Pension-Owned Farmland Dips For First Time Since 2010

Farmland indexed by the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF) dropped to 1.97 percent this quarter, down from 5.44 percent last quarter, even though farmland performance overall is trending upward. Year-on-year returns were also down slightly from 2.34 percent in Q2 2012, according to information found by Timothy Pollard, who created a chart that does a great job of showing the difference between seasonal change and overall trends.

The composition of returns were 0.83 percent appreciation and 1.14 percent income. The trailing four-quarter return through Q2 2013 was 20 percent, 11.64...