Regenerative Food Systems Investment Forum Wrap up:
Last week nearly 200 people from across the regenerative food system and the investing community gathered at the inaugural Regenerative Food Systems Investment Forum in Oakland, CA.
With a jam-packed agenda, an all-star speaker lineup, and a tremendous diversity of perspectives all in one room, the event was ripe with opportunities to learn, build relationships, and move investment in this space forward. The energy was palpable and takeaways were lasting.
Read the most recent coverage of the Forum:
Thoughts on the First RFSI Forum
Lauren Stine of AgFunder News explains key takeaways from the RFSI Forum about the role data and nutrition may (or may not) play in moving the needle forward on investment in regenerative agriculture. Read more
Making the Investment Case for Regenerative Agriculture
Farmers and investors can make financial gains from regenerative agricultural production systems but limitations, including a small regenerative farmer pool and the intricacies of dealing with different regions, exist. Read more
Investing in Regenerative Agriculture Podcast at the Forum
Just one of the many highlights of the Forum was having the voice of the Investing in Regenerative Agriculture podcast, Koen van Seijen, join us in person. Koen moderated a panel on investing in regenerative farmland and also took the opportunity to do some live podcasting.
Soil Wealth with David LeZaks and Josh Humphreys
Koen speaks with two RFSI Forum speakers and authors of the Soil Wealth report about the state of investment in regenerative food systems. Listen here
Highlights of the RFSI Forum with Ethan Soloviev
In a special edition of the Regeneration Newsroom podcast, Koen and Ethan Soloviev of HowGood share takeaways from the RFSI Forum. Listen here
Sneak Peek Inside the 2019 RFSI Forum
If you weren’t able to join us at this inaugural event, we hope you will join us in 2020 – stay tuned for more information. In the meantime, take a look at some of the images we captured from the event.
Big Steps for Small Farms:
Small Farms are Struggling—Now There’s Help for That
Through Steward, an online crowdfunding platform, individual investors can put as little as $100 into small, sustainable farms that otherwise have trouble gaining access to government and bank loans. Read more
Steward Cultivates a New Kind of Farm Investor
Fisheye Farms in Detroit is an early success story for Steward, one of several impact investing companies focused on enabling investment in sustainable and regenerative agriculture around the world. Read more
Focus on Food:
Multinationals Planting Seeds to Restore Biodiversity
Danone, L’Oreal, and Google are a few of the 19 companies that have formed One Planet Business for Biodiversity with the goals of supporting the broader use of regenerative agriculture, expanding product portfolios to move away from monoculture, and restoring fragile ecosystems. Read more
Industrial Food System at the Heart of Biodiversity Degradation
The author believes that our current way of feeding ourselves is responsible for many of the biggest problems we face. But, she says, if redesigned and rebuilt, our food system can be turned on its head so that it’s the source of the climate resilient solutions we need. Read more
Funding a Circular Economy:
BlackRock becomes Ellen MacArthur Foundation Global Partner
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is partnering with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation with goals of accelerating the transition to a circular economy and playing a role in addressing major issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Read more
What We’re Reading:
Australian science writer Julian Cribb sat down with the Food Policy Center to discuss how our current food systems are taking us down a dangerous path and what we can do to change them. Read more
Finance for a Farming Revolution
EuroMoney looks at why the world must improve its regenerative and sustainable agricultural practices and the new tools and support from the financial services industry that are needed to fund that transition. Read more
Food Companies Collaborate on EU-funded Novel Protein Project
Pasta residues, bread crusts, and brewer’s spent yeast are the focus of a new project funded by the European Union, which sees 33 players collaborate to develop novel proteins from industry by-products. Read more
Regenerative News Bites:
Canadian Farmers Have Made Significant Emissions Reductions
The Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI) released a report showing that the country’s ag sector has made significant progress in making the soils in crop and animal production a net carbon sink, as well as reducing emission intensity of animal agriculture. Read more
More Than 10 Million Acres Submitted for Terraton Initiative
Indigo Agriculture announces that farmers have outpaced company expectations, submitting more than 10 million acres of cropland to the global effort launched in June 2019 to draw down atmospheric carbon dioxide through agricultural soils. Read more