Fedgroup has released an opportunity for investors on its Impact Farming platform to invest in the first tranche of over 500 lettuce stacks in a sustainable facility in Pretoria. This is hot on the heels of moringa, and macadamia nut trees being made available on its app.

Investing in a lettuce stack will cost R7 000 and the returns are expected to yield an estimated 14% on average per year, over the seven-year investment term. Returns are calculated on an internal rate of return across the lifecycle of the asset

The lettuce farm belonging to Can-Agri is an impressive sustainable farm that has been created to be both profitable and sustainable. The lettuce is planted in vertical stacks that span six meters with 82 plants in each stack. Water is recycled and repurposed and great care has been taken to minimise its carbon footprint.

“The business has been structured to be profitable and sustainable,” says Grant Field, Fedgroup CEO.

“Since our launch three years ago, our average internal rate of return across our three assets has been consistent,” he adds.

The success of the returns on the Impact Farming platform have been because of the business’ hands on approach to each asset.

“We have designed a comprehensive process that includes a vigorous due diligence on each asset to ensure that it meets our requirements as a stable investment,” says Field. “We have learnt a lot along the way and have refined the model to now be able to scale even more – we have paid our school fees.”

He adds that this is an agricultural product and that there are risks associated, as with any investment, but the business works closely with its partners to mitigate these risks.

“Last year we had two Black Swan events where frost, a one in a hundred-year occurrence, affected a large portion of the blueberry farm. But we were able to recover and still pay out a return to our investors,” says Field.

Impact Farming initially provided consumers with the opportunity to make a once-off investment in a blueberry bush, beehive or solar panel on a sustainable farm and earn income from a portion of the sale of the harvest. The world’s first product suite of its kind was launched in August 2018 and is available on the Fedgroup App.