It is surprising to some people but individual investors have some advantages over institutional investors.  However one area where individuals are at a disadvantage is in access to alternative asset classes.  For instance institutions have access to private vehicles to invest in things like timberland.  Another area where institutions are moving into is farmland, which has been increasing in value of late.  ETF providers are launching all manner of agriculture-focused funds, but none of them will truly capture the returns of farmland itself.  In today’s screencast we take a look the boom global farmland prices.

Items mentioned in the above screencast:

An interesting comparison of farmland prices around the world.  (Big Picture Agriculture)

On the internationalization of farmland.  (Big Picture Agriculture)

The boom in US farmland prices.  (Curious Capitalist)

The launch of the Global X Farming ETF (BARN).  (IndexUniverse)

Daily price chart of the Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF (MOO).  (Finviz)