Greener pastures: The profits of regenerative farming at scale

TOGETHER WITH

A legacy that lands: Buying farmland in select temperate growing regions in the US that are typically growing low-value conventional crops? Farmland will take it from here. They convert this same land to organic, high-value permanent crops that produce for 25 to 40 years. Learn more.

As a fourth-generation farmer and rancher, Frank Savage spent most of his life farming like 99% of farmers in America still do to this day: generating maximum yield using chemical fertilizers, weed killers, and pesticides. It was just the way things were done. Think of a landlord with a full building: you don’t start a gut renovation while the rent is coming in.

That’s why the organic and regenerative strategy Farmland LP was employing looked like a long shot to Frank.

What changed his mind was the soil.

You’ve heard of conversion—now, we’re talking about soil conversion and how it’s becoming a game changer for farms across the country. The upside is more than just crops. It’s land that’s coming back to life, and if there’s one thing all real estate pros know, it’s the lasting value of a good piece of land.

Farmland LP, founded in 2009, manages 19,200 acres of organic and regenerative farmland in California, Oregon, and Washington, growing 44 crops and varieties. They’ve joined The Playbook to walk us through Frank’s story and the profit case sprouting across the nation on our most important asset: farmland.

The farm: The proof is in the soil

Burns Farm is 4,200 acres in the Sacramento Delta with 150 years of farming history, quality soils, and senior water rights from the 1870s. At the time of purchase in 2013, this translated to three low-value crops, two tenants, a heavy chemical program, and $347 an acre in gross margin.¹

Keeping up a farm like Burns Farm takes good old-fashioned elbow grease. It’s a lot of work, and that work can be temperamental in ways farmers can’t always control.

Enter Farmland LP and its Founder and Managing Partner, Craig Wichner. Wichner set the strategy to improve the soil quality through organic conversion, avoiding toxic chemicals and increasing returns by planting permanent and higher-value organic crops. He hired experienced farmer Frank Savage to run it. Frank was…skeptical of the idea, to say the least.

That is, until the soil flourished. Frank couldn’t believe his eyes (and nose and hands), and in another ironic twist of fate, he quickly became the plan’s strongest advocate.

But that’s exactly what Farmland LP does. They buy farmland in select temperate growing regions in the US that are typically growing low-value conventional crops. They convert the land to organic and high-value permanent crops that produce for 25 to 40 years.

Here’s the strategy that changed Frank’s mind: Take the toxic chemicals out, rotate the crops, plant cover crops between the rows, put the water where the plant needs it with drip irrigation and French drains, and watch the ground come back to life.

And knowing the deep, irreplaceable value of land, watching it come alive once more was nothing short of a game changer.

The strategy: Organic is king

Here’s a quick key for our readers courtesy of Farmland LP:

Organic is a legal standard about what a farm does not use. This includes synthetic fertilizer, weed killer, or pesticide, with three years of compliance before certification and an annual inspection (USDA National Organic Program).

Regenerative is a way of farming that rebuilds the soil: cover crops between the rows, crops rotated through the seasons, animals grazing and fertilizing the ground, and as little bare or tilled soil as possible.

These are the two key concepts that Farmland LP employs. Organic is a rule about what you stop using, and regenerative is what you do to rebuild the soil itself. Regenerative is the renovation.

According to Farmland LP, nobody had done this at this scale before. In real estate terms, the three-year organic transition is the development period, the irrigation and infrastructure investments are the systems upgrade, the grazed pasture rebuilding the soil is the foundation, and the almonds, olives, and 622 acres of blueberries planted over seven years are the (delicious) build-out.²

“A building earns rent for as long as it stands. A blueberry bush earns for 30 years. An almond tree for 25 years. That is the kind of asset we are building,” said Wichner.

So, why does this strategy exist? What inspired it in the first place? Farmland LP notes that the US has lost 4 acres of farmland every minute since 2000.³ Organic food is 6% of what Americans spend on food, yet it is grown on less than 1% of US farmland, and demand for it is growing twice as fast as demand for other groceries.^4,5 The average farmer is approaching 60 years old and is unlikely to start a three-year conversion.⁶

40% of farmland in the US is leased providing less incentive to convert while clipping lease coupons. Experts predict that a large number of high-quality conventional farms will be for sale in the next 10 years.

The future of farms: Frank’s legacy

Since 2000, the S&P 500 has had 31 negative quarters. US farmland was positive in 28 of them. In the other three, it lost less than 0.3%. The NCREIF Farmland Index has had one negative year since 1991.⁷

Farmland LP shares that, at the end of the day, crops get planted and picked regardless of the market. In fact, farmland returns 6% above inflation, which is on the rise due to geopolitical unrest.

Going back to our friend Frank, it was clear that Burns Farm needed new life. Farmland LP gave it just that, and Frank was elated by the innovation. So much so, that he took it upon himself to continue shepherding it. Since acquiring Burns Farm, the farm has tripled in value to ~$90 million. The gross margin per acre increased from $347/acre to over $1,300/acre last year, and it’s still growing.

After 14 years of pioneering regenerative and organic farm conversion, Frank passed away suddenly on his beloved Burns Farm in June 2025. Farmland LP renamed the farm Frank’s Farm in his honor in May 2026 and, with the University of California, Davis, set up a graduate fellowship in his name. Frank’s legacy can help inspire the next generation of sustainable farmers in ways that continue driving regenerative farming forward.

Farmland LP shared that the hedgerow Frank started gets its final planting this fall. The trees will still be producing when today’s reader is thinking about retirement.

Learn more about Farmland LP’s lay of the land and their environmentally friendly (and profit-friendly) story.

Sources:

^{1 Farmland LP records; 2026 General Presentation, slide 20.}

^{Farmland LP 2026 General Presentation, slide 20. Gross margin is what is left after the direct costs of growing the crop, before overhead, land and financing.}

^{2 Farmland LP 2026 Master Crop Plan; Farmland LP 2025 Annual Report; California total (25.3 million pounds, 2025) from the California Blueberry Commission.}

^{3 USDA NASS, Farms and Land in Farms, 2000 Summary (Feb. 2001) and 2025 Summary (Feb. 2026).}

^{4 Organic Trade Association, 2026 Organic Market Report, March 4, 2026.}

^{5 USDA NASS Certified Organic Survey, 2021 (released Dec. 2022); USDA NASS 2022 Census of Agriculture.}

^{6 USDA NASS, 2022 Census of Agriculture, Farm Producers highlights (ACH22-2, Feb. 2024).}

^{7 Farmland LP tally from S&P 500 quarterly total returns and NCREIF Farmland Index quarterly total returns, with end quarter stated. NCREIF Farmland Property Index year-end results}