BlackRock, the US-based asset manager, has added to the growing universe of agriculturally-themed funds with the launch of the BGF World Agriculture Fund.  

The fund, which will be managed by Richard Davis and Desmond Cheung of the firm’s natural resources equity team, will invest globally in companies involved in agricultural chemicals, equipment and infrastructure, agricultural commodities and food, biofuels, crop sciences, farmland and forestry. It is not tied by sub-sector, currency, country or market capitalisation restrictions, the firm said in a statement.

The logic behind the fund, and other similar ones, is to exploit structural trends in the world economy, such as rising incomes in emerging markets and the growing global population, which place increased demand on the agricultural sector.

"We have chosen to launch the BGF World Agriculture fund because the long-term fundamentals are increasingly attractive and we are delighted to offer investors the ability to access the broadest spectrum of investment opportunities within the sector,” said Alex Hoctor-Duncan, head of retail sales, EMEA at BlackRock.

A number of investment firms and wealth managers have rolled out agriculture-themed funds in recent months and years, such as Sarasin, Lumix Capital, Pictet and Julius Baer.