Investing in high tech agriculture or food related investments are a good option for wise investors to consider. People investing in agriculture are not all becoming farmers; institutional or accredited private investors are putting money into private funds which are investing in high tech agriculture, renting it to farmers and getting income from the rent and the yields. In addition many of the funds manage the modern agriculture supply alternative energy sources, such as bio fuel or wind.
Investments in high tech agriculture are not correlated with stocks and bonds and because of that can provide risk reduction and diversity in a portfolio. Agriculture investments in Hong Kong allow investors to "have a passive investment in sustainable food production without having to identify and acquire property, manage the property, hire a farmer, and negotiate rental contracts."
Several financial institutions in Hong Kong have opened high tech agriculture funds, citing the increase of middle class in the region; the ever increasing scarcity of tillable land; the potential for inflation, the need for bio fuels, and the increasing prices of food across the world. Terravida Investments, Hong Kong offers investors such an opportunity to participate in sustainable food production through investing in high tech agriculture in many ways.
If you prefer to make a more direct investment in modern agriculture, you can find many ways to involve in it. There are services that will help you evaluate and select the best choice. You can go for any simple yet high tech methods, which brings fast returns with fewer efforts. For example hydroponics is a good choice as it requires comparatively less human involvement than any other farming practices. It is purely the soilless farming and requires only less space.
Only thing is the investor should spend a higher amount initially to set up the facilities and growing atmosphere, which in turn brings good returns within a very short period. What if you aren't an accredited investor, or don't have enough time and will to invest your hard earned money directly in to the modern agriculture; there are many alternative assets investment management firms which help you to choose exchange-traded funds or mutual funds.
These funds allow you to own a piece of stock in a company owns large scale modern agricultural operations - there are some that will let you follow agricultural trends. ETFs which focus on companies that manufacture farm equipment and companies involved in livestock and agricultural are also a good choice.
But according to financial market experts, specific investments in the sector are subject to stock, interest-rate, commodity, country and now climate-change risk. If interest rates rise, commodities can move in the opposite direction. Food prices can easily crash without any warning and sometimes for reasons related more to finance and cash availability than crop prices.
"Agriculture, especially the modern agriculture is a theoretically safe, investment producing, inflation-protected hedge," say the experts.