MCLEAN, VA - Further strengthening its stake in organics, and breaking into the North Carolina market for the first time, Gladstone Land Corporation announced that it has acquired two contiguous farms totaling 310 organic acres in North Carolina for approximately $2.2 million, according to a press release.

"We are extremely pleased to make our first acquisition in the Carolinas, one of the premier growing regions in the eastern U.S. for fruits and vegetables," said Bill Frisbie, the Company's Managing Director for the Eastern U.S. "We hope to partner with many of the other great farmers in the Carolinas to acquire more farms growing blueberries, sweet potatoes, and many other crop types."

Upon acquisition, Gladstone Land entered into a 10-year lease agreement with Southern Belle Organics LLC, a leading organic farming operation for berries and vegetables and the current tenant on each of the farms.

"Southern Belle is excited to partner with Gladstone as we grow our organic berry and vegetable business," said Bricklyn Rooks, Owner of Southern Belle. "The capital infusion from this sale-leaseback will be invested in the latest harvesting and packing technologies that will enable greater efficiency and higher food safety standards for our operation."

The lease agreement includes an annually-escalating base rent plus a revenue-sharing component based on the crops harvested on the farms.

"We are continuing our strong growth by entering into a new state with our third acquisition of 2017," said David Gladstone, President and CEO of Gladstone Land. "This acquisition increases our organic acreage and further expands the diversification within our portfolio, as we now own farms in eight states across the U.S. We are putting to work the equity we raised a couple of months ago, and with the strong returns expected from these new farms, we believe this acquisition will help us achieve our goal of being able to regularly increase the distributions we pay to our shareholders, as we have over the past few years."

As we previously reported, Gladstone is prioritizing annually-planted fresh produce crops, many of which are organic or in the process of converting.

As the company continues to sweep through the fresh produce landscape, AndNowUKnow will continue to report.

Gladstone Land Corporation