New website allows people to own farmland without all the hard work

KINGS COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- A South Valley farmer wants to help others own a piece of a farm, without all the work.

Things are shaking at this Kings County orchard, as almonds fall from their trees.

"It's very hard to be a farmer unless you have a lot of money. I wanted a way for regular people to own farmland and make money off of it," said FarmFundr CEO Brandon Silveira.

FarmFundr is a crowdfunding website that allows people to invest in agriculture.

"For about $30,000 you can own a share of an almond orchard which comes out to just under an acre and we farm the ground or we hire a farmer and when we get the crops off that profit is yours," said Silveira.

This 20-acre piece of property already has a handful of investors hoping to reap the benefits of this harvest.

Silveira says people can be involved in the farm as much as they want from daily updates to how the price is going.

In addition to almonds, FarmFundr has added row crops, pistachio development and next a vineyard for people to invest in.

Silveira says being online has helped.

"We've got to be on social media: Instagram, Facebook, which has been cool because people like our content," said Silveira.

Investors from the east to the west coast have joined in.

While the hope is to make money, it is possible to suffer a loss.

"That loss does carry over to the investors on their tax returns. The LLC would take a loss, but because we're not holding any debt on the property it's very hard in this environment to lose money," said Silveira.

Silveira says this year's harvest looks positive and will benefit investors.