Agriculture property management
Working collaboratively with industry peers and nonprofit organizations, we developed an industrywide sustainability standard for agriculture, Leading Harvest. To date, 100% of our U.S. and Australia farmland is certified to the Leading Harvest Farmland Management Standard.1
We strive to practice a land stewardship ethic that integrates the growing, managing, and harvesting of crops with environmental conservation. Our practices protect soil, air, water quality, biological diversity, wildlife habitat, aquatic habitat, recreation, and aesthetics. Sustainable farming practices allow us to actively manage and protect our clients’ farmland in a way that maintains and enhances economic, community, and natural resource values.
1 Certification as of December 31, 2023, by Leading Harvest and is based on an annual assessment of the conformation to the Farmland Management Standard. Most current data shown. Please see https://www.leadingharvest.org.
Property management objectives
Manulife Agriculture Services oversees the majority of our operated farmlands. The integrated structure allows us to optimize our human and capital resources across the full spectrum of our organization—improving our ability to deploy best management practices, monitor property performance, and source and close deals. In addition, the increased alignment enhances our risk management and stewardship programs, and deepens our connections across the globe.
High-quality farmland management
We manage over 390,000 acres of prime farmland across the United States, Australia, Canada, and Chile. For more than 30 years, close alignment across our integrated organization has refined our ability to deploy best management practices, monitor property performance, and enhance our stewardship programs. Carefully chosen external property management companies provide specialty oversight where operational efficiencies can be gained.
A dedication to stewardship
We manage our clients’ farmland investments on a long-term sustainable basis using credible metrics to track, improve, and report our performance, while actively engaging with the agriculture sector to promote and encourage sustainability outcomes.
Create additional value
The operations strength of our vertically integrated farmland management model is unparalleled in the industry today. This enables ecosystem value-added services with a deliberate and systematic focus on improving soil health and biodiversity, as well as increase carbon sequestration.
Use best-in-class technology advances
Advances in agricultural technology allow us to increase yields on our farms, while reducing land area, while our farmland-plus capabilities combine production, processing and marketing to create further efficiencies.
Important disclosures
All data points are as of March 31, 2023, unless otherwise noted.
Click here to read our recent annual sustainability and responsible investing report that includes our performance against metrics aligned with each of our five key sustainability and responsible investing priorities as well as other external standards, such as the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and third-party certification system objectives.
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Agriculture
Customized, vertically integrated, sustainable agricultural investment solutions across a variety of commodity types and geographies