Buy a Treesury token and invest in a hazelnut plantation – How to invest “from an armchair” and realize a passive income?

Have you ever thought of investing your money in a business, but don’t have a clear idea or resources? Are you perhaps interested in agriculture, primarily fruit farming? If so, you’ve certainly read about hazel as a promising solution whose fruit brings excellent earnings. Since recently, you have an opportunity to invest from the comfort of your own home, without much trouble.

At the beginning of September, the Securities Commission approved to the issuer Treesury d.o.o. Beograd the publishing of the white paper for the initial offering of 28,301 Treesury Tokens, with a nominal value of EUR 106, in dinar countervalue as per the middle exchange rate set by the National Bank of Serbia on the day of the sale. The initial offering of Treesury security tokens (STO) was officially launched on October 8, at a special price for early buyers.

The offer is available to all persons, both natural and legal, which are not on one of the international lists of sanctioned persons: UN, USA, EU and UK. For certain investors, such as investors from the USA, special rules, dictated by US laws, apply.

– If it can be said that a good beginning makes a good end, we can already say that the issue will be successful, because we are getting inquests on a daily basis from interested investors from both Serbia and the region and from other countries as well – says Jovan Paunovic, the CEO of Treesury.

He says that small agricultural producers can’t be competitive enough and that they are facing an increasing number of obstacles to selling their products to big (industrial) buyers and to integrating in their supply chains.

The money collected through the initial offering will be used precisely for investments in agriculture – the establishment of a modern hazelnut plantation, with the highest-quality variety, in line with a proven methodology of hazelnut farming, which will be implemented in raising the plantations.

What does this mean in practice? The tokens represent individual hazel trees. You choose the number of tokens in order to start making a passive income. The experts do everything – from planting and caring for the plants to the sale, while you are earning. Through the Treesury portal, you can follow what’s happening at the plantation, and you can schedule a visit as well. In the case of unforeseen circumstances, the plantation is insured.
The Treesury Token, although it is digital property, only shares with cryptocurrencies the technology it is based on – blockchain. The Treesury Token is a green dematerialized bond with a variable interest rate which depends exclusively on the results achieved by the plantation which is the subject of the investment, that is, the results achieved through the sale of hazelnuts and carbon credits.


Minimum investment EUR 100

Jovan Paunovic notes that it doesn’t take too much capital, because the minimum investment is around EUR 100, which enables each investor to take part in large and promising projects, the kinds of which, so far, have been reserved exclusively for very rich individuals and institutional investors.

– In addition to the amount of capital, the agricultural industry has other barriers, such as the necessary domain expertise and integration into the supply chains. To its investors, Treesury enables investments in projects that are managed by a whole team of proven professionals: from specialized agriculturists, through experts for the implementation of technology and artificial intelligence in agriculture, to supply chain experts and financial experts. In addition to that, these teams organize the production in line with their own methodologies, which include the implementation of the most advanced technologies and methodologies of regenerative agriculture, which will soon become necessary for the placement of products on the world markets. All the production methodologies have been developed for years through practical experience, research and development. Finally, dividing one plantation into small units which are much easier to trade enables investors to sell their long-term positions and have access to their money, instead of their money ending up locked out from them for a longer time period – clarifies Paunovic.
The right way to maintain the value of the capital and increase it are passive investments, investments where the capital works for you, says Paunovic.


He adds that the expected annual yield calculated for the entire life-cycle of the Treesury Token, that is, the commercial life cycle of the hazel tree (40 years), is 12-15% relative to the invested principal amount. The reinvestment of the repaid principal amount and the paid interest rate is not included in the calculation, which has been made based on the current offer and the special conditions which apply to persons who buy digital tokens in an early issuing phase.

– The expected time for a return on the principal amount to be made is 9 to 10 years, after which there is a 30-year period of full yields and high profitability. The dynamics of the return on the investment are dictated by the natural life-cycle of the plant, which takes five years to produce the first commercial yield – says eKapija’s interviewee.

As already mentioned, the dividing of the plantation into small units enables investors to sell their shares if needed (partially as well) at any moment in the secondary market – OTC or organized, which additionally reduces the perceived risk.

– What gives additional trust to a large number of investors is the fact that, during the period of the repayment of the principal amount, all the profit achieved on the plantation which is the subject of the investment belongs to the investors. The value of the token is secured by the currency clause, which is of importance when it comes to long-term investments – points out Paunovic.

Why hazelnut?

Historically speaking, the demand for hazelnut exceeds the supply, and with a constant growth of the demand, the market price is expected to keep on growing, our interviewee clarifies:

– This positive trend is primarily driven by the increasing demand of the confectionery and baking industries for ingredients, but also the global increase in food demand, as well as the change of the consumers’ behavior, a higher demand for alternative sources of protein and a healthier diet. In addition to that, unlike other products, the price of the hazelnut does not oscillate considerably over the course of a year relative to the price formed in the harvest period (September-October).

In the next period, a considerable growth of the hazelnut market is expected, with a global value of USD 17.69 billion in 2023. The prognoses point to a strong annual growth rate of 8.8% during the analyzed period, reaching USD 41.12 billion by 2033.

Paunovic adds that the hazelnut market mostly serves the production sector, whereby around 55% of the offer is directed toward the industry of confectionery products, 35% toward the baking industry, and the remaining 10% for direct consumption.

