Agridime Investment Review [My Honest Thoughts]

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Many people are looking for alternative investments that can offer a higher return than traditional stocks or bonds. With the recent volatility in the stock market, alternative investments are becoming even more popular. One alternative investment that is gaining popularity is investing in cattle. Of course, cattle investing is not for everyone, but it can be a profitable way to invest your money if you are willing to take on some risk.

Cattle investing is a bit like investing in real estate. You are essentially buying a piece of property (in this case, a cow) and hoping it will appreciate over time. Of course, there are always risks involved with any investment, but if you do your research and invest wisely, cattle investing can be a very lucrative way to make money. However, it does come with its risks and we’ll be tackling those as well in this post.

What is Agridime?

Agridime is an online platform that allows you to invest directly in cattle livestock. It was founded in 2017 and is owned and operated by a young couple, Tia and Josh Link.

Together, they started Agridime as a way to provide grass-fed, farm-to-table cattle via pasture-raised methods as opposed to traditional ranching methods. A few years later, they added the investment aspect to it, which we’re reviewing in this post.

In the Agridime investment program, you’re essentially buying a live cow, and you’re buying it online. With Agridime, you can choose the specific cows you want to invest in and how much you want to invest. How cool is that?

Agridime takes care of the rest, including the actual feeding and caring for the cows via the farmers that they partner with. Agridime essentially allows you to participate in the investment of cattle without getting into the actual day-to-day care of the cattle itself, all while being able to take profits at the end of it all. It is an investment in cows/calf/cattle as well as an investment in beef products.

How much does it cost to buy one cow with Agridime?

It currently costs $2,000 to purchase one cow through Agridime. Who knew? Personally, I had no idea what a head of cattle would even go for normally prior to looking into it. However, $2,000 isn’t easy to cough up for a lot of people, much fewer multiples of that, especially if you’re enticed by the guaranteed returns that Agridime boasts about.

Is there a minimum to invest with Agridime?

Agridime’s requirement is that you have at least $2,000 to invest with them. Beyond that, there are no other requirements or qualifications. You can buy 1 or 100 cows. It’s up to you. You do, however, have to buy in $2,000 increments, since you would have to buy a whole cow.

How much can you sell the cattle for through Agridime?

If you sell the cattle, you can expect to get around $2,300 to $2,400 for it. Simply put, that’s a $300 to $400 profit on each head of cattle.

If you buy ten cows at a total of $20,000, you would earn a profit of $3,000-$4,000.

That’s a 15-20% return on your investment. Quite a healthy return, indeed. Keep in mind that the exact amount of profit you make will depend on the price of cattle when you sell them. Cattle prices can fluctuate, so you could be earning a little more or less than the estimated profit. Recently, with all the inflation going on, you’d likely be earning more since the price of cattle would be going up as a result.

How do I qualify to receive 20% on my investment instead of 15%?

If you invest in 20+ head of cattle, you will receive 20% on your investment instead of the usual 15%.

How long do you have to wait before you can decide to sell your cattle?

Great question. Cattle take time to raise properly and ensure that it is ready to be sold onto the market. If you’re the type who doesn’t like to wait too long, then you’ll be happy to know that it only takes a year for your purchased cow to be ready for sale.

When you combine the potential return of 20% on your investment and couple it with the timeframe of one year, that’s a 20% return on investment each and every year you invest. This is a very attractive return, especially when comparing it to other investments. For example, the stock market has averaged a return of around 10% per year over the long term. With Agridime, you’re pulling in twice that return. You’re doing in one year what the S&P 500 generally does in two years.

Is there anything special about Agridime cattle?

As much as we’d like to think there is, no, there isn’t anything particularly special about Agridime cattle. They are raised and nurtured in a humane way, and their resulting beef products are of great quality. You can check out reviews of their Agridime store and beef products online; they’re generally highly-praised on this front.

How does Agridime pay you?

When you sell your cattle, you will be paid by bank wire ten days after the sale. That means you don’t have to wait all that long to get your money. This is a huge advantage because it allows you to reinvest your profits quickly and continue growing your investment if you so choose.

Does Agridime take any fees for buying or selling cattle?

Agridime doesn’t charge any fees for buying or selling cattle. That means you get to keep all of your profits. There are no hidden fees or charges. This is a nice plus, especially when comparing it to other investments. For example, mutual funds and ETFs often charge fees of 1% or more depending on who’s managing the fund.

That means you could lose a significant portion of your profits to fees alone with other investments. It may not sound like much, but in the long run, even a 1% fee is a big deal and can really put a damper on the full power of compounding working for your money.

Does Agridime insure your investment?

