THE COMPANY
Unless the context otherwise requires or indicates, each reference in this prospectus to (i) “we,” “our,” “us” and the “Company” means Gladstone Land Corporation, a Maryland corporation, and its consolidated subsidiaries, (ii) the “Operating Partnership” means Gladstone Land Limited Partnership, a majority-owned, consolidated subsidiary of the Company and a Delaware limited partnership, (iii) the “Adviser” means Gladstone Management Corporation, the external adviser of the Company and a Delaware corporation, and (iv) the “Administrator” means Gladstone Administration, LLC, the external administrator of the Company and a Delaware limited liability company. The term “you” refers to a prospective investor.
We are an externally-managed, agricultural REIT that wasre-incorporated under the General Corporation Law of the State of Maryland (the “MGCL”) on March 24, 2011, having been previouslyre-incorporated in Delaware on May 25, 2004. We are primarily in the business of owning and leasing farmland; we are not a grower, nor do we typically farm the properties we own.
Upon the pricing of our initial public offering (the “IPO”), on January 29, 2013, our shares of common stock began trading on Nasdaq Global Market (“Nasdaq”) under the symbol “LAND.” Our shares of 6.375% Series A Cumulative Term Preferred Stock, $0.001 par value per share (the “Series A Term Preferred Stock”), are traded on Nasdaq under the symbol “LANDP.” In addition, we have registered our 6.00% Series B Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “Series B Preferred Stock”), and our 6.00% Series C Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “Series C Preferred Stock”). Neither the Series B Preferred Stock nor the Series C Preferred Stock is listed on a national securities exchange, and there is currently no public market for shares of either the Series B Preferred Stock or Series C Preferred Stock.
Prior to 2004, we were engaged in the owning and leasing of farmland, as well as an agricultural operating business whereby we engaged in the farming, contract growing, packaging, marketing and distribution of fresh berries, including commission selling and contract cooling services to independent berry growers. In 2004, we sold our agricultural operating business, and since then, our operations have generally consisted of leasing our farms to third-party tenants.
As of February 19, 2020, we owned 113 farms comprised of approximately 88,000 total acres across 10 states in the U.S. (Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas and Washington). We also own several farm-related facilities that are necessary to the farming of the underlying farmland, such as cooling facilities, packinghouses, processing facilities and various storage facilities. These farms and facilities are currently leased to 70 different, unrelated third-party tenants who grow over 45 different types of crops on our farms. Historically, our farmland has predominantly been concentrated in locations where tenants are able to grow fresh produce annual row crops (e.g., certain berries and vegetables), which are typically planted and harvested annually. However, since our IPO, we have diversified the variety of crops grown on our farms, and we now also own farms that grow permanent crops (e.g., almonds, pistachios, blueberries and wine grapes), as well as several farms that grow commodity crops (e.g., corn and beans). While our focus remains on farmland growing fresh produce annual row crops, in the future, we expect to acquire additional farmland that grows permanent crops, and to a lesser extent, commodity crops, as well as more farm-related facilities.
We generally lease our properties on atriple-net basis, an arrangement under which, in addition to rent, the tenant is required to pay the related taxes, insurance costs (including drought insurance if we were to acquire properties that depend upon rainwater for irrigation), maintenance and other operating costs. Except in unique circumstances, we do not intend to enter into the business of growing, packing, or marketing farmed products; however, if we do so in the future, we expect that it would be through a taxable REIT subsidiary (“TRS”).
We conduct substantially all of our business activities through an Umbrella Partnership Real Estate Investment Trust (“UPREIT”) structure, by which all of our properties are held, directly or indirectly, by Gladstone Land Limited Partnership (the “Operating Partnership”). We control the sole general partner of the
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