Leading natural capital manager
Recognized by IPE Real Assets as a leading natural capital investment manager for 2026, reflecting our commitment to responsible stewardship and long‑term value.
Agriculture investment
Creating value through the sustainable management of agriculture assets
Why invest in agriculture?
Why invest in agriculture? Agriculture investments have a long history of delivering strong financial results. The low correlation of farmland returns with the returns of other asset classes means that farmland can provide diversification benefits within investor portfolios. Farmland investments may also offer moderate inflation protection.
As a nature-based solution, farmland can provide positive social and environmental benefits by sequestering carbon, maintaining biodiversity, and contributing to rural economic vitality. As the global population grows, demand for food and fiber is expected to increase. Investors can capitalize on this trend while also benefiting from opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help mitigate climate change.
Opportunities for climate impact
Forests and farmland are increasingly recognized as economic and scalable natural climate solutions.
Investing in the nature and climate transition
The challenges of climate change and nature loss will continue to foster far-reaching socioeconomic transformations. We’ve identified five broad investment themes that comprehensively address the risks and uncover the opportunities for investors.
What sets us apart
As one of the world’s leading natural capital investment managers,¹ our experience, size, and scale allow us to access a wider array of markets, reduce operating risk, and provide low-cost, high-quality asset management. As a responsible steward of farmland, we produce sustainable food and fiber, and we seek to operate in a way that improves the environment, nourishes communities, empowers our people, and delivers performance for our clients.
Rooted in sustainability
Our commitment to sustainability and responsible investing has been a core guiding principle embedded in our strategy and operations since inception.
Global scale
Our operating history demonstrates that scale may provide enhanced acquisition access, production efficiencies, cost savings, innovation, and revenue enhancement opportunities.
Integrated property management
Integrating property management with our business reduces costs and ensures that our commitment to sustainability is carried through from strategy to execution.
Focus on performance
Our agriculture investment program has provided competitive performance since inception.
Proprietary research
Our research capabilities inform our investable universe, underpin our investment strategy, and support portfolio management decisions.
Important disclosures
1 IPE research as of January 2026. Ranking is based on total Natural Capital AUM, which includes forestry/timberland and agriculture/farmland AUM. Firms were asked to provide AUM and the as of dates vary from 12/31/2024 to 12/31/2025.
Adding value through investment in sustainable agriculture
Learn how we help meet increasing global demand for nutritious food while enhancing efficiency and profitability through sustainable agricultural practices.
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Sustainable operating improvements over time
Our property management team has continuously innovated on variety selection, orchard design, integrated pest management, habitat for pollinators and beneficial insects, and whole orchard recycling.
Regenerative farming practices
Sustainable food production can restore nutrient deficiencies, reduce vulnerability to pests and diseases, and decrease the need for synthetic inputs, all while increasing the soil’s water holding capacity and ability to sequester carbon.
Investing in the agricultural supply chain
Vertical integration into midstream processing offers growers access to customer preferences while helping to reduce risk by providing an additional source of revenue.
Committed to sustainable investing
Agriculture provides investors with an opportunity to invest in assets that contribute to solutions to pressing environmental and social challenges, including climate change, nature loss, water scarcity, and rising inequality.² We strive to play a positive role in confronting these global challenges through our long-term investments in agriculture and in surrounding rural communities.
Read our natural capital sustainable investing report
We’re committed
We conduct our business activities in a manner that recognizes the need to preserve and enhance the quality of our environment and local communities.
We’re credible
Working collaboratively with industry peers and nonprofit organizations, we developed an industry-wide sustainability standard for agriculture. To date, 100% of our U.S., Australian, and Canadian farmland is certified to the Leading Harvest Farmland Management Standard.³
We’re accountable
We manage agriculture investments to achieve key priorities of our sustainability and responsible investing program, sustainably managing the resources entrusted to us and supporting climate change mitigation across our farmland.
Important disclosures
2 Date is as of September 30, 2025. 3 Certification as of June 2023 for US and Australia, and September 2025 for Canada, by Leading Harvest and is based on an annual assessment of conformance to the Farmland Management Standard. Most current data shown. Please see https://www.leadingharvest.org/certificationdocuments for further information.
Click here to read our recent annual sustainability and responsible investing report, which includes our performance against metrics aligned with each of our five key sustainability and responsible investing priorities as well as other external standards, such as the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and third-party certification system objectives.
Certifications, memberships, and selected affiliations
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Leading Harvest⁴
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Global Impact Investing Network⁵
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PRI⁶
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World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)⁷
Important disclosures
All logos are registered trademarks of the respective organizations/firms represented.
4 Leading Harvest. 5 Global Impact Investing Network. 6 PRI. 7 World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).