Agridime insures every investment against death, disease, and theft. There’s no worry about a cow dying and you losing your investment as a result. If anything happens to the cow you’ve invested in, you will be compensated for your loss in full. This gives investors peace of mind and allows them to focus on making money rather than worrying about their investment. At no point do you have to worry about the health or safety of your specific cattle.

What are the risks of investing in cattle through Agridime?

As much as Agridime does its best to ensure you get your money’s worth of investment through them, there are still some inherent risks to watch out for.

• One risk is the possibility that cattle prices could drop. However, you can minimize this risk if you diversify your investments and don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
• The other risk to consider is that Agridime isn’t like an institutional bank. It isn’t FDIC insured by the government in case they go underwater. If say you invested $100,000 to invest in 50 heads of cattle, you could potentially lose all of it. That’s right, it’s possible you would not see a cent of it if the company were to disappear one day for whatever reason.
• Last, but most definitely not least, is the lack of payment verification online. The company has been around since 2017, so unless every investor is still holding on to their cattle investment, you’d think there’d be some sort of discussion around how much someone’s cashed in on it at some point in the last few years.

Pros and cons of investing with Agridime: The pros

There are many reasons to invest in cattle via Agridime. Let’s dive into some of those reasons:

• Investing in cattle is a great hedge against inflation. That’s because beef prices, along with everything else like food and gas, tend to go up when inflation increases. By investing in cattle, you’re making sure that when inflation numbers go up, your investment is benefiting from it, despite the rest of the world being negatively affected by it. In short, your cattle investment will protect your money from losing value.
• The beef industry is booming. As a result, the demand for beef is high, and it is only expected to increase in the coming years. This means that cattle prices are likely to continue to rise, leading to healthy profits for investors.
• Beef is a staple in the American diet. It’s one of those things that everyone expects to be on the store shelf, and it’s not going away any time soon. The cows you invest in will be butchered, and the beef will be sold to grocery stores and restaurants the same way it’s always been for a very long time.
• It’s a great way to diversify your portfolio. Cattle are not as volatile as stocks, so they can help offset some of the risks in your portfolio. And, since cattle can be bought and sold relatively quickly, they offer an excellent way to get liquidity into your portfolio if needed.
• Agridime allows you not to have to raise the cattle yourself. You needn’t be a farmer or a rancher. That means you don’t have to worry about the nitty-gritty of caring for cattle, including feeding and watering them. It’s all taken care of by farmers who take part in Agridime’s program. You’re simply investing in the farmers who do the bulk of the heavy lifting.

Pros and cons of investing with Agridime: The cons

There’s a few reason why you shouldn’t invest in Agridime:

• As mentioned above, no verified payments have seemingly been made to anyone thus far, at least that’s posted online. Either no one uses Agridime or no one has cashed out. We get it, not everyone who cashes out will post it online, but if enough people have used this company and gotten paid, surely there’s got to be at least one who’ll post it online.
• Not FDIC insured, but this isn’t the biggest deal if the company is legit on its own, as there are many investments that aren’t FDIC insured but can do well.
• There aren’t a lot of similar type companies that exist, which makes you wonder why. Perhaps if cattle were truly this profitable, why would they need to partner with you to co-invest and give up 15-20% of profits when they can just partner with a lender and give up much less with a lower interest rate to borrow.
• Plus, there are ways to expose your portfolio to something similar to Agridime via your online broker. For example, the iShares Global Agriculture (COW) ETF exposes you to companies that are involved in meat including cattle, along with other agricultural products such as farm machinery and fertilizer.

Who is Agridime best for?

If you’re really thinking about Agridime, we’d say that the ideal investor for Agridime is someone who is looking for options outside of traditional investment vehicles like stocks and bonds. Perhaps you’re just looking for something different, or perhaps you truly believe that cattle investing will pay off better due to it being a higher-risk investment.

If you find the following to be true for you, you might want to consider Agridime:

• You like the fact that it’s a simple, straightforward, and easy-to-understand investment.
• The basics are covered in your portfolio, but you still have some extra cash lying around.
• You’ve done some research and truly believe that Agridime as a company has strong financials and can stay afloat.
• You’re trying to add an inflation hedge to your portfolio.
• You’re sick of the fees you’re paying on your managed funds, and the fact that there are no fees involved in Agridime transactions really appeals to you.
• You know something about the farming industry that entices you to invest in cattle. After all, didn’t Bill Gates just buy up a lot of farmland?
• And lastly, you can afford to lose the money, and you really want that 15-20% return. Because hey, the S&P 500 sure doesn’t seem to be returning that this year.

No matter your reason for investing in Agridime, you need to make sure this isn’t your main investment vehicle. I say this because no matter how good the return is, this money is not in any way, shape, or form covered or guaranteed by the government should the company go under. However unlikely it is, $1 million invested in this could really turn to $0 given the right set of unfortunate circumstances. Money invested in the S&P 500, on the other hand, statistically would never turn to $0 unless the world were to burn, or something close to it.

