With the capital raised, Blackdirt’s team will grow by approximately 100 percent within the next 12 months as additional farmland assets come into production. The company is set to more than double acreage in grass-fed beef production by the end of 2019. The expansion includes over 1,000 acres of grazing farmland in the Southeast that will transition into grass-fed beef production.

“We are very pleased with the results of our partnership with Harvest Returns, as it provided access to a base of investors outside Blackdirt’s existing network and proved to be an effective platform for raising capital,” said David Nicola, CEO of Blackdirt Farms. “We look forward to working with the Harvest Returns team again in the future.”

Changing consumer tastes and preferences are driving demand in the organic grass-fed beef market.

“We’re excited to support Blackdirt’s rapidly growing grass-fed livestock operation,” said Chris Rawley, Harvest Returns’ CEO. “Blackdirt and other innovative producers are increasingly choosing crowdfunding as a way to raise capital to expand their farms and ranches.”

Blackdirt Farms was founded in 2015 by David Nicola. The company is a professional agriculture operations and production business with a focus on grass-fed and pasture-based beef production in the eastern U.S.

Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, Harvest Returns LLC is a financial technology company created in 2016 by two military veterans to bring agricultural producers together with investors. Through democratizing the agriculture investment process, the online platform provides curated, diversified offerings of farms, ranches and timberland to qualified investors.

For more information, please visit the Harvest Returns website.  

—From Harvest Returns news release