Newmark has named an industry veteran trained in valuing agricultural assets to lead its new appraisal practice as part of its expanded valuation and advisory services.

David Mielnicki, with nearly two decades of experience in valuing row and irrigated cropland, pasture, dairies and feedlots, was named executive vice president of the new specialty practice, Newmark said in a recent statement. Mielnicki, based in Newmark’s Detroit office, will report to Senior Managing Director Tony Roberts, according to the brokerage.

Before Newmark, Mielnicki led the CBRE appraisal practice in the Lansing, Michigan, market as a director, Newmark said. Mielnicki also managed a national team of more than 20 appraisers at Peoples Company, where he focused on the appraisal of agricultural assets, Newmark said. Peoples Company is a major agricultural real estate services firm holding licenses in nearly 30 states, including Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Texas and Washington, according to its website.

Mielnicki said the position allows him to tap into “Newmark's global platform and robust technology,” adding his new team has “a deep understanding of valuing assets for lending purposes” that can “deliver objective and reliable opinions of value and underwriting support.”

Reliable property appraisals are crucial to real estate investment sales and financing.

The addition of the agriculture specialty practice at Newmark allows its valuation and advisory service to “tap into an asset class that differs widely from traditional commercial categories," Newmark’s valuation and advisory lead, Helene Jacobson, said in the statement.

Newmark’s debut of an agricultural appraisal practice comes as farmland investment has produced higher returns than property sectors, including office, multifamily, retail and industrial, by a wide margin over the past year. Commercial properties overall posted a negative 6.6% return over the past four quarters, according to the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries Property Index. By contrast, the NCREIF Farmland Index showed positive returns of 8.19%.

“There has been increased interest in the sector as [investors] look for portfolio diversification, inflation linked returns and participate in the food security theme,” CBRE said in a study published in April.

Investors are seeking to capitalize on that promise. For instance, Farmland LP, a fund manager specializing in organic farmland, recently launched its third farmland fund looking to raise $250 million, the San Francisco-based firm’s third and largest fund to date.

“Farmland has consistently performed well against stocks, bonds and real estate over the last 20 years,” PGIM Real Estate, part of the global asset management arm of Prudential Financial, said in a study published in March.

The study described U.S. agriculture as “low-hanging fruit” that institutional investors should “plant” in their portfolio.

“Direct farming operations and leases have provided a steady source of income return, while productivity gains and commodity price increases have driven appreciation gains. … An aging farmer generation, fractional family ownership structure and technological advances requiring sizable capital investment will naturally transition farmland holdings from individuals to institutions,” it stated.