How long has Agridime been in business?

Agridime has been in business and operational for over 5 years, since 2017. They are located in Fort Worth, Texas, and have 17+ employees. However, the investing program was started by Agridime more recently than that.

Is Agridime legit?

And has anyone been paid or scammed by Agridime?

Agridime seems like they’re participating in a reasonable investment fundamentally, but as a company, we’d be wary. If the company guarantees 15-20% returns, that seems like a great, risk-free investment that they could do themselves without partnering with people like you and me. You’ve got to ask yourself: Why do they need me?

And if the cattle loses value in a given year, will they cover your guaranteed 20% by digging into their own pockets to pay out the difference? Something tells me probably not. Even if they did, it doesn’t guarantee that at any given year they’ll just decide not to pay out their investors due to a declining market, despite their guarantee.

On top of that, it’ll take a year to find out if they’ll keep their word and pay you back your capital plus 15-20% ROI, since nobody seems to be confirming only a few people have confirmed that they’ve gotten paid anywhere online. Strange for a company that’s been around since 2017, so it’s not like it’s a completely new company that hasn’t had a chance to pay out its investors.

There hasn’t been any proof that they’ve scammed anyone so far, and we think that if investors got scammed, they would most definitely post it online. Again, only a few people have stated that they have been paid, but they do exist. Still, I’d prefer to wait for more evidence that Agridime works the way it markets itself and that investors do actually get paid their dues.

Update (December 2022): A user on Reddit by the name of u/LoveNotWar3113311 has graciously provided a screenshot of Agridime having successfully paid them for their investment after a year.

This screenshot shows a return of 15%, just as advertised by Agridime. Quite amazing when you consider that the S&P 500 has been significantly negative during that same time period.

Update (January 2023): Another reader has graciously reached out to us and emailed us a copy of their Agridime contract with a screenshot showing they’ve been paid by Agridime LLC in a timely manner. His contract was set to finalize and deliver on December 4th, 2022, and as you can see in the screenshot, the money arrived in the bank account promptly on December 11th, 2022, exactly seven days later.

Here’s the contract:

And here’s evidence of payment:

According to this screenshot, Agridime seems to have paid back the principal of $2,000 plus a 15% return on investment, as promised. And in a respectable timeframe to boot.

Who we’re keeping an eye on: There is one other Reddit user we’ve got our eye on by the name of u/davidloveasarson who has a contract that is due in March of 2023. We hope to get an update around that time. Keep in mind we have verified to the best of our ability through post history that any Reddit users we mention are genuine Redditors and not simply shills for Agridime the company. Of course, if you find out otherwise, please contact us with why you think so, and we’ll update our post accordingly.

Agridime store reviews

Agridime, the store, which sells mostly beef, has tons of great reviews. Many have even switched from the famed Omaha Steaks to Agridime.

Here below, you can see that someone has posted a picture of their Agridime beef on Reddit, which shows a yellower piece of fat that is typically found in a grass-fed cow.

Ny strip from agridime from meat

Overall, the consensus seems to be that the Agridime store has well-priced beef that is quite rich and tasty.

Other alternative investments to explore

If you can be an investor in cattle, surely there are other commodities that could prove lucrative in a consumer-investor model that you haven’t thought of, right? And you’d be correct. Here are some alternative investments to explore if you’re interested in these sorts of non-traditional investment opportunities:

• Vint – investing in fine wine
• Vinovest – also investing in fine wine
• OurCrowd – investing in pre-vetted startups
• Yieldstreet – investing in the private market, including real estate
• NFTs – investing in digital assets in the Web3.0 space
• Metaverse ETF – investing in anything related to the metaverse via a traditional ETF by Fidelity

Keep in mind that although we’re listing alternative investments, we’re not necessarily recommending them. We encourage you to learn more about each of them in further detail through our links above before putting any money into any of them.

In conclusion

If you’re looking for an investment that’s different from traditional options, then Agridime hits a few interesting points:

• It offers the chance to invest directly in cattle, which is a tangible asset with real value.
• It’s an easy-to-understand investment. Cattle are raised for food and sold on the market to be eaten by consumers.
• It’s a great way to hedge against inflation.
• There are no transactional or management fees.
• It’s got a great, guaranteed healthy return of 15-20% on your investment.

However, really consider the following points of contention:

• If the company goes under, that investment could disappear completely.
• If the cattle lose value in a given year, will they cover your guaranteed 20% by digging into their own pockets to pay out the difference? Something tells me probably not.
• Why are they partnering with potential investors like you and me if the returns are so great that they’re willing to guarantee you a 15-20% return on investment?

Share the wealth!