Thank you to our Presenting Sponsor, Impact Ag Partners, our outstanding speakers, and our attendees who made the Regenerative Food Systems Investment Australia virtual series a success!
A Virtual Series to Catalyze Investment in Regenerative Agriculture in Australia and Beyond
This three-part virtual series explored the opportunity to invest in natural capital and regenerative food systems in Australia and the Oceanic region. Each session included a review of the current investment landscape, proven case studies, barriers to be addressed, and fundable opportunities in the space.
Regenerative Food Systems Investment (RFSI) Australia was created to connect investors to strategies and opportunities to diversify risk, improve returns and increase impact through the deployment of capital to regenerative agriculture and food systems in Australia and the broader region.
The aim of RFSI Australia is to bring a diverse investor community together to catalyze a long-term conversation around investment in regenerative agriculture and food systems in Australia and beyond, as well as to dig into the how of creating and executing finance and investment solutions that help expand these systems and their positive impacts.
HIDDEN BLOCK
The goals of RFSI Australia include to:
Define the opportunities for investment and capital needed to move these systems forward
Connect investors and funders from across the region (and the world) to the opportunities in regenerative agriculture
Address the barriers for further adoption of and investment in of this type of system
Examine and learn from success stories and case studies
Facilitate a dialogue between the many diverse actors in the regenerative agriculture, food, finance and investment ecosystem
< AGENDA ANCHOR >
Agenda | Virtual Program
RFSI Australia will be held on three consecutive Thursday mornings: July 21, July 28, and Aug. 4 from 10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. AEST (Wednesday evening July 20, 27, and Aug. 3 in the U.S.). Each day will feature 2 hours of learning followed by optional small-group networking.
Here’s a more detailed look at the topics that will be covered each day:
Day One
Day 1
July 20 (USA) | July 21 (AUS)
Investing in Farmland and Natural Capital
July 20
Time zone: EDT USA
July 21
Time zone: AEST Australia
Session
8:00 PM EDT
10:00 AM AEST
Welcome
8:10 PM EDT
10:10 AM AEST
The Case for Investing in Farmland & Natural Capital
Katrina King, QIC
8:20 PM EDT
10:20 AM AEST
Case Study 1: Building Natural Capital
Toby Grogan, Impact Ag Partners
8:50 PM EDT
10:50 AM AEST
Case Study 2: Landscape Scale Investment in Building Natural Capital
Geoff Murrell & Elaine Mitchell, Packhorse
9:20 PM EDT
11:20 AM AEST
Case Study 3: Grass-fed Beef
Graham Finlayson, SLM Partners
9:40 PM EDT
11:40 AM AEST
Case Study 4: Farmer-Backed Farmland Investment
Stephen Fisher and Samual Marwood, Cultivate Farms
10:00 PM EDT
12:00 PM AEST
Panel Discussion
10:30 PM EDT
12:30 AM AEST
Close of Session 1
Day 2
July 27 (USA) | July 28 (AUS)
Investing in Technology to Enable Regeneration
July 27
Time zone: EDT USA
July 28
Time zone: AEST Australia
Session
8:00 PM EDT
10:00 AM AEST
Welcome
8:05 PM EDT
10:05 AM AEST
Investing in Agtech to Enable Regeneration in Australia and Beyond
Matthew Pryor, Tenacious Ventures
8:40 PM EDT
10:40 AM AEST
Case Study 1: Biologicals on the Farm
Kellie Walters, VRM Biologik Group
9:00 PM EDT
11:00 AM AEST
Case Study 2: Soil Mapping
Sam Duncan, FarmLab
9:20 PM EDT
11:20 AM AEST
Case Study 3: Supply Chain Tech
Bridie Ohlsson, Geora
9:40 PM EDT
11:40 AM AEST
Don’t Forget the Farmer: Considerations at the Intersection of Technology and Regenerative Farmers
Carolyn Suggate, ORI Coop
10:00 PM EDT
12:00 PM AEST
Panel Discussion
10:30 PM EDT
12:30 PM AEST
Close of Session 2
Day 3
