ENVision highlights University of Waterloo alum, Kent Willmore's (BES '94) efforts in safeguarding the integrity of Canadian farmland for future generations.
We have the pleasure of working with Kent and his business that provides seed money for a new generation of farmers to enter the industry.
Kent Willmore's Background
- Born and raised on a farm outside Chatham, Ontario, Willmore has first-hand experience knowing the rewards, toils and tribulations of working the land and wanted to help others who wanted that life.
- At the age of 14 he started a seed corn company which helped him pay for university.
- Then in his late 20's he started buying farmland independently and began to watch his equity grow.
- What stemmed from a banker refusing Willmore to obtain a loan, started his launch in opening his own company so that other young people are able to do the same.
Farmland Investment Opportunity
- AGInvest Farmland Properties Canada is an innovative investment company.
- “It’s a great opportunity for the investors because farmland is a safe haven to put your money,” Willmore says. “It performs extremely well during periods of inflation. It has a long-term track record of steady appreciation.”
- Older farmers often struggle over what to do with their land when future generations do not want to continue operations while younger people who dream of farming can hit a roadblock when faced with the cost of land and equipment.
- Willmore is meeting the needs of both groups, allowing one generation to exit agriculture and another to enter it, all in a financially viable way.
- All Canadian investors have put in a minimum of $150,000 to tens of millions.
- Although the company currently manages $120 million in farmland on behalf of investors, Willmore said that represents a tiny portion of Canadian farmland, which is worth close to $700 billion nationally.
- “One of our goals is to connect people in cities to the land by way of a strategic investment opportunity” because "the health of Canada’s future cities will depend on its future countryside."
Read ENVision's Original Article
Faculty of Environment. (2023, December 1). Future cities depend on the future countryside. University of Waterloo. https://uwaterloo.ca/news/envi...
