FoA 380: Equity Capital for Farmland with Ben Gordon and Kyle Mehmen

Soy Checkoff: https://www.unitedsoybean.org/

Fractal Agriculture: https://fractal.ag/

Ben Gordon is the founder and CEO of Fractal Agriculture, a passive farmland investment partner that invests alongside farmers rather than competing against them for land. After serving as an Infantry Officer in the U.S. Army, Ben worked in ag tech, management consulting, and private equity due diligence before his most recent role leading Corteva Agriscience’s carbon program. 

Kyle Mehmen is a partner at MBS Family Farms, a successful family-owned, family-operated corn and soybean operation in Plainfield, Iowa. Kyle and his family are ardent stewards of their land, leaning into sustainability balanced with profitability.

I’ve had the opportunity to interact with both Ben and Kyle in different capacities throughout the years. I worked with Ben’s team at Corteva to host some webinars last year on soil health, and Kyle was featured on this show as part of our Farm Data series with INTENT back on episode 226. So it was fun to reconnect with both of them. 

This is a fascinating concept though, so whether you’re a farmer, investor, or someone just generally curious about the future of agriculture, I think you’re really going to find this one interesting. We’ll kick things off by getting right the point about what Fractal is doing, having Ben explain the thought process behind the business, then having Kyle share why he’s excited about the potential here for his farming operation.