June 2020 Update – Saplings Arrival, Greenhouse Availability & New Podcast

Paraguay Back to Business as Usual

Life and business in Paraguay is close to being back to normal. The country has been praised by many foreign observers for the way in which they handled the Coronavirus crisis. For a country of about 7 million people, they recorded less than 1,000 Covid-19 cases and only 11 deaths.

They were also one of the first countries to start easing lockdown measures as the government allowed many businesses to reopen from May 4th. Overall the crisis has had very little impact on the productivity of our plantations, while the demand for our produce has increased.

Flights to and from Paraguay are resuming slowly as well. We’re therefore hoping to resume our orange & greenhouse plantation tours again in the near future.

Nueva Italia Plantation Update

All the citrus saplings for our Nueva Italia plantation are due to arrive this month from Brazil. They’re currently being held in agricultural quarantine at the border (which is standard practice to ensure no plant pests enter the country). Once these 155,000
saplings arrive at the plantation, planting will start on the already cleared and prepared land.

We’re also expecting the arrival of a further 8 greenhouses in the coming weeks. Our main
focus is to receive all 48 greenhouses by the end of the year.

We currently have 3 full greenhouses left for sale, and a few half greenhouse partnerships which recently became available. Please contact your sales representative or reply to this email for availability and pricing of those.

The Importance of a Strong Local Market

The Coronavirus crisis has demonstrated that investments in agriculture real estate are not correlated with the financial markets as people still buy food (especially healthy and vitamin rich fruits & vegetables). However, it has also shown the importance of having a strong local demand for your produce, since shipping lines can get disrupted which has led to several farmers losing produce as containers get stuck at ports or borders.

Because 85% of oranges and 80% of vegetables in Paraguay are usually imported from neighbouring countries, local demand for our produce was already high. This crisis has only solidified our position as one of the countries’ leading orange and fresh vegetable growers (with future harvests now sold out months in advance).

New Educational Podcast

Last month The Real Estate Guys Radio Show hosted a very interesting Podcast on the topic “Real Growth, Resiliency and Diversification through Agriculture“. It covers the opportunities investing in agriculture offers, especially in the context of the rapidly changing world we currently live in. This Podcast featured our very own agricultural investment expert David Smith and you can listen to this new Podcast here.

Thank you again for your interest in our agriculture opportunities. As always, don’t hesitate to contact us for further information.

Stay safe and well.

The Agri Terra & Paraguay Ag Invest Team!