Somebody else will do it
Sound familiar?
As a race we have become too dependent on “the next person” This is why we are now in the mess we are, in terms of climate change. Everybody thinks that it is not their problem and I personally think that many people are relying on necessity being the mother of invention.
People think that somehow we are going to invent some carbon sequestering machine which will suck up all the carbon in the atmosphere and save the world. But I, like many others am beginning to become worried I think that we are starting to come to the point of no return.
If deforestation continues at the same rate as it currently is (13 MILLION HECTARES PER YEAR!) we are going to have no trees left. Let’s not forget that trees give us the most basic element for survival in Oxygen. They release moisture into the air which provides us with the cool climate in which we live and grow crops.
As Carbon levels in the atmosphere increase as does the temperature of the world. Now when I say that a 1 degree increase in world temperatures is imminent you may think “great I hate the British summer anyway!” Well what if I then said that a further 1 degree increase in temperature would start a dominoes effect in terms of climate change, and could lead to the end of life as we know it?
Now the first degree is unavoidable, because of the way we have lived our post industrialization lives we have to live with that. We became too dependent on life’s luxuries. We, in the West imported as much as we could, without thinking about the implications of how much carbon the transport was producing. When we aren’t importing, our large scale mechanization leads to further carbon emissions, even for the simplest of jobs.
Now there is a way we can avoid the 2nd degree in temperature rise and this is to decrease our carbon emissions by over 60% in the next 10 years, yes it’s a lot but it is vital! Reforestation/Afforestation is a start, invest in a reforestation/afforestation project which will make sure that the trees in a monitored patch of land are not illegally cut down and are, therefore sequestering carbon. The companies that run these schemes concentrate on educating the local people and showing them that the forest is actually worth more alive than dead. This is because the company is able to trade their excess carbon credits earned, from the profit they can pay the local people that are looking after the forest.
Because of this, here at Fresh Invest we have been working hard on expanding our alternative investments section we are now offering investments in 2 different types of carbon reducing project.
One is our Carbon Credit Investment. This is an opportunity for our investor to purchase carbon credits at a massively reduced price, from a company whose aim is to protect rainforests and then trade the excess carbon credits from it.
The second is an opportunity for our investor to invest in British farmland planted with a renewable biomass. This crop is then sold to a renewable power plant to be co-burnt with coal giving you a small but consistent yield. The main advantage of investing in UK farmland, apart from the obvious reduction in UK carbon emissions is, Security! It has shown consistent growth and is in ever increasing demand.
At the end of the day if people don’t start investing in projects like this it really could mean the end of the world!
For more info on any of our opportunities email or freephone 0800 043 69 56
Invest In UK farmland for financial security!
Farmland as an alternative investment is a relatively “untapped” market at present.
Why is this? Well investing in farmland often means that you will have to be of a high net worth so unless you can scrape together a few million pounds it is… I’m afraid to say out of most individuals reach.
This is because farmland is currently selling at around £5,000 per acre. This doesn’t sound too bad but farms are normally sold in massive lot sizes.
Why would you want to invest in farmland?
Firstly let’s look at what the prices of agricultural farmland are governed by:
- Increasing demand from house builders as the population of the world increases.
- Increasing demand from farmers that need to provide food for this growing population.
- Increasing demand from power stations that need to decrease their non renewable resource consumption to help the UK stay in Line with the Kyoto Protocol.
- Decreasing resources as more and more planning permission is granted for new homes, renewable power stations and renewable energy projects such as wind farms. The supply of bare agricultural land is running out and one thing is for sure we cannot create more!
The cumulative result of this has been values increasing by 15% year upon year.
Farmland is something which every human being needs to live. In its purest form it provides us with a means to grow food and rear cattle therefore providing the means to eat for the whole population.
A quote from H.R.H Prince Charles recently in the Richard Dimbleby lecture read “That which sustains us must itself, also be sustained” This means that the whole ecosystem of this world needs to be restored at the same or at a faster rate than it is diminished. The Amazonian rainforest alone releases 50 billion tonnes of water vapour into the atmosphere every day! This makes our climate cool and makes this planet inhabitable. Deforestation is currently operating at a rate of; the size of a football pitch every 4 seconds! One of the great problems with deforestation is the rate at which it impacts on our environment. Not only does all of the CO2 sunk by the trees get released into the atmosphere when they are burnt. But there are now less natural CO2 sinkers in the environment and when trees are not sinking CO2, they are not producing oxygen, the very air we breathe.
Our reliance upon nature’s non-renewable resources is 25% greater than nature can self sustain. Fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum and natural gas are being used at too fast a rate. The sustainability of these fossil fuels is something which is being tackled by the Kyoto Protocol.
The Kyoto Protocol is an obligation made by all countries to cut their use of non renewable resources by 80% by 2050. Here is where we can come back to farmland and the growing market that is renewable crops and the land underpinning it. As Power stations throughout the UK start to follow the trend and invest heavily in harnessing the power of renewable resources, this may well drive up the prices of green energy crops such as Miscanthus grass which is a co-burner to be used with coal in the production of electricity. Now this may well increase your annual yield through higher revenues, but with this, the land itself should increase in value as it is now worth more to the investor.
So let’s recap
- The price of farmland is steadily increasing as demand increases and supply decreases.
- Farmland value has increased on average by 15% year on year.
- It is a diminishing resource that needs to be sustained.
- It will help the UK contribute to their Kyoto protocol obligations.
- More and more people are starting to see the benefits of being “Armchair Farmers”.
- There is around £11 billion of borrowing secured on assets worth over £170 billion, excluding stocks and growing crops.
- It is the foundation of the built environment!
Remember the secret to success is to balance your portfolio. Where better than UK farmland?
Balance your portfolio with alternative investments!
Here at Fresh Invest we have been working hard, attempting to provide our investors with the means to build and prosper from a balanced portfolio.
Why is it so important to build a balanced portfolio?
A balanced portfolio will perform well in every market. You need to prepare yourself for every eventuality, for example. If there is another fall in house prices, people are likely to look elsewhere for places to hedge their savings or pensions and hopefully provide them with an income. This will therefore push prices up in the relative sectors, as demand increases people will look to charge more of a premium.
As markets become more volatile than ever, you should be looking to put your hard earned savings and pensions into a range of products where the value is governed by an increasing demand and a decreasing supply, during varying economic climates.
How about UK farmland? Well let’s get one thing straight we cannot create more land, neither can we build upwards, agriculturally. UK Farmland has been growing in value by 15% pa over the past 3 years where other investments have been decreasing in value.
We always need land
Another point is that if the UK housing market was to recover there will be uplift in demand for farmland yet again as housing developers start to look for land to build on. Putting further pressure on price rises as resources are diminished. Now if this happened and you were lucky enough to purchase in an area where planning gain is possible for further housing, this could greatly increase the value of your land!
Not only can alternative investments provide safe returns in uncertain economic times, many of them can provide great taxation benefits such as capital gains and inheritance tax relief.
There is a vast array of alternative investments on the market at the moment and without specialist advice you may not end up with a balanced portfolio at all.
So speak to the experts www.freshinvest.co.uk
