Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana (TRSL) has set up a $100m (€87.7m) farmland separate account with AgIS Capital.

The $19.7bn pension fund confirmed in a board meeting document that the separate account would invest in North American permanent crops and related infrastructure.

As at December last year, TRSL had 4% of its assets in the alternative asset class. The pension fund has a 3% target allocation to the asset class which also includes infrastructure and commodities.

According to industry sources, most institutional investors are looking to invest in crops that include apples, tree nuts, olives, wine grapes, blueberries and cranberries.

TRSL said permanent crops “exhibit higher cash yields” and rely on income generation, rather than property appreciation, to produce returns.

TRSL said it has also expanded an existing agriculture separate account with Hancock by an additional $25m.

This relationship was established in 2017 with a $75m allocation. The current portfolio in the account has 67% invested in the US and 20% in Australia.

The unallocated 13% or $9.75m is expected to be invested in US permanent crops.

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