Jay Girotto is the President of Farmland Opportunity, a $400 million investment manager that provides direct ownership of high quality, consistently productive row crop farmland in the U.S. Like many managers in traditional asset classes, Farmland Opportunity searches for inefficient transactions, value-added improvements, and an aligned structure to maximize the benefits of farmland for the long-term.

Our conversation covers Jay’s path from software engineer to farmland investor and discusses the attractive features of the asset class, including macro characteristics of uncorrelated returns and inflation hedging, and micro features of supply-demand imbalances, labor-intensive sourcing, unprofessional operations, and land value appreciation. We then turn to Farmland Opportunity’s strategy in the area incorporating a specific regional focus, operational partners, aligned incentives, risk assessment, and exit strategies.