By Bruce Rolfe
A global investment firm plans to acquire the U.S. based alternative asset manager company specializing in farmland investments that owns over 850 acres of land in Climax Township according to three published reports.
WisdomTree, Inc. (NYSE: WT), a global financial innovator, announced July 31 on its website that it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Ceres Partners LLC, a leading U.S.-based alternative asset manager specializing in farmland investments.
Ceres Partners LLC posted the same release on its website July 31.
Ceres Partners LLC owns the Love Farm property, south of Climax in Climax Township. The Ceres Partners website lists the Love property at 856 total acres, with 774 total tillable acres.
The WisdomTree website release on the acquisition notes the transaction marks WisdomTree’s entry into the private asset markets—starting with real estate and specifically farmland—and positions
WisdomTree as a category leader.
The release adds additionally, the Ceres farmland platform benefits from opportunities in strategic adjacencies in demand for solar, AI data infrastructure and water that are expected to drive faster growth.
An article written by Victor Skinner published August 21 in the Midwesterner, notes the New York based WisdomTree is working to buy nearly 50,000 acres of Michigan farmland in hopes of converting it to solar farms or data centers.
The Climax Crescent reached out to WisdomTree to verify the Climax Township land is part of the deal and what the company intends to do with the land but did not receive an answer by press time.
Ever since Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed into law Public Act 233 and 234 of 2023 that removes local control from townships and other units of government for siting of certain renewable energy wind, solar and battery storage facilities, many in the area have been concerned the Love property would be a prime target for renewable energy use.
However former owners, the late Owen and Ellen Love, placed a large portion of the land in the American Farmland Trust.
Bruce Bourdages, Land Protection Project Manager with American Farmland Trust, told the Crescent in 2024 the agreement Owen and Ellen Love signed with the American Farmland Trust that deeded the couple’s historic 667.8 acres to AFT as part of its farm legacy program, includes a conservation easement with the Kalamazoo County Register of Deeds that requires the Love farm and land remain in agriculture.
Bourdages said a conservation easement is meant to be in perpetuity, meaning it runs with the land regardless of who owns it. He adds who ever the land is sold to it’s still going to be subject to a conversation easement held by AFT.
He adds there is a restriction in the current conservation easement with Ceres Farms that notes any type of energy generation can only be used for the farm operation itself.
It is unclear if Agrivoltaics, the practice of combining solar energy generation with agricultural activities, such as crop cultivation or livestock grazing, on the same piece of land, would qualify the land as being used for agricultural.
On August 26, 2024 the Climax Township Planning Commission approved a revised ordinance that limits development to 1000 acres for utility scale projects in the entire township. This would allow a developer to put in up to two, 50-megawatt solar projects.
The Climax Township Board approved the Battery Energy Storage System and Solar Energy System ordinances at a meeting September 10, 2024.
A Google search states for solar, a 50-megawatt facility uses approximately 200-250 acres of land, based on an industry average of 4-5 acres per megawatt.
A global investment firm plans to acquire the U.S. based alternative asset manager company specializing in farmland investments that owns over 850 acres of land in Climax Township according to three published reports.
WisdomTree, Inc. (NYSE: WT), a global financial innovator, announced July 31 on its website that it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Ceres Partners LLC, a leading U.S.-based alternative asset manager specializing in farmland investments.
Ceres Partners LLC posted the same release on its website July 31.
Ceres Partners LLC owns the Love Farm property, south of Climax in Climax Township. The Ceres Partners website lists the Love property at 856 total acres, with 774 total tillable acres.
The WisdomTree website release on the acquisition notes the transaction marks WisdomTree’s entry into the private asset markets—starting with real estate and specifically farmland—and positions
WisdomTree as a category leader.
The release adds additionally, the Ceres farmland platform benefits from opportunities in strategic adjacencies in demand for solar, AI data infrastructure and water that are expected to drive faster growth.
An article written by Victor Skinner published August 21 in the Midwesterner, notes the New York based WisdomTree is working to buy nearly 50,000 acres of Michigan farmland in hopes of converting it to solar farms or data centers.
The Climax Crescent reached out to WisdomTree to verify the Climax Township land is part of the deal and what the company intends to do with the land but did not receive an answer by press time.
Ever since Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed into law Public Act 233 and 234 of 2023 that removes local control from townships and other units of government for siting of certain renewable energy wind, solar and battery storage facilities, many in the area have been concerned the Love property would be a prime target for renewable energy use.
However former owners, the late Owen and Ellen Love, placed a large portion of the land in the American Farmland Trust.
Bruce Bourdages, Land Protection Project Manager with American Farmland Trust, told the Crescent in 2024 the agreement Owen and Ellen Love signed with the American Farmland Trust that deeded the couple’s historic 667.8 acres to AFT as part of its farm legacy program, includes a conservation easement with the Kalamazoo County Register of Deeds that requires the Love farm and land remain in agriculture.
Bourdages said a conservation easement is meant to be in perpetuity, meaning it runs with the land regardless of who owns it. He adds who ever the land is sold to it’s still going to be subject to a conversation easement held by AFT.
He adds there is a restriction in the current conservation easement with Ceres Farms that notes any type of energy generation can only be used for the farm operation itself.
It is unclear if Agrivoltaics, the practice of combining solar energy generation with agricultural activities, such as crop cultivation or livestock grazing, on the same piece of land, would qualify the land as being used for agricultural.
On August 26, 2024 the Climax Township Planning Commission approved a revised ordinance that limits development to 1000 acres for utility scale projects in the entire township. This would allow a developer to put in up to two, 50-megawatt solar projects.
The Climax Township Board approved the Battery Energy Storage System and Solar Energy System ordinances at a meeting September 10, 2024.
A Google search states for solar, a 50-megawatt facility uses approximately 200-250 acres of land, based on an industry average of 4-5 acres per megawatt.
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