Our diversified portfolio
Our global, high-quality, diversified agriculture portfolio includes annual and permanent crops, as well as farmland plus integrated processing operations. We offer investors the ability to invest in portfolios diversified by crop type, geography, and management style, in addition to portfolios targeting a particular region or market segment.
Farmland assets
Annual row crops
Replanted every year, our annual row crops are generally priced comparably across the globe. They may include commodity corn, soybeans, cotton, wheat, rice, or specialty crops such as vegetables.
Perennial permanent crops
Perennial permanent crops are higher-value niche crops that grow on a tree or vine and vary in pricing by location—and can benefit from best management practices to enhance value. They may include tree nuts, cranberries, apples, citrus, or blueberries.
Farmland plus agriculture assets
Integrated processing operations
Operations may include value chain integration focused on processing, storage, packaging, and marketing various agriculture commodities.
These assets may include vertically integrated permanent crop operations or indoor growth spaces.
Vehicles
Our agriculture strategy invests in global core and core-plus farmland assets through open- or closed-end commingled funds for the benefit of institutional investors. Individually managed accounts tailored to meet investor needs are also available.
Commingled funds
A commingled fund—open or closed end—can offer investors access to a broadly diversified portfolio at lower levels of invested capital than could be attained by investing directly, but the commingled structure offers less individual investor control than an individual account. An open-end portfolio allows investors to buy into an existing asset base.
Individual accounts
Individual accounts can offer investors a greater level of control over the strategies employed to meet their objectives and constraints. Individual accounts allow for portfolios to be tailored to meet investor-specific levels of risk tolerance, return targets, diversification, and cash flow needs but require a much larger capital contribution.
Our team
Focused on optimizing the performance of diversified agriculture portfolios through the integration of our property and portfolio-level expertise.
View the full team
Brent McGowan
Senior Managing Director, Global Head of Agriculture Investments
Brent leads Manulife Investment Management’s institutional agriculture investment program, overseeing investment underwriting and portfolio management, acquisitions and dispositions, resource planning and analysis, portfolio management and client services, economic research, and property management. He leads the senior management team for the firm’s agriculture business, chairs the agriculture investment committee, and serves on the executive committee for private markets. Before that, Brent was the global head of agricultural operation for Manulife IM's agriculture business, responsible for leading all aspects of the property management and farm services teams. Prior to joining the firm, Brent was vice president of operations for the agricultural division at Wilbur-Ellis Company LLC, where he led the company’s U.S. operations and managed the network of retail and distribution logistics, application, manufacturing, and procurement functions.
- Education: B.S., Agricultural Economics, University of California, Davis
- Joined the company: 2021
- Began career: 1996
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Oliver S. Williams IV, CFA
Global Head of Investment Management, Agriculture
Oliver oversees portfolio management, client service, and water resource functions. He and the team will focus on building trusted client relationships and product offerings delivering the unique attributes of agriculture investments. From 2011 to May 2025, Oliver led Manulife Investment Management’s institutional agriculture investment program. He is a member of the senior leadership team for the firm’s agriculture business. Additionally, he serves on the Agriculture Investment Committee, and chairs company boards for the firm’s Australian property management platform. Prior to that, Oliver served as director of asset management. Oliver was the inaugural chair and currently serves as a Board Member for Leading Harvest, a non-profit organization dedicated to establishing industry-leading sustainability standards that promote the transition to more sustainable and resilient farmland management globally. From 2021 to 2025, Oliver was the inaugural chair for the Farmland Capital Alliance, a coalition-based nonprofit membership organization focused on large-scale U.S. farmland ownership, management, and investment. Oliver is a CFA® charterholder and is a member of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers and of the CFA Society Boston.
- Education: B.S., Agricultural Economics, Cornell University
- Joined the company: 1997
- Began career: 1993
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Daniel Baker
Director, Global Water Resources, Timberland and Agriculture
Dan leads the timberland and agriculture global water team, working closely with investment and property management functions to develop and execute the water investment, policy, and operations strategy. Dan also serves on the Agriculture Investment Committee. Prior to joining the firm, Dan was a principal at Aither, an Australian consulting firm, where he led the rural water and water markets consulting practice area.
- Education: First Class Honours, B.S., Interdisciplinary Studies—Environmental Policy and International Relations, Australian National University
- Joined the company: 2019
- Began career: 2013
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Danielle Harris, CAIA, AFM
Managing Director, North American Acquisitions and Dispositions, Agriculture
Danielle leads the firm’s farmland acquisition and divestiture programs in North America. In this role, she manages a team that focuses on sourcing and disposing of farmland investment opportunities, managing the due diligence and escrow process and developing strategic alliance opportunities. She also serves on the Agriculture Investment Committee. Previously, Danielle directed acquisitions in the Pacific West, which involved sourcing permanent crop properties throughout California. Before that, she was a senior transaction manager supporting the row and permanent crop acquisition efforts across the United States and Canada, as well as vertically integrated opportunities in South America. Danielle served as operations manager for the agriculture farmland management team from 2013 to 2016. Prior to that, Danielle was an analyst in Manulife’s Real Estate Finance Group. Danielle is also a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (“CAIA”) Charterholder and has earned the AFM designation from the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers.
