Summit Agricultural Group, a diverse farming, agricultural investment, and farm management company headquartered in Alden, Iowa, announced in late August that it has expanded its investment team to focus on the group’s newly launched $300 million Summit Ag Opportunities Fund.
J.D. Schlieman has been added as an operating partner. His responsibilities will initially include relationship management with potential portfolio companies. In addition, he will evaluate potential investments and serve as a resource to executive teams within the fund. Schlieman’s experience includes serving as chief financial officer at Heartland Pork, and most recently as CFO, and eventually president, of Hawkeye Renewables.
Jon Probst has been hired as a vice president. His responsibilities will include sourcing and evaluating potential investment opportunities. Probst previously worked in Dallas, where he evaluated potential private investment funds and sourcing, structuring, and closing commercial real estate transactions.
Summit’s current operations include row crop, beef cattle, and pork farms in the U.S., and a growing presence in the South American biofuels market. Summit said the goal of the Ag Opportunities Fund is to “acquire controlling interest equity positions in five to eight agricultural-centric investments over a three-year period beginning in mid-2018. The Summit Ag Opportunities portfolio will include investments across the agricultural supply chain, from production to manufacturing to distribution.”