– In addition to the quantitative deficit, the industry of confectionery products is very often affected by the lack of high-quality hazelnuts, since only the hazelnuts of the highest quality are used for the making of confectionery products – says Paunovic.

He also points out that hazelnuts are resilient to unfavorable weather conditions, pests and diseases to a considerable extent, and also independent of the bees, because they are pollinated by wind. They require a small quantity of chemical treatments compared to other crops. In addition to that, they are easy to preserve for up to two years, and the losses during the transport are minimal, which reduces the risk of the stock going to waste.

Hazelnut plantation in Coka

The conditions for the growing of hazelnuts are very favorable in our country, when it comes to the climate and the soil, and this, along with the strategic geographic position in the southeast of Europe and access to the European markets, has made Serbia Treesury’s first choice.

– The plantation for this season is planned in the territory of the municipality of Coka, which is one of the municipalities with the least amount of forestation. After the planting, this plantation will make up around 7% of the overall green infrastructure in the territory of the municipality of Coka. The significance of these data becomes even clearer considering the fact that the establishment of this plantation also improves biodiversity and, in the long term, improves the quality of agricultural land – points out Jovan Paunovic.

The Corylus species of hazel will be planted at the plantation, with the subspecies: Tonda di Giffoni, Tonda Gentile Romana, Nocchione and Tonda Gentile delle Langhe.

– We have opted for these subspecies because they are the most demanded ones in the world market and the industrial purchasers with which the Treesury team has been cooperating for decades now buy out precisely those varieties, because they meet the highest quality standards (organoleptic and nutritional). Also, said varieties can be very successfully grown in Serbia and the region, that is, it has been proven that maximum results regarding the quality and the quantity can be achieved – says our portal’s interviewee.

Sustainable agriculture

Treesury pays great attention to environmental protection as well. In that sense, nut fruits fit well into their vision, because they have the so-called negative carbon footprint, which means that the plants, during their daily photosynthesis process, in their biomass (the fruits, the leaves, the trunks and the roots) and the soil, trap a higher amount of carbon from carbon dioxide than the amount of greenhouse gases emitted during the production of this type of culture, including the use of fossil fuels for mechanization and transport and the use of mineral fertilizers.

– Hazelnut especially stands out for the possibility of the mechanization and automation of a large number of production processes and the additional reduction of the emission of greenhouse gases – says Paunovic.

In the process of hazelnut production, Treesury uses the methodologies of regenerative agriculture, and our interviewee highlights, as an especially interesting feature, the planting of wind-protection belts which provide protection from wind and soil erosion and of cover crops which, in addition to trapping carbon dioxide and nitrogen in the land, also serve as food for livestock farming. More precisely, the sheep that feed on it and, in a natural way, distribute the best-quality manure on the plantation, additionally improve the quality of land.

– This kind of a circular economy model and our own proven methodology of growing hazels, which makes for much higher yields than usual, with the use of the latest technologies for precision agriculture, such as satellite images, drones, sensors and artificial intelligence, ensure a high profitability of the production. An especially interesting aspect is that the investors make a return on the invest not just from the sale of the hazelnuts, but also from the sale of carbon credits, which are a fast-growing and very promising market – points out eKapija’s interviewee.

Tokenization of other cultures and expansion to African continent planned

The company’s development path was challenging and thorny, and a full three years passed from the initial idea to the realization.

– The Treesury journey started from informal conversations with friends who immediately had a very positive reaction to my idea and offered help with the realization. That way, very spontaneously, I would even say as fate dictated, at the friends’ recommendations, in only two weeks, the whole founding team gathered, but also a large number of associates, experts that we needed for the materialization of this project – says Paunovic.

The first partner which recognized the significance of the innovation was the BioSense Institute from Novi Sad, and then also the Innovation Fund, the Science-Technology Park Belgrade, the GIST accelerator, USAID through the “Big Small Businesses” project, EBRD.

After the opening of the public offering of the Treesury Tokens, a series of presentations at conferences promoting innovations, digitization and investments is to follow, from Bosnia and Herzegovina, through Switzerland, Spain, Great Britain and Portugal, to the United Arab Emirates and Singapore.

– The medium-term plans primarily include the scaling of the hazelnut plantations, but also the tokenization of other cultures, such as sugar beet, barley for beer, raspberries and walnuts, in cooperation with proven agricultural producers from the region which have already expressed their interest in this type of financing of their production. The long-term plans include an expansion to the African continent, through the already realized partnerships, for the purpose of the modernization of agricultural production and the strengthening of our partners’ supply chains, which a special focus on the production of cocoa – concludes eKapija’s interviewee, Jovan Paunovic.

Aleksandra Kekic

Treesury d.o.o. Beograd

Komisija za hartije od vrednosti Republike Srbije Beograd

Jovan Paunović

Treesury Token

Treesury tokens

hazel

hazelnut

hazelnut farming

sale of hazelnuts

price of hazelnuts

hazelnut market

investments in hazelnuts

passive investments

negative carbon footprint

blockchain

Corylus

Tonda di Giffoni

Tonda Gentile Romana

Nocchione

Tonda Gentile delle Langhe

sale of carbon credits