- Education: B.S., Business Administration, Northeastern University; M.B.A., Boston College
- Joined the company: 2013
- Began career: 2010
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Hugues Rinfret, CFA, FRM
Managing Director, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Agriculture
In this role, Hugues combines his deep agricultural platform knowledge, attention to detail, and process orientation to oversee the internal operational strategy for agriculture, in collaboration with other private markets platforms, to enhance our engagement with Manulife’s global functions. He oversees the policies, procedures, compliance and governance requirements of the Agriculture platform in coordination with corporate functional leadership. Additionally, Hugues has specific responsibility for the deliverables of Agriculture’s Economic Research Team. As COO, Hugues is a member of the global Agriculture Leadership Team and Investment Committee. Prior to this role, Hugues served as Deputy Chief Investment Officer, Agriculture and was responsible for agriculture investment strategies and identifying and mitigating risk exposures related to the investment process, products and client investments. Hugues previously served as Global Head of Valuation, managing the valuation team, financial models, investment plans and analyses for the firm’s global agriculture clients across the US, Canada, Australia and Chile. Prior to joining the firm in 2017, Hugues served as the Director of Research with MetLife Agricultural Investments and as a Senior Industry Analyst with SunTrust Bank, where he developed a market risk analysis platform for the food and agribusiness portfolios. Hugues is a CFA® charterholder and holds the Financial Risk Manager (FRM) designation. He also grew up on a dairy and cash crop farm near Montreal, Canada.
- Education: A.D., Farm Management, B.S., Agronomy, M.S., Agricultural Economics, McGill University
- Joined the company: 2017
- Began career: 1993
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Andrew Strahley
Managing Director and Head of Australasian Agriculture Investments
Andrew leads the ongoing strategy, focusing on capital deployment, client engagement, regional governance, and key strategic initiatives in Australasia. Andrew has extensive experience in farmland agriculture in Australia and other countries. Prior to joining the firm, Andrew held senior management positions with ConAgra and Mitsubishi. Andrew has been a Managing Director of Hancock Farming Company and Manulife Investment Management Timberland and Agriculture (Australasia) Pty Limited (formerly known as Hancock Natural Resource Group Australasia Pty Limited), the property manager for Manulife Investment Management’s Australian assets since its inception in 2000. Andrew serves on the Agriculture Investment Committee, company boards for the firm’s Australian investment vehicles, chairing each of the firm’s Australian investment vehicles and is a member of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology.
- Education: B.S., Applied Science in Agriculture, Charles Stuart University at Wagga
- Joined the company: 2000
- Began career: 1987
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Kevin Wright
Head of Australian Agriculture
Kevin oversees the firm’s agriculture business platform in Australasia, guiding the region’s growth and strategic direction. His responsibilities include planning, developing, and executing agricultural strategies, property and farm operations, finance and accounting, and water strategy to enhance client performance. Previously, Kevin served as Head of North America Agriculture Operations, where he directed teams responsible for the operations, management, and support of the firm’s agricultural portfolio across the United States and Canada. Additionally, Kevin is a member of the Agriculture Investment Committee. Before joining the firm in 2020, he was President of E. Ritter Agribusiness, Inc., a fifth-generation, family-owned, vertically integrated agricultural enterprise, where he led the company's agricultural land and business portfolio
- Education: B.S., Agriculture Business, Arkansas State University
- Joined the company: 2020
- Began career: 1992
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Richard Bodio, Jr., CFA
Managing Director, Farmland Plus, Global Head of Asset Management, Agriculture
In this role, Rick bridges portfolio management and property‑level operational functions that drive client returns and enhance internal connectivity. In addition to overseeing the Resource Planning and Analysis and Farmland Plus teams, Rick has assumed expanded responsibility for North American property and farm operations, providing integrated oversight across asset management and operations. He also serves on the Agriculture Investment Committee. Rick first joined Manulife in 2011, serving in a variety of roles in his 12-year tenure, including Senior Portfolio Manager, Head of Farmland Plus, Managing Director and Deputy Chief Investment Officer. Prior to rejoining the firm in 2024, Rick served as a Managing Director at Ceres Partners. Rick is a CFA® charterholder and is a member of the CFA Society Boston.
- Education: B.A., English and Philosophy, Providence College; M.B.A., University of Connecticut
- Joined the company: 2011, 2024
- Began career: 2005
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Contact us
Ryan Hanna
Global Chief Operating Officer, Private Markets
Manulife Investment Management
929-383-3733
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