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Vance invested in AcreTrader, an app that sells shares of agricultural investments including Arkansas farmland.
Last edited Tue Sep 9, 2025, 08:22 AM - Edit history (1)
J.D. Vance may likely profit from the sale of Arkansas farmland when he invested in an app named AcreTrader that "scoops up farmland for foreign investors" as well as domestic investors.
Much more below the FAFO video.
A meme supporting Kamala Harris in the 2024 election was based on reports by publications such as Civil Eats and in The Deep Dish newsletter.
The meme read:
Remember: JD Vance gets rich by owning an app (acretrader) that helps investors outside of the United States snap up real estate deals (including many family farms and rental properties) that are then owned by people who have never and will never see those places and who ONLY own those places to obtain money and power in our country. This is NOT someone we can trust to be looking out for OUR best interests. He betrays us for money.
From Civil Eats in 2024:
AcreTrader is just one of many companies launched in the past decade that facilitate the sale of farmland, which has increasingly become a staple in investor portfolios. Recently, it was revealed that this includes the investment portfolio of vice presidential nominee JD Vance, the Republican senator from Ohio.
Vance invested up to $65,000 in private investments in AcreTrader during his stint as a venture capitalist, according to his 2022 financial disclosure to the Senate ethics committee. The investment firm Narya Capital—which Vance launched in 2020 with backing from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel—was a vehicle for these investments, and a key backer in early funding rounds of the farmland startup. And while Vance is no longer listed as a partner at Narya Capital, according to his 2023 financial disclosure, he appears to still be an investor in the firm—or more technically, multiple legal entities with names including Narya.
In a social media post, Sarah Taber, a farm and food systems strategist and the Democratic candidate for North Carolina commissioner of agriculture, describes AcreTrader as “like Uber for buying U.S. farmland.” Like Uber, AcreTrader makes it easier for more buyers to gain quick access to an ordinarily expensive asset. “And who’s one of its key investors, profiting off of every sale?” Taber asks. “JD Vance.”
“There’s no indication that Vance has divested from AcreTrader, and there’s every indication that that investment remains in place,” said Lisa Graves, the executive director of True North Research, an investigative research group. She points to how Vance sold off his stock in “Narya Capital Management LLC” in 2023, but that’s not the same as the (albeit similarly named) investment vehicles used to invest in AcreTrader.
Vance invested up to $65,000 in private investments in AcreTrader during his stint as a venture capitalist, according to his 2022 financial disclosure to the Senate ethics committee. The investment firm Narya Capital—which Vance launched in 2020 with backing from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel—was a vehicle for these investments, and a key backer in early funding rounds of the farmland startup. And while Vance is no longer listed as a partner at Narya Capital, according to his 2023 financial disclosure, he appears to still be an investor in the firm—or more technically, multiple legal entities with names including Narya.
In a social media post, Sarah Taber, a farm and food systems strategist and the Democratic candidate for North Carolina commissioner of agriculture, describes AcreTrader as “like Uber for buying U.S. farmland.” Like Uber, AcreTrader makes it easier for more buyers to gain quick access to an ordinarily expensive asset. “And who’s one of its key investors, profiting off of every sale?” Taber asks. “JD Vance.”
“There’s no indication that Vance has divested from AcreTrader, and there’s every indication that that investment remains in place,” said Lisa Graves, the executive director of True North Research, an investigative research group. She points to how Vance sold off his stock in “Narya Capital Management LLC” in 2023, but that’s not the same as the (albeit similarly named) investment vehicles used to invest in AcreTrader.
“What we’ve seen in reality is when investment interests come into communities, they drive up land prices and push farmers to increasingly marginal ends.”
AcreTrader invests in agricultural land in the United States and Australia, including rice fields, cereal crops in the Midwest, and Almond orchards in the San Joaquin Valley. The land is placed in a limited liability company (LLC) where shares can then be "purchased within minutes" of posting. More details can be seen in the article, JD Vance Funded AcreTrader. Here’s Why That Matters., by Greg Moran, writing for Civil Eats.
Caution should be noted that not all investors intend harm to others.
The article notes that Trump Bill Gates, who has recently been in the news, is a stakeholder in Trump's mass deportation of asylum seekers.
. John Mooney is also one of the largest owners of American farms.
Matt Shuman and Ryan Grenoble write in the Huffington Post.
The multibillionaire tech mogul and philanthropist owns a large portion of a key service provider for immigration flights.
And now, with new funding from Congress and an aggressive push from the White House, more and more immigration flights are taking off, transporting immigration detainees both within the United States and to their home countries — or, in some cases, to places they’ve never been before.