August 3 (USA) | August 4 (AUS)
Building and Investing in Regenerative Food Systems
August 3
Time zone: EDT USA
august 4
Time zone: AEST Australia
Session
8:00 PM EDT
10:00 AM AEST
Welcome
8:05 PM EDT
10:05 AM AEST
The Landscape & Consumer Demand for Organic & Regenerative Food
Anni Brownjohn, Ozganics Australia
8:25 PM EDT
10:25 AM AEST
Building a Systems Approach to Funding Regeneration
Case Study: Investing in Data as an Asset Using Blended Capital
Mike Taitoko & Nathalie Whitaker, TOHA
8:50 PM EDT
10:50 AM AEST
Investing in Technology to Advance Regenerative Food Systems
Sarah Nolet, Tenacious Ventures; Nancy Schellhorn, RapidAIM; Jocie Bate, SwarmFarm
9:30 PM EDT
11:30 AM AEST
Case Study
9:45 PM EDT
11:45 AM AEST
Investor Round Up
10:10 PM EDT
12:10 PM AEST
New & Innovative Sources of Capital
Lee Brennan, Future Super; Paul McMahon, SLM Partners
10:50 PM EDT
12:50 PM AEST
Program Wrap-up
11:00 PM EDT
1:00 PM AEST
Networking
< SPEAKERS ANCHOR >
Speakers
We’re gathering a diverse group of practitioners and thought-leaders for an informative and engaging agenda. Check out the line-up we have for you, plus more added each day!
Sam Duncan
Sam Duncan
CEO
FarmLab
Graham Finlayson
Graham Finlayson
General Manager, SLM Partners
Graham Finlayson has 19 years of experience in pastoral farming in Australia. Together with his wife Cathy, he purchased the 7,000 hectare farm Bokhara Plains in New South Wales in 1999 and began to introduce regenerative planned grazing in 2002. He achieved significant increases in carrying capacity, eventually running more than 1,200 cattle. The property also demonstrated measurable improvements in grass cover, soil quality, water management and biodiversity, and has been profiled by Australia’s Soils for Life programme.
Graham has received a number of awards in recognition of his achievements. He was awarded the New South Wales Young Farmers of the Year award in 2006, a Regional Primary Production award in 2007 and a Nuffield Farming Scholarship in 2008. This scholarship allowed him to study regenerative land management on rangelands across the world. Graham has also been employed as a ‘mentor’ to other farmers by the Western Catchment Authority of New South Wales.
Graham graduated with distinction from Longreach Pastoral College in Queensland.
Graham is General Manager of SLM Partners Australia. He is responsible for managing all operations of the SLM Australia Livestock Fund on its cattle properties in Queensland and New South Wales.
Stephen Fisher
Stephen Fisher is Founder and Managing Director of Circular Head Farms in North West Tasmania. A locally owned investment group provided an opportunity for Australians to invest in agriculture and build equity and potentially provide a pathway onto farm ownership.
Adam Gibson
Adam Gibson
Director
Venture Organic
Adam is a founder and lead coach of Health Leaders Academy. He has mentored over 700 individual business, helping them commercialize concepts, services, products and practices in natural health and integrative medicine by developing contrarian strategy around areas such as value creation, authority marketing, employment practices and bundled service delivery. Adam is a Health & Wellness Entrepreneur, speaker, business mentor, commercializing innovations in organics & natural Health.
Toby Grogan
Toby Grogan
Chief Operating Officer
Impact Ag Partners
Toby has 20 years’ experience in due diligence, mergers and acquisitions, asset management and natural capital assessments across a range of industries including resources, agricultural, infrastructure and governmental sectors. More recently Toby has been focused on developing Nature Based Solution investments and leading the measurement and monetisation of natural capital across Impact Ag managed assets as well as independently managed portfolios.
