DENVER, Jan. 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Harvest Initiative ('GHI') and Farmland Partners Inc. (NYSE:FPI) (the 'Company' or 'FPI') today announced that the Company is joining GHI as a Member Company. The other Member Companies are DuPont Pioneer, Elanco Animal Health, John Deere, Monsanto Company, The Mosaic Company, and Novozymes.

Together, GHI's member companies promote policy priorities that will help to sustainably improve food security and nearly double the output of food, feed, fuel, and fiber by 2050. Importantly, these policies emphasize agriculture's role in conserving natural resources, adapting to and mitigating climate change, and improving people's livelihoods, nutrition and living conditions. Within GHI's mission, FPI is particularly focused on enabling farmers to meet the formidable challenge of sustainably feeding a growing world population through improved access to financial and intellectual capital while fostering a more productive regulatory environment.

'We are extremely impressed with the steps GHI has taken since 2009 to impact food security. We look forward to joining forces with many of the leading companies in production agriculture and to contributing to GHI's mission,' said Paul Pittman, CEO of Farmland Partners Inc. 'We believe our expertise as landowners will bring value to GHI, and we are especially dedicated to supporting initiatives to foster a more favorable economic, financial and regulatory environment for the global agriculture industry.'

'By helping farmers access the necessary finance and land as well as building their capacity to succeed, Farmland Partners Inc. is playing a critical role in helping the U.S. maintain its global leadership in agricultural productivity and sustainability. GHI welcomes Farmland Partners to our growing membership,' said Dr. Margaret Zeigler, Executive Director of GHI.

About Farmland Partners Inc.

Farmland Partners Inc. is an internally managed real estate company that owns and seeks to acquire high-quality North American farmland and makes loans to farmers secured by farm real estate. The Company's portfolio is comprised of 258 farms with an aggregate of 107,898 acres (including 125 farms totaling 30,702 acres under contract) in Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia. The Company elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust, or REIT, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, commencing with the taxable year ended December 31, 2014.

About Global Harvest Initiative

The Global Harvest Initiative (GHI) is a private-sector voice for productivity growth throughout the agricultural value chain to sustainably meet the demands of a growing world. Founded in 2009, GHI advances technologies and practices that conserve natural resources, adapt and mitigate climate change and improve people's livelihoods, nutrition and living conditions. GHI's signature Global Agricultural Productivity Report® (GAP Report®) is an annual benchmark of the global rate of agricultural productivity. GHI's growing membership includes DuPont Pioneer, Elanco Animal Health, Farmland Partners Inc., John Deere, Monsanto, The Mosaic Company and Novozymes. GHI is joined by 13 Consultative Partner Organizations, from the conservation, university and multilateral development bank sectors. Learn more at www.globalharvestinitiative.org and @Harvest2050.

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SOURCE Farmland Partners Inc.

Farmland Partners Inc. issued this content on 28 January 2016 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 28 January 2016 14:20:20 UTC

Original Document: http://ir.farmlandpartners.com/file.aspx?IID=4426904&FID=32704684