Gates’ connection to the U.S. detention and deportation machine is a company called Signature Aviation. Signature callsitself “the world’s largest network of private aviation terminals,” and it’s a linchpin in the day-to-day machinery of Trump’s immigration enforcement apparatus.
Private charter carriers subcontracted for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to transport immigration detainees — part of a network known as “ICE Air,” a reference to the Department of Homeland Security’s ICE Air Operations — use Signature’s services daily. As a fixed-base operator, or FBO, Signature supplies ground crews, aviation fuel, boarding stairs, and airplane hangar space at hundreds of airports around the world, mostly in the United States.
The private firm that holds Gates’ and the Gates Foundation Trust’s assets, Cascade Investment, increased its stake in the company to 30% in 2021, when it and two partners bought Signature outright for $4.7 billion. Human rights advocates — plane trackers and activists who keep tabs on deportation flights, as well as the aviation and logistics companies profiting from them — say Gates’ stake in Signature is at odds with his humanitarian work, including the Gates Foundation’s support of a plethora of immigration-focused nonprofits. Without FBOs like Signature, they say, Trump’s “mass deportation” agenda would be stuck on the ground.
And now, with new funding from Congress and an aggressive push from the White House, more and more immigration flights are taking off, transporting immigration detainees both within the United States and to their home countries — or, in some cases, to places they’ve never been before.
Gates’ connection to the U.S. detention and deportation machine is a company called Signature Aviation. Signature callsitself “the world’s largest network of private aviation terminals,” and it’s a linchpin in the day-to-day machinery of Trump’s immigration enforcement apparatus.
Private charter carriers subcontracted for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to transport immigration detainees — part of a network known as “ICE Air,” a reference to the Department of Homeland Security’s ICE Air Operations — use Signature’s services daily. As a fixed-base operator, or FBO, Signature supplies ground crews, aviation fuel, boarding stairs, and airplane hangar space at hundreds of airports around the world, mostly in the United States.
The private firm that holds Gates’ and the Gates Foundation Trust’s assets, Cascade Investment, increased its stake in the company to 30% in 2021, when it and two partners bought Signature outright for $4.7 billion. Human rights advocates — plane trackers and activists who keep tabs on deportation flights, as well as the aviation and logistics companies profiting from them — say Gates’ stake in Signature is at odds with his humanitarian work, including the Gates Foundation’s support of a plethora of immigration-focused nonprofits. Without FBOs like Signature, they say, Trump’s “mass deportation” agenda would be stuck on the ground.
In August 2025, AcreTrader, based in Fayetteville, Arkansas, was purchased by Proterra Investment Partners out of Minneapolis.
From T&P:
Fayetteville-based AcreTrader has been acquired by Proterra Investment Partners, a Minneapolis private equity firm, the companies announced Tuesday (Aug. 12). Terms of the private deal were not disclosed.
Proterra touts itself as an alternative asset manager “focused on private equity and private credit investments across the global food value chain with over $3.4 billion in assets under management.”
Proterra touts itself as an alternative asset manager “focused on private equity and private credit investments across the global food value chain with over $3.4 billion in assets under management.”
From Snopes on the veracity of the reporting by The Civil Eats:
In a September 2024 story, the agricultural news outlet Civil Eats cited Lisa Graves, director of an investigative research firm, who suggested Vance likely still holds an investment in the company:
"There's every indication that that investment remains in place," said Lisa Graves, the executive director of True North Research, an investigative research group. She points to how Vance sold off his stock in "Narya Capital Management LLC" in 2023, but that's not the same as the (albeit similarly named) investment vehicles used to invest in AcreTrader.
We reached out to Vance's Senate office to ask about his present interest in AcreTrader. They forwarded us to the Trump campaign, which has not returned our request for comment.
The Bottom Line
Vance invested money in AcreTrader, an app that sells shares of real estate investment trusts. While this process does not sell U.S. land directly to foreigners, it does allow foreigners to invest in companies that own American farmland. Vance's present level of investment in AcreTrader is unclear.
"There's every indication that that investment remains in place," said Lisa Graves, the executive director of True North Research, an investigative research group. She points to how Vance sold off his stock in "Narya Capital Management LLC" in 2023, but that's not the same as the (albeit similarly named) investment vehicles used to invest in AcreTrader.
We reached out to Vance's Senate office to ask about his present interest in AcreTrader. They forwarded us to the Trump campaign, which has not returned our request for comment.
The Bottom Line
Vance invested money in AcreTrader, an app that sells shares of real estate investment trusts. While this process does not sell U.S. land directly to foreigners, it does allow foreigners to invest in companies that own American farmland. Vance's present level of investment in AcreTrader is unclear.
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