Auction Company Buyer: Farmland Partners Inc. Paul Pittman, Executive Chairman & CEO DEAL OF THE YEAR 2016 A G R I C U L T U R E SHUTTERSTOCK

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