Brock Hatton
Brock Hatton
CEO
Chief Nutrition
Brock has a long standing and successful career in the health and wellness industry, something he feels very passionate about both professionally and personally. Chief Nutrition believes that you can't have a healthy product without it also being good for the planet so their range of exceptionally healthy snacks uses regeneratively farmed ingredients to have a net positive impact on the environment. The team at Chief Nutrition are taking a stand against fake food to deliver the best possible products.
Katrina King
Katrina King
QIC
Jade Miles
Jade Miles
CEO
Sustainable Table
With the bush in her bones and business in her head, Jade Miles is a poly-jobist to the core. She’s a local food advocate and educator, business builder, food co-op founder, author, podcaster and regenerative heritage fruit farmer.
Together with her husband and three kids, Jade runs Black Barn Farm, a biodiverse orchard, nursery and workshop space in Northeast Victoria. She’s an active presence in the regenerative space, hosting school programs, permaculture and homesteading workshops while sitting on multiple boards – all in the name of reconnecting people to nature, food and a simpler existence.
Before landing at Sustainable Table, Jade ran her own business start-up consultancy for over a decade, worked as Industry Development Manager for the Regional Tourism Board and established the Beechworth Food Co-op for good measure. She brings this breadth of skills and relentless enthusiasm to her role at ST, where she joins the dots between Our Fund and incredible regenerative projects around the country to build capacity and expedite change.
“We all eat, and by celebrating our farmers and considering our choices we can make a profound difference to rural Australia, our health, our land and our culture.”
Dr. Elaine Mitchell
Dr. Elaine Mitchell, Head of ESG, Packhorse
Dr Elaine Mitchell is a Research Associate in the Managing for Resilient Landscapes theme at Queensland University of Technology’s Institute of Future Environments. Her research focuses on soil carbon, with a particular interest in the mechanisms and drivers of the formation and persistence of soil organic carbon, and how its responds to agricultural management and global environmental change.
Geoff Murrell
Geoff has a depth of Australian pastoral experience including management positions at Stanbroke Pastoral Company and S. Kidman & Co Ltd. In 2011, Geoff joined Macquarie Bank’s Paraway Pastoral division as General Manager Northern Australia Operations, where he spent almost a decade leading a highly respected team in a business that consistently delivered strong returns for investors and 1bn funds under management.
Bridie Ohlsson
Bridie is the CEO and co-founder of agtech/fintech startup, Geora. Since 2016, Bridie has navigated the intersection of blockchain and agriculture heading up the blockchain pilot program at AgriDigital. She authored use cases in a range of publications including CSRIO Data61's Architecture for Blockchain Applications as well as for the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. Bridie holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Sydney and a Bachelor of Arts studying at both the University of Sydney and Sciences Po, Paris.
Matthew Pryor
Matthew Pryor
Partner
Tenacious Ventures
Matthew Pryor is co-founder of Tenacious Ventures, and a founding board member of the Australian AgriTech Association. He was previously co-founder of Observant, an Australian agtech pioneer acquired by Jain Irrigation in February 2017. He was the founding chair of Rocket Seeder, a food & ag innovation accelerator, and founding chair of the Australian Government Agriculture 4.0 Task Force. He is a member of the CSIRO Agriculture and Food Advisory Committee, and is passionate about promoting Australian agri-food innovation globally.
Sam Tretheway
Sam Tretheway
Founder
Tas Ag Co.
Tas Ag Co was founded by us, husband and wife team Sam and Steph Trethewey. We run the business from our farm in the state’s Central North where we live with our two children Elliot and Evie. Sam is a third generation Tasmanian farmer and entrepreneur who spent 15+ years working on farms and across cities in the startup, agtech and agribusiness space. With a joint passion for food, provenance and the environment, Sam and Stephanue launched Tas Ag Co to produce a unique eating experience for consumers and to challenge the food industry to do better.
Connect with others in the space — The ability to chat with others in the audience AND informal networking after the program makes it easy to find new fruitful connections.
