Farmland Partners Inc. says it has closed on a previously announced purchase of 22,100 acres of farmland near Paris in east-central Illinois in a deal valued at $197 million. “This transformative transaction makes FPI one of the largest owners of farmland in the Midwestern United States,” said FPI chief executive Paul Pittman in a statement.
Based in Denver, FPI said its portfolio is comprised of 257 farms totaling 107,888 acres in Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia. The purchase in Illinois covered 118 farms. The company said it has leased the Illinois land to 18 tenants. Fourteen of them worked with the former owners.