ABOUT

Our Vision

In partnership with farmers and investors, we are building the organic future by putting our agricultural system on a path to improving the health of our soil, communities, and planet.

A hand holding a plant by the stem, exposing its roots with some soil attached. The background shows a green field and a cloudy sky.

The Organic Future

From the beginning, we’ve asked big questions: How can we reduce the use of chemicals in agriculture? How do we improve the livelihoods of farmers? How can we deliver impact and profits simultaneously? How can we make communities healthier?

We created Amber to find the answers to all of these questions. And by putting our agricultural system on a path to improving the health and well-being of everyone, we’re building the organic future.

Our Business Model

Amber is a farmland REIT positioned to capitalize on the historic generational transfer of farmland underway. We partner with farmers who identify land to transition to organic. With investor’s capital, we buy the land and provides farmers the financial runway they need to make a successful organic transition. Farmers capture the upside of the growing market demand for organic products. Investors benefit from long-term land appreciation.

Flowchart showing Impact Investors providing capital to Organic Farmland REIT, which finances farmland purchases. REIT receives lease and mortgage payments from Farmers and gives Investors returns. Farmers get access to farmland.

Our roots run deep

Our story begins in Iroquois County, Illinois, in the heart of America’s conventional row-crop economy. A doctor and an investment banker — Dr. Stephen Rivard and Dave Miller — who grew up in Kankakee, IL and were roommates at Loyola University in Chicago, shared the belief that America’s agricultural system was broken.

In 2007, they founded Amber (formerly Iroquois Valley) to give all investors access to transformative agricultural investing. Nearly two decades later, what started as one farm and one farmer has grown to include scores of farms across the U.S.

Since 2007, these beliefs have guided our work

➤ ORGANIC IS GOOD BUSINESS. – From improving soil health, farmer economics, and people’s health, organic makes sense.
➤ WHEN FARMERS THRIVE, SO DO INVESTORS. – By removing financial barriers and providing the runway for farmers, everyone wins.
➤ DISCIPLINE YIELDS RESULTS. – Our strategic approach to transitioning farmland to organic delivers impact and returns.
➤ PROGRESS HAS MANY UPSIDES. – We are driving progress on economic, environmental, community, and public health fronts.
➤ CHANGE THAT ENDURES IS SELF-SUSTAINING. – By partnering with farmers to profitably transition land to organic, we are building the foundation for the organic future.

A woman and a man stand close together in a grassy field with rolling hills in the background, both wearing long-sleeved shirts and jeans, looking at the camera on a clear day.

A person holds a freshly broken ear of corn in their hands, showing the yellow kernels and white center, with green cornstalks in the background.

A hand hovers above a clover plant with green leaves and purple flowers, surrounded by grass and other vegetation. The person is wearing blue jeans and is outside in a natural setting.

A person wearing a black beanie and blue sweatshirt smiles while standing in a dry, grassy landscape with distant mountains under a clear sky.

We are a Public Benefit Corp and a B Corp

We obtained Certified B Corporation status in 2012 in recognition of our commitment to bottom line results: social responsibility, environmental soundness, and economic viability. This certification is managed by the independent non-profit B Labs, which awarded us “B Corps Best for Community” in 2014 and “B Corps Best for the World” from 2016 to 2019. We have also been awarded the ImpactAssets IA50 annually since 2012.

Governance

Amber is governed by a Board of Directors elected by shareholders. The Board guides Amber’s financial and policy decisions.

Amber Farmland Investments operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT) to optimize the long-term growth potential of the business. The company structure was approved through shareholder voting and took effect on December 31, 2016. Previously, Amber operated as an LLC.

Meet our staff and Board of Directors