Private Equity sees 'Buckets of Money' in Water Buys

Reuters

 

Water scarcity will generate big returns for the irrigation sector once climate change and population growth take their toll on farming, private equity managers said on Tuesday.

Asked at an agriculture investing conference whether it is possible to make money from water, typically a public good rather than a bankable commodity, Judson Hill of NGP Global Adaptation Partners was unequivocal.

"Buckets, buckets of money," he told the meeting of bankers and investors in Geneva, a leading European hub for commodity trading. "There are many ways to make a very attractive return in the water sector if you know where to go."

Smart irrigation technology will be at a premium in arid regions and places where higher crop yields are needed to meet rising food demand, Hill said, also citing opportunities from water rights in Australia and parts of the United States.

"Irrigation is a big industry and it is growing. I think it's going to grow dramatically," he said, estimating the sector at $3.5 billion today. "In parts of the U.S. we still grow rice in the desert, as crazy as that is. I think that will change."

Gary Taylor, a partner with AgriCura, a fund focused on U.S. corn, soybean, cotton, rice and wheat farming, said water was fundamental to smart agricultural land investments.

"We have done extensive work to understand the aquifer system along the Mississippi river and do believe over the term of our fund that water will become increasingly important," Taylor, a former executive at Cargill, said.

For agricultural equipment manufacturers such as  John Deere, there are also opportunities in tailoring irrigation systems to drought-resistant seeds developed by companies such as Monsanto, Dupont and Syngenta.

"There are very efficient ways to approach irrigation," said Cory Reed, John Deere's director of strategic marketing, describing a need to water certain commodity crops with careful volumes on a fixed schedule.

Hill also named links with communities as critical to gaining traction in the "very, very local" water sector, where investments can involve negotiations with governments amid growing awareness about scarcity risks.

"The water business is very much like the energy business was 20 or 25 years ago," he said. "As the price of water increases we are all going to become better stewards, not because we all become environmentalists but because it will affect our pocketbooks."

School brings Farming to Big Apple

Kansas City Star

 

No one expects to find beets and carrots in a sliver of the South Bronx wedged between Metro-North Railroad tracks and a busy elevated highway.

But there they are, along with late-season eggplant, tomatoes, basil and habanero peppers, all growing in a pocket-sized farm called La Finca del Sur, Spanish for Farm of the South.

The formerly weed-choked vacant lot will be a classroom for a new venture called Farm School NYC: The New York City School of Urban Agriculture.

Starting in January, the school will offer a two-year course aimed at developing "the next generation of leaders who will work to use urban agriculture to transform their communities into healthy food communities," said executive director Jacquie Berger.

The school is not yet accredited, but Berger said a number of colleges have expressed interest in partnering with Farm School to offer accreditation in the future.

Once it is up and running, Farm School will join an urban agriculture movement that includes former professional basketball player Will Allen's Growing Power, which operates farms in Milwaukee and Chicago with the goal of creating "a just world, one food-secure community at a time."

The movement has a bimonthly magazine, Lexington, Ky.-based Urban Farm. Magazine editor Lisa Munniksma said Farm School would serve a useful purpose because "a lot of people who are interested in growing food for themselves or for others in cities or in suburbs don't have a lot of agricultural skills."

One of Farm School's instructors will be Karen Washington, a longtime urban farmer and a founder of La Finca del Sur, which sells its produce at a farmer's market.

Washington said she hopes Farm School will serve as a prototype for other urban centers by providing "the incentive to say, you know what? We can do the same thing."

On a crisp fall afternoon, Washington stopped by La Finca on her way to pick up chickens for a community garden in another Bronx neighborhood. It is legal to keep hens in New York City but not roosters - too noisy. Beekeeping was legalized this year.

She grabbed a handful of soil and said, "This is life here. This is what we call black gold because it's compost. Smell it."

Washington said she hopes to train students for jobs like working in the school system to oversee school gardens or canning and selling local produce.

A lifelong New Yorker who has grown food for 20 years, Washington also works as a physical therapist.

Her routine of rising early to farm before heading off to her day job is not so different from the lives of many small farmers in rural America, even if they till 300 acres instead of three.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the average family farm household in 2010 will receive just 11 percent of its income from farm sources. The rest is largely from off-farm jobs. Sixty percent of the nation's family farms are small farms with gross annual sales of less than $10,000.

For Farm School students who hope to scratch out a living in agriculture, the second year of the program will include training in setting up a business plan, Berger said.

But for many the overriding goal is to grow nutritious food in neighborhoods where a dearth of fresh produce contributes to health problems like obesity and diabetes.

"When you grow food in the city it's such a visible act," Berger said. "It has such a visceral impact on the neighborhood around it."

Farm School will start with 10 students who will commit to one evening and one weekend day each week. Another group of more casual students will take one class at a time. Tuition is on a sliding scale starting at $1 per course hour.

Farm School is a program of a nonprofit organization called Just Food, which also promotes other agricultural initiatives in New York.

Berger said the school will have classroom space at Just Food's Manhattan offices but most classes will be hands-on and outdoors.

One of the first students will be Tanya Fields, a Bronx activist who said she believes in urban agriculture "as a community development tool."

Fields didn't start out as a farmer. "I don't really have a green thumb," she said. "I don't know how my acrylic tips are going to feel about this."

Deere Lawnmowers Recalled

UPI

 

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a voluntary recall of John Deere mowers with foot lift option due to an injury hazard.

About 6,450 John Deere EZtrak Zero Turn lawnmowers were manufactured by Deere & Co. of Moline, Ill., and sold nationwide -- except in California -- from February 2009 through September 2010 for about $5,300.

The BM22809 Premium Foot Lift Kit, sold separately from mowers for about $80, is also being recalled, the commission said.

A bolt on the steering lever can catch on the tab of the foot lift stop and lock in place, the commission said. This can stick the steering lever in a forward position, which poses a risk of injury to users.

The recall involves numerous models of Z445 riding mowers with 54-inch-high decks and 7445 or 7465 Zero-Turn Mowers with Premium Foot Lift features.

Consumers were advised to stop using the mowers and contact a John Deere dealer to have the lift stop bracket removed.

Consumers can call 800-537-8233 for information.