The World's population will grow from 7 billion to 8.3 billion people over the next decade. Meanwhile, arable land across the world will shrink and living standards will continue to rise, with the OECD projecting 3 billion new middle class consumers over the next 20 years. Many of these people will change their diets in favour of more animal protein. Livestock is quite inefficient in terms of converting grain to energy, so the pressure on farmers to deliver more produce will be immense.
We conclude that agriculture should be represented in every long-term portfolio, but farm land has already risen a lot in value. Are there other and better ways to be exposed to agriculture? These and other questions are addressed in this month's Absolute Return Letter.
