March 2020 Update – Coronavirus, Tours & New Video

Coronavirus Impact

We all know what’s happening in the world today and we genuinely hope you’re all safe and well.

Paraguay, as of today, has 11 confirmed cases of the Covid-19 Coronavirus. As a country they were very quick though to introduce some sweeping measures aimed at slowing the spread of the virus. These include banning all flights and travelers from high risk areas (including Europe & China) and a curfew across the country between 8PM and 4AM.

As a company, these are the countermeasures we have introduced to protect the health of our staff and the integrity of our produce:

increased hygiene protocols for all employees
increased protection levels for workers involved in crop care and harvesting
full paid leave AND medical assistance for any employee who might become infected by the Coronavirus

We will constantly monitor the situation and implement any necessary additional measures as and when needed.

By taking these measures and those introduced by the country, we do not expect the Coronavirus to have any significant impact on our production and supply of oranges and greenhouse vegetables.

What is the anticipated impact of the Coronavirus on the demand for fresh produce?

In general, the demand for food is fairly stable, even in economic downturns. While people may give up buying a new car or going on vacation when money is tight, they’ll still need to eat. Hence why investing in agricultural real estate isn’t correlated to the stock market.

In addition, worldwide demand for citrus fruits (high in Vitamin C which boosts our immune system) and vegetables grown in controlled environments has actually increased during the Coronavirus pandemic.

While some of the travel restrictions around the world may impact the supply lines for certain foods, please note that all our produce is for the local Paraguayan market where 85% of oranges and 80% of vegetables are currently imported.

Hence we do not expect any decrease in the demand or price for our products (we’re actually experiencing increased demand).

With the downturn of the global stock markets due to this global pandemic, our investors now see the benefits from diversifying their investment portfolios and pensions with agricultural real estate, while also contributing to the general health of the population during this crisis through the production of immune boosting produce on their lots.

Don’t hesitate to contact us for more information about how to diversify and protect your retirement plan with agricultural real estate in Paraguay, or to schedule a call with our IRA specialist.

Orange & Greenhouse Plantation Tours

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic we unfortunately had to cancel our planned March and April orange & greenhouse plantation tours (the health & safety of our investors and staff is more important than anything else during this crisis). We will monitor the situation and reschedule these tours as soon as normality resumes and it is safe for everyone to travel again.

In the meantime though, here’s a brand new video shot during our December Tour. It shows our orange plantations and greenhouse operations, and includes educational input from Robert Helms (professional investor and host of The Real Estate Guys Radio Show), Carsten Pfau (our CEO), David Smith (our General Manager) and investors on the Tour. We highly recommend you take 6 minutes of your time to watch it, as it’s the closest substitute there is to actually joining a Tour yourself:

Vegetable Greenhouse Project Update

A first harvest of the vegetables has already taken place in some of the first 8 greenhouses. There’s been increased demand for the greenhouses in the first quarter of this year. Based on current sales we expect all 50 greenhouses to be sold within the next 4 months.

Here are some recent pictures from our operational tomato, red and green pepper greenhouses. You’ll notice how fast the plants have grown when compared to our January Update.