With a month to go before RFSI Europe returns to Brussels for nearly a week of programming focused on strategies for investing in regenerative agriculture, RFSI convened investors for a dialogue on how they are evaluating the opportunity. Joining us for the conversation were Hallie Fox of The Nest Family Office, Antony Yousefian of The First Thirty – an agri-health focused venture firm, and natural capital and food systems investment advisor Alberto Millan.
The conversation moved fluidly across topics, shedding light on how each participant came to work in regenerative investment, the outcomes each seeks to achieve through capital deployment, and what each believes it will take to bring more capital into the space. We began by exploring what drew their organizations to regenerative agriculture and food investing, and why they view the sector as such a compelling opportunity.
What emerged was not only a rich discussion of regenerative agriculture investing, but also a clear illustration of the diversity of approaches within the field that also underscores the breadth of opportunity for different types of capital to engage meaningfully.
Why Regenerative
Before digging into the substance of the opportunity, we wanted to understand what brought each participant into the regenerative agriculture space.
Founded in 2021, The Nest Family Office developed its approach by first assessing the food system investment landscape across three dimensions: where capital was already flowing (such as alternative proteins and vertical farming), where there was real potential for transformation , and where clear gaps in investment existed. As a family office able to deploy flexible capital, The Nest sought to position itself to fill gaps, bring additional value, and help drive transformation. This led them to regenerative agriculture- a system they felt allowed them to work with nature rather than against it, in contrast to many other food system trends they were observing. Fox explained that today The Nest’s impact goals span environmental outcomes, human health and nutrition, and farmer equity and fairness, and that they seek investments aligned across all three.
Alberto Millan brings an agronomic background to more than a decade of work advising funders and investors in natural capital, agriculture, and food systems. His experience spans Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where he worked on natural resource management challenges such as improving soil health, increasing water-use efficiency, integrating livestock, and boosting yields while building long-term resilience. This hands-on work shaped his engagement with investors, where he came to see that many of the risks (real or perceived) associated with agriculture could be mitigated, and returns enhanced, through better land and natural capital management.
Yousefian shared that his journey was shaped by a diverse background spanning venture start-ups, on-the-ground work with farmers, and investing. Across these experiences, he witnessed firsthand how improving soil health and animal health can generate positive outcomes for human health, ecosystem health, and productivity. This conviction led him to co-found The First Thirty – named for the critical importance of the first 30 centimeters of soil.
What Makes Regenerative Agriculture a Compelling Investment Opportunity?
Risk & Resilience
Millan describes natural capital as “critical infrastructure that underpins the economy,” explaining that natural capital underpins roughly 55% of global GDP. He sees regenerative agriculture as one of its core pillars. Agriculture benefits from strong market fundamentals, including sustained demand for food, feed, and fiber driven by a growing global population, which in turn supports long-term asset appreciation. He also sees increasing demand from both investors and corporates for solutions that integrate nature and climate considerations. Over time, he believes fiduciary duty itself will require nature to be reflected on the balance sheet.
Meeting Demand
Yousefian also sees demand playing a role in the opportunity – only he emphasizes the growing demand for what regenerative agriculture can deliver in terms of human health. While The First Thirty initially approached the space through a climate lens, they found that climate alone was not always a sufficient investment driver. Their current thesis centers on health – because people inherently value their own health. This shift is reflected in rising awareness of ultra-processed foods which are driving the prevalence of chronic disease in countries like the U.S. and the U.K., and the dramatic uptake of GLP-1 drugs for weight loss. Agriculture’s potential to address human health outcomes at scale, he argues, represents a large and investable opportunity.
Portfolio Diversification
Beyond impact alignment, regenerative food systems are compelling for The Nest because of the breadth of ways they can engage. A core goal is to build a diversified portfolio across asset classes, value chains, and risk-return profiles. This includes investments in real asset funds alongside venture and private equity investments in individual companies—allowing The Nest to balance financial returns, risk exposure, and its impact mandate.
Better Financials
Fox reinforced the financial case, noting that within The Nest’s portfolio, farms using regenerative practices have demonstrated greater resilience across varying climate conditions. Farmers employing regenerative and organic practices are also showing stronger margins and overall financial performance. In their experience, regenerative approaches do not require sacrificing economic outcomes for impact—in fact, emerging data increasingly suggests the opposite.
An Undervalued Sector
Yousefian pointed to a fundamental mismatch in the market: agriculture – and food more broadly – is consistently undervalued. In his view, soil in particular is a deeply undervalued asset, despite its foundational role in human health. This disconnect creates an opportunity for strong returns. He also noted that rapidly falling technology costs are accelerating investability across the sector, further strengthening the opportunity set.
What’s Next?
The enthusiasm for regenerative agriculture was clear throughout the conversation – from our panelists and from the hundreds of participants who tuned in to learn from them and ask questions. Yet alongside that enthusiasm was an acknowledgment that investment in the sector remains relatively nascent and, in some cases, still perceived as risky.
The final part of the discussion explored these themes with dialogue around who is investing today, what continues to hold capital back, and what it will take to attract more investors – faster. A key takeaway was that while regenerative agriculture offers significant value, greater awareness is needed around the data and real-world experience that already exist. To unlock more capital, we need to demystify regenerative agriculture investing and more clearly tell the story it is already capable of telling.
You can explore the rest of the conversation here and also join us for several days of programming around these and other crucial topics about the strategic expansion of investments in regenerative agriculture and food systems at the 3rd annual RFSI Europe event in Brussels on March 4-5.
Sarah Day Levesque is Managing Director at RFSI & Editor of RFSI News. She can be reached here.