Peak Soil Indexes, LLC (PSI) announced today the launch of its first monthly farmland index, the “Peak Soil™ Iowa Farmland Value Index” (PSIFVI). The monthly index will replace the quarterly “Peak Soil™ Iowa Cropland Value Index. The first publication date will be February 27, 2015.
PSIFVI has enhanced its initial effort with an index that facilitates broader use in the marketplace. PSI’s founder and President, Paul V. Kanitra, stated “this is an up-to-date, versatile index, not limited to being a mere historical reference point. The new index takes us closer to our goal of ‘Democratizing Farmland™’. With a timely, transparent index, farmland will shortly become ‘alive’ and a functional tradable commodity.”
The monthly index improves upon its predecessor in three critical areas: 1) The timeliness of a monthly publication represents current not past farmland values: 2) Expanding data collection to approximately 50 Iowa counties increases observations and better represents state-wide pricing: 3) Index fluctuations due solely to variability in quality of land have been addressed with the introduction of a nominal CSR.
PSIFVI, like its predecessor is constructed from observable, recorded documentation, not surveys. The company believes survey pricing is subject to biases and can prove to be unreliable. Real arms-length transactions assure accuracy and confidence. The integrity of Peak Soil’s indexes is not corruptible by inaccuracies of a survey.
Peak Soil Indexes works to serve the needs of the agricultural and investment communities by expediting innovative new product development to benefit those industries. They are committed to satisfying genuine needs within the market by ensuring integrity of design, reliability and sustainability. Peak Soil’s goal is to expand its product line globally with indexes significant to other geographic regions.
Mr. Kanitra has 30+ years of financial industry experience. For the last six years he has worked on the development of farmland index and alternative products. Prior to this involvement, Mr. Kanitra was the founder of Piedmont Select Properties, a micro-cap commercial real estate fund. Mr. Kanitra previously acted as an investment advisor for a global fixed income hedge fund. Earlier in his career, he managed arbitrage portfolios at ING Capital Markets, Marine Midland Bank and Metropolitan Securities in New York City.
