Wall street investors turn to farmland

Wall Street investors are increasingly turning to farmland.

As the globe's population continues to grow, the amount of new farmland available is on the decline, which is expected to drive up the value of the land in the long-term.

"You can build new office buildings. You can build new apartment buildings, but it’s hard to create new farmland out of nothing," David Rodgers, senior real estate research analyst with Robert W. Baird & Co, tells The Des Moines Register. "It’s always been attractive, but I think it has come into focus a little bit... because of how important agriculture is to not only the food base but other components of the global economy."

Institutional ownership is only responsible for 1 per cent of farmland, according to estimates from the University of Illinois, although this is expected to climb.