Cows in Volendam (Photo: Amir Deljouyi on Unsplash)Impact Investor | 7 January 2025
BPL Pensioen invests further €90m in Dutch farmland fund
The fund, managed by ASR Real Estate, invests in the Dutch agricultural sector and has attracted more than €550m of commitments since it was opened to outside investors in 2022.
BPL Pensioen, a Dutch pension fund for agricultural and horticultural workers, has made a fresh investment of €90m in ASR Real Estate’s Dutch Farmland Fund, adding to its previous investment of €210m.
The pension fund initially invested in the vehicle in 2022, when Dutch insurer ASR first opened up its €1.8bn farmland fund to third party investors. Other investors in the fund include Dutch funeral services insurance cooperative DELA and Pensioenfonds ING, in addition to ASR. Over €550m has been invested in the fund since 2022, which ASR said it intends to grow further.
ASR manages non-listed sector funds for investors in retail and residential properties, offices, real estate on science parks, agricultural land and renewable energy in the Netherlands.
Mark Rosenberg, chairman of BPL Pensioen’s investment committee, said BPL’s investments in agricultural land helped to diversify its portfolio and deliver an attractive real return for its participants.
Diversification
The farmland fund invests in Dutch agricultural land, having built up a portfolio of almost 39,000 hectares in the Netherlands worth some €2.1bn over many decades. ASR said the fund, which leases out land to farmers with very long lease periods, offers stable returns and low volatility, as well as providing a way for investors to diversify their holdings. The fund targets an internal rate of return of more than 4%.
Dick van den Oever, the Dutch Farmland Fund’s director, said the fund sought to pass on agricultural land in better condition to future generations and help farmers to make their business more sustainable.
“With the confidence BPL Pensioen has placed in us, we are pleased that we can continue to pursue our climate-smart farming strategy, helping farmers to make their business more sustainable. The new commitment will enable us to help dairy farmers, among others, to extensify their operations and help arable farmers to achieve a more sustainable extensive cultivation plan,” he said.
ASR has been working with agricultural businesses to support improvements in soil health and promote biodiversity, under its “climate-smart” farming framework. This aims to promote sustainable production by making the agricultural sector climate-proof and reducing carbon dioxide emissions from agriculture where possible.
Measures include offering farmers using agricultural land owned by ASR investment funding to improve the sustainability of their farms, as well as the development of products to encourage young people into farming. The company has also worked with Rabobank and Vitens to create an index to measure soil health and has promoted efforts to trial crops and cultivation measures that could make farming more resilient to the impacts of climate change.
In 2021, ASR said it would reward farmers using agricultural land owned by the firm with a 5-10% discount on their rent if they committed to managing that land sustainably, taking into account factors such as soil health and biodiversity.