Bonnefield Review 2023: Best Canadian Farmland Investment?

Agriculture is an enormous enterprise in Canada, representing a stable part of the country’s economy. Canada exports agricultural products around the world. These exports were worth more than $60 billion in 2019.

Among Canada’s top agricultural products are canola, vegetables, grains and poultry. Canadian companies also export crops, meat, maple syrup and hundreds of other food-related products.

For investors, farmland represents a smart addition to a diversified portfolio. Farmland is a solid option for earning income, whether that’s from appreciation in the value of the land, or from shares of profits from the annual crop harvesting.

In this article, we highlight Bonnefield, an investment platform dedicated to farmland in Canada. Keep reading for our complete Bonnefield review.

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Bonnefield Review: Summary

• Farmland investing platform focused on buying and leasing out farmland
• Limited to Accredited investors only
• Dedicated to sustainable farming practices
• Bonnefield has $1 Billion in AUM
• 100% Canadian Operated

Click here to view current offerings on Bonnefield!

What Is Bonnefield?

Bonnefield provides an alternative source of capital to farm families in order to give them money to make their farming business flourish. In return, investors will receive non-correlated, low-volatility, equity-like returns.

Bonnefield is Canada’s leading provider of land-lease financing for farmers, dedicated to preserving farmland for farming across Canada. They partner with forward-thinking farm operators who embrace technology and recognize farming as a business as well as a lifestyle, and who are interested in long-term working relationships.

Through its lease financing program, Bonnefield has been successful in helping the 100+ farm families they work with. Since 2009, Bonnefield has been creating long-term financial partnerships with Canadian farmers with a shared goal of preserving Canada’s farmland specifically for Canadian farmers.

How Does Bonnefield Work?

Using a unique sale-leaseback program, Bonnefield buys land from the farm owner-operators and leases it back on a long-term basis to the existing farmer.

This helps farmers on many levels, including:

• Strengthening their balance sheets 
• Improving monthly cash flow 
• Helping set up plans for retirement
• Setting up a long-term plan for farm succession to keep the land in the family
• Securing currently leased land 

Bonnefield currently has $1 billion in assets under management. Funds are open to accredited institutional and private investors.

The company invests in and holds farmland for long-term capital appreciation and income. It offers qualified investors the opportunity to hold Canadian farmland through pooled limited partnerships.

Over the past twelve years, Bonnefield has experienced growing interest among the investment community in agriculture and farmland as an asset class. Not only are large, sophisticated, institutional investors across the globe evaluating – or already invested in –  farmland and agricultural investments, there are also increasing numbers of non-institutional investors.

An institutional investor is a group that pools money to buy securities, real property, and other investment assets. Institutional investors include banks, insurance companies, pensions, hedge funds, REITs, investment advisors, endowments, and mutual funds.

How To Get Started With Bonnefield

If you are interested in Bonnefield's platform and want to start investing in farmland, then you can visit Bonnefield's contact page. By filling out their simple form, you will be able to get in contact with their investor team. You can also call 1.877.695.3854 to ask their investor team questions about their investment funds.

Click here to view current offerings on Bonnefield!

Bonnefield does not specify minimum investments, holding periods, or expected returns on their website. For additional information, you will need to reach out to their team.

Partnering For Progress

As a part of its commitment to preserving farmland, Bonnefield has partnered with a number of organizations that support the farming community, including:

• Food and Water First, a citizen coalition dedicated to protecting Ontario’s Class 1 farmland and source water region.
• Canadian Young Farmers Federation connects leading young agriculture producers across Canada, to provide support, encouragement and resources to promote agriculture.
• Canadian Association of Farm Advisors, a non-profit professional organization dedicated to assisting farm businesses by increasing the skills and knowledge of farm advisors.

Bonnefield Accepts Accredited Investors Only

Unfortunately, the doors are closed to smaller investors looking to join the Bonnefield league.

You must be an accredited investor to buy into Bonnefield projects.

To be an accredited investor, a person must have:

• An annual income exceeding $200,000 ($300,000 for joint income) for the last two years with the expectation of earning the same or a higher income in the current year.
• A person is also considered an accredited investor if they have a net worth exceeding $1 million, either individually or jointly with their spouse.

Why You Should Consider Investing In Farmland

Simply put, farmland is historically a highly profitable investment.

Since the early 1990s, farmland has shown a positive return to investors every year. The average annual return is an incredible 11.5%.

Historically, farmland has outperformed every other asset class, including real estate.

But there are other benefits along with this well-above average return. Farmland Return On Investment (ROI)  has been found to have low volatility when compared to other assets such as U.S. Treasury Bonds.

Also, farmland returns usually remain stable even with the ups and downs of the stock market. Farmland has been proven to grow in profitability even in years where the market has seen downward trends.

There will always be demand for food sources, and this will multiply as the world population continues to grow exponentially. On a global level, crops such as soybeans, rice, corn and wheat will be in high demand in decades to come.

Bonnefield Pros

• Bonnefield sets up long-term financial partnerships with Canadian farmers to help them grow, reduce debt, and finance retirement and plan for succession. These are valuable ways to help farmers stay on their feet.
• 100% Canadian operated and are committed to maintaining Canadian farmland for farming
• Partners with coalitions dedicated to sustaining the future of farmland.
• Case studies included on the website illustrate the personal side of Bonnefield’s impact on farmer’s lives.

Bonnefield Cons

• You must be an accredited investor to invest. This shuts out small to medium size investors, while large-scale investors can see hefty ROIs.
• Website reads like an advertising brochure without any core information such as the average amount of money invested, dividends or length of contracts.
• In order to read the company’s updated news section, you must create a Globe Advisor mail account, which potentially sets you up for targeted advertising in your daily feeds.

Bonnefield Review: Final Thoughts

Historically, farmland has  proven itself to be a smart investment, faring far better than any other real estate asset. It simply does not lose value.

Bonnefield’s ultimate goals are to boost smart farmland management practices, help improve operator efficiencies and protect the integrity of Canadian farmland. They have been putting their plan into practice since 2009, establishing themselves as an industry leader.

The only major drawback is that you have to be already wealthy to invest. If you’re an average-sized investor, you are out of luck!

Click here to view current offerings on Bonnefield!