Ejnar Knudsen

Ejnar Knudsen III (born 1968) is a US investment manager who focuses on food and agriculture investments. He has served as executive for a number of different companies and is currently the managing member of a private equity fund, AGR Partners where he oversees the strategy development and investment process. He has also presented at a number of international conferences on the subject of food and agriculture.^[1][2]

Career and Occupation

Ejnar oversees the investment process of AGR Partners as its Managing Partner. He also serves on the Board of two of AGR’s portfolio companies, Ridley Corp (RIC.ASX), Australia's largest animal feed and rendering company, as well as Opal Foods, a shell egg producer in Missouri and Colorado. Ejnar founded AGR in 2012 with more than 20 years of prior experience operating and investing in food and agribusiness companies.

From 2009 to 2012, Ejnar was Co-Portfolio Manager of Passport Capital’s Agriculture Fund. From 2001 to 2007, Ejnar served as Executive Vice President of Western Milling, a California startup grain and feed milling company that grew to over $1 billion in sales.

In 1998, Ejnar co-founded Craton Capital, an investment partnership formed with friends and family to co-invest alongside the founders’ main activities. From 1991 to 2001 Ejnar was Vice President for Rabobank in New York, managing a loan portfolio, venture capital investments, and corporate advisory services in the food and agriculture sectors.

He is also chair of the Dairy Club (a group of leading producers and industry participants), is a director on the California Ag Leadership Foundation board and chairs its finance committee, and is a member of the Farm Foundation. He was a co-founder of Materra, a special situations farming company, and currently serves as a director on its board. Ejnar received his B.S. from Cornell University and is a CFA charter holder.

Education

In 1991, Ejnar received a Bachelor of Science^[3] degree from Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in New York and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Personal life

Ejnar lives with his wife, Elizabeth, and their four children in Exeter, California.

Conference Presentations

As Portfolio manager of agricultural investments, Ejnar commonly attends different international symposiums and conferences ^{[4][5][6][7][8]} serving as guest speaker (e.g. the 2010 Global Conference of the Milken Institute in Los Angeles,^[9] or the 2011 Agriculture Investment Summit in Miami^[10]). Other conferences include:

2015 Agricultural Symposium Agenda — "Financing Efficiency and Innovation," July 14-15, 2015, Kansas City, MO.

Intrafish Seafood Investor Forum, "Investing in Seafood: How, Where, and Why," — May 28, 2015, New York, NY.

Capital Roundtable,^[11] “Finding Today’s Most Fertile Investment Opportunities” — June 2013, New York, NY. Ejnar chaired this event.

Global AgInvesting,^[12] “Diversified Ag Strategies” — April 2013, New York, NY.

Boston Seafood^[13] — March 2013, Boston, MA.

Global AgInvesting,^[14] “Diversified Ag Strategies” — December 2012, London, UK.

Global AgInvesting,^[15] “Liquid Ag Investing Strategies" — April 2012, New York, NY.

International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, Australian Chapter^[16] — February 2012, Sydney, Australia.

Agriculture Investment Summit for the Americas^[17] — October 2011, Miami, FL.

Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Conference,^[18] "Recognizing Risk in Global Agriculture" — July 2011, Kansas City, MO.

Global Ag Investing,^[19] “Understanding where each sub-sector is in the Ag Industry” — May 2011, Chicago, IL.

National Conference for Agribusiness^[20] — November 2010, West Lafayette, IN.

Milken Institute Global Conference,^[21] "Shaping the Future" — April, 2010, Los Angeles, CA.

Articles

AGR Partners investing in ag from new Chicago office (Ag Professional, November 17, 2015) ^[22]

Equity firm looks to produce investments (The Packer, November 12, 2015) ^[23]

Slow supply growth raises ‘peak salmon’ fears (Financial Times, February 2014) ^[24]

US private equity execs travel to Chile with $100m for salmon deals (Undercurrents, August 2013) ^[25]

AGR purchases 19.5% stake in Ridley Corp. (Feedstuffs, May 2013) ^[26]

Sustainable Agriculture Investor Sees Opportunity in Alternative Protein Sources (Seedstock, March 26, 2012) ^[27]

Betting on World Agriculture, US Private Equity Managers Eye Agricultural Returns, The Oakland Institute, 2012 ^[28]

NFP Launches Dialogue on Food and Agriculture (Farm Foundation, September 2011) ^[29]

Agriculture 2.0 Gobal Investments, "Ag Chat Wednesdays" — In this “Ag Chat Podcast", ^[30] Ejnar explains why we’re at the early stages of a massive agriculture market reset – in step with an iterative, 38-year cycle. Transcript also available.

References