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During theweek,Chris Andersen runshis Manhattan
investmentbankingfirm,G.C.AndersenPartnersLLC,from
behinda deskthat’sa replicaofoneownedbyLorenzode’
Medici.Ontheweekends,heheadstohisfarminNewJersey,
whereheshovelsoutcorncobsandbruisedwatermelonsto
feedhisherdofMangalitsahogs,anespeciallytastybreedof
pigfromHungary.
Andersen,81,callshimselftheColonelSandersofthe
Mangalitsa.Hestartedhisfarmmorethana decadeago
ona lark.It’ssinceturnedintoa passion,onethat’spro-
duced4,000pigsacrosssevenfarmsinthreestates.He
employsthreefull-timefarmersandhasevenbuilta facility
inPennsylvaniatoproducecharcuteriethathesellsunder
theAmericanMangalitsabrand.
Unlikeinvestmentbanking,thefarmsareunprofitable.
Andersenestimateshe’sspentinthelowsevenfigureseach
yearforthelast 10 yearsonthemandis nowataboutbreak-
evenbeforecapitalexpenditures.“Beinga farmerisa lot
morecomplicatedthanmostpeoplerealize,”hesays.
Althoughhemaybedoingit ina moreexpensivefashion
thanmost,Andersenis partofa growing“lifestylefarming”
trend.It’sa hobbythatwealthyAmericanshavebeendevot-
ingnightsandweekendstooverthepastfewdecades,says
RhondaSkaggs,anemer-
itusprofessorofagricul-
ture economics atNew
MexicoStateUniversity.
These individuals sub-
sidizetheir hobbywith
other work, often in a
nearbycity.Whilea few
thousand farms gener-
atethelion’sshareofU.S.
food production, there
aremillionsofsmallones
inthecountry.According
to the Department of
Agriculture,41%offarms
in the U.S. aremodest
affairswhoseoperators
havea primaryoccupa-
tionotherthanfarming.
Houston-basedtractor
maker Mahindra North
America sees lifestyle
farming as the fastest-
growing of all its markets.
Ryan Pearcy, a senior
product manager at the
company, says it forecasts
the segment will expand
by about 10% a year for
the next decade. There
are a few obvious causes
for the increase, startingwiththewaveofstill-active baby boomers who are entering
retirement. Also, in general, more Americans are interested
in growing their own food.
“Many people would like to live in the countryside, have
some horses or own a few acres, have the lifestyle, even
though their primary occupation is something else,” says Eric
Hansotia, chief operating officer of Agco Corp., one of the
world’s biggest agriculture machinery companies.
As a hobby it can be quite expensive, but many of those on
Wall Street have the means to be more extravagant with their
projects, and owning farms and elaborate country houses is a
tradition for the wealthy. In the U.S., there are also tax bene-
fits to owning land that has an agricultural use—a commonly
exploited loophole.
Christopher Dixon, a retired securities analyst at UBS AG,
has been keeping livestock out on pasture for more than a
decade. But in recent years he’s taken up a project that seeks
to reinvent small-scale farming. He put together a group of
investors and purchased Stone Acres Farm, a 63-acre prop-
erty in Stonington, Conn., that dates to 1765. It offers a
Community Supported Agriculture program, operates a space
for events and dinners, and is open to visitors. Dixon calls
the project an experiment “to see if we can come up with a
way to sustain these farms
in New England.”
Jon McConaughy was
a Wall Street stalwart
for two decades, most
recently as a managing
director at Credit Suisse
GroupAG,beforea hobby
farmhestartedin 2004
morphed into a second
profession. Double Brook
Farm LLC in Hopewell,
N.J., came into being
when he felt a pull to get
back to the land.
Originally, he and his
wife started the farm to
feed themselves and their
two children. Double
Brook has since become
a far larger operation,
which includes animal
and vegetable farms on
hundreds of acres, a
butcher shop, a bakery, a
retail market, two restau-
rants, and a slaughter-
house. It’s a closed-loop,
sustainable food system
that McConaughy hopes
can be a model for future
farming. “Deep down inHOBBIES Bloomberg Pursuits November 11, 2019Andersen at his farm in
Brandville, N.J.