IMPACTASSETS 50™
An Annual Showcase of Impact Investment Fund Managers
ImpactAssets 50
An Annual Showcase of Impact Investment Fund Managers
Dirt Capital Partners
Climate Change
Entrepreneurship and Job Creation
Food Systems and AgricultureFirm Overview
Dirt Capital Partners is an impact-first farmland investment company with over ten years' experience successfully investing in farmland in partnership with regenerative farmers and ranchers throughout the United States. We serve as an experienced technical and financial partner for farmers who have successful, existing operations, established markets and the opportunity to grow and expand their business through long-term, secure land access. Our approach offers creativity and flexibility so that the structure of an investment aligns with each farmer's goals and the characteristics of the characteristics of the farm property being acquired. Impact is evaluated and measured across four core themes: (1) ecological stewardship; (2) farmer equity; (3) community benefits; and (4) field-building. Our track record as of 10/21/24 includes: 42 farmland investments representing 22,310 acres of land; 12 agricultural conservation easements sold or approved for funding; 11 project exits; and zero project write-downs.
Years of Operation: 10 years or more
% of Capital from Top 3 Investors: Less than 25%
Dirt Capital Partners invests in farmland in partnership with experienced regenerative farmers throughout the United States, prioritizing impact over financial return in support of land regeneration, wealth-building for farmers, and vibrant rural communities.
Dirt Capital invests in farmland in partnership with experienced regenerative farmers in the United States, facilitating land access, long-term land security and the opportunity for farmer ownership. By filling gaps in conventional agricultural finance among small and mid-sized farms, we enable farms with best-in-class land management practices to grow their businesses and acres of land under management, thus positively impacting farmer livelihoods, improving ecological outcomes on significant acreage, and benefitting rural communities. Our team and network of advisors provide technical assistance during the transaction (business planning, real estate negotiation and transaction management) as well as ongoing support to mitigate our investment risk and position farmers for long-term success. We are highly collaborative and most investments involve partnering with one or more aligned organizations to support the project's impact outcomes.
Key differentiators include: focus on wealth-building and land ownership for farmer partners; creativity and flexibility in customizing each project; a multi-themed impact framework; deep experience in conservation easement transactions; 10+ years' track record; highly collaborative with other aligned orgs; and a focus on real estate asset management that actively seeks out additional sources of value (i.e. conservation payments, limited subdivisions, renewable energy leasing) to support farmer affordability. To further elaborate on two of these: we adjust our projects to fit the needs of the farmer and transact using various structures to develop the best opportunity for an ownership transfer within 10 years to our farmer partners; and we work closely on projects with various partner organizations including land trusts, agricultural lenders, university extension services, farm business consultants, and other impact investors to collaboratively support farmers and share our knowledge with others in the field.
Investment Example
Rancho Corralitos Agricultura is an investment partnership between Dirt Capital and two non-profit entities motivated to expand equitable land access for Latino farmers in the Central Coast of California. In 2021, our organizations collaborated on the purchase of a 177-acre parcel of organic farmland in Watsonville with a plan to transfer ownership to a group of Latino immigrant farmers at a reduced cost. Our organization facilitated the transaction, helped raise grant and low-cost loan funds for the non-profit partners’ equity participation in the project, secured a conservation easement to protect the acquired land as working lands in perpetuity, and is working in partnership with the project organizations to establish lease agreements with a network of organic Latino-owned farm businesses that will ultimately allow these farmers to collectively purchase the property at below-market price.
Leadership and Team
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Dominick Grant – Partner and Managing Director More Info
Dominick joined Dirt Capital Partners in 2021 and oversees investment and portfolio management activities. He has worked extensively in land-based investing, including for seven years at BioCarbon Group, a global private-equity impact investment firm backed by institutional investors. Previously he worked at Working Lands Investment Partners, a private-equity real asset investment firm specializing in complex projects with value derived from agriculture, timber, and ecosystem services; the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Environmental Markets; and was a lecturer in Forest and Ecosystem Finance at the Yale School of the Environment. |
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Amanda Zakharov – Director of Investment More Info
Amanda joined Dirt Capital Partners in 2022 and is responsible for sourcing, evaluating, and closing new investments. She has a background in commercial real estate acquisitions and a passion for impact investing in sustainable agriculture. In roles at Strategic Office Partners (a platform of TPG Real Estate), Angelo Gordon, and W. P. Carey, Amanda acquired ~$2B in predominately single tenant real estate, including office, industrial, and retail properties. Additionally, she worked on social impact investments in the food and agricultural sphere as an angel investor, consultant, and entrepreneur, with groups such as Slow Money NYC, Blue Marble Ice Cream, and Local Farms Fund. |
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Martín Lemos – Director of Impact & Agriculture More Info
Martín joined Dirt Capital Partners in 2023 and leads the firm's impact strategy and farm advisory services. His deep background in agriculture stems from a decade farming across the U.S., including managing a 50-acre organic farm outside of Chicago. He also coordinated field research programs in support of SME investment in Ghana as senior agronomist at AgDevCo. He later joined BSR where he advised major food and agriculture companies on sustainability strategy, ESG integration, and responsible sourcing. |
Financial Performance
Impact Performance
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Percentage of Total Assets Under
Management that are Impact Investments: |
100%
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Impact assessment is integrated with our due diligence process; we assess opportunities according to our impact framework with four themes encompassing Ecological Stewardship, Farmer Equity, Community Benefits, and Field-building. This assessment is used in determining the cost of capital we offer potential farmer investees as well as our overall decision to proceed with a project. We expect potential investments to demonstrate a significant impact on at least one of our impact themes and meet minimum thresholds on the entirety of our impact framework. Racial equity is one of 20+ outcomes on which we assess our opportunities and is also woven into various other outcomes - including BIPOC land-ownership, farm production towards BIPOC and under-served communities, and farmer engagement to support their community of BIPOC farmers.
As noted above, our due diligence process integrates an assessment of potential investees according to our impact framework and we base investment decisions on the results of this impact assessment. We consider farm management practices (our impact theme Ecological Stewardship), farm-owner demographics and increase in farm labor wages and housing (our impact theme Farmer Equity), and commitment to supporting their local food economy and addressing racial disparities (our impact theme Community Benefits).
Impact Tracking and Monitoring
Learn More
32 Main Street, 203a, Chatham, NY 12037 USA
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