As more people are starting to realize — and as Indigenous Peoples have understood for millennia — how we treat the land affects everything from food and water security to carbon sequestration and climate change, demonstrating the importance of transitioning to regenerative agriculture.

Many farms in the United States are multigenerational family operations, and, as they are passed down, some members of the next generation are exploring transitioning to regenerative agriculture practices that are better for the planet and healthier for our food system.

Iroquois Valley Farmland REIT is an investment company that focuses on helping farmers transition to organic, regenerative agriculture. Since the company began 17 years ago, it has partnered with more than 70 farmers. It has a total of $126 million invested in 36,000 acres of farmland on 115 farms across 20 states.

Iroquois Valley provides low-interest, long-term financing to farmers with the goal of transitioning to regenerative agriculture, building a food system that is more sustainable by preserving farmland to be used for organic production.

Iroquois Valley’s first investment of 2025 was with fifth-generation farmer Rex Wettstein. Wettstein started partnering with the company in 2019, when he decided to expand his family’s operations by adding a 200-acre farm in Woodford County, Illinois, a press release from Iroquois Valley said.

“We very much view the relationship with our farmers as one of a long-term partnership. Our leases are set up and structured… to be six years in duration initially, and they can be evergreen thereafter,” Chris Zuehlsdorff, CEO of Iroquois Valley, told EcoWatch. “The main product that we offer farmers is what we call a purchase lease. So a farmer like Rex, for example, will identify a 200-acre farm that is down the road or that he would like to add to his portfolio and his business plan. And we’ll buy that farm and lease it back to the farmer over a six-year term. So that gets them through the organic certification. After year six, [the leases] auto-renew for every two years. We also offer the farmer an opportunity to purchase the farm from us at the end of year six, should they want to.”

Last year, Iroquois Valley distributed $37 million from investors to 18 farmers transitioning to regenerative agriculture.

Read the full article about transitioning to regenerative agriculture by Cristen Hemingway Jaynes at EcoWatch.