*UPDATED APRIL 2024* Putting $3.75B to work in regen, why these 23 Funds could transform agriculture
*This post is updated in February 2024!* We also added more funds focussed on the broader regenerative food systems (not directly investing in farmland)
After interviewing 300+ people for the podcast Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food, we noticed many people are setting up investment funds to rebuild soil (either directly or indirectly) and we asked ourself the question:
Could these investment funds really transform agriculture?
In the next few posts I explain why we (farmers, impact investors, consumers, regeneration enthusiasts in general) should pay much more attention to this emerging group of fund managers.
People building soil — beyond their own farm gate — beyond their own money.
Notice the key words here, beyond their land and beyond their own money!
Why (re)building soil?
In our lifetime we will have to regenerate billions of hectares of degraded or abandoned farmland and, while doing so, regenerate people, local communities and whole ecosystems.
If you are new to this space and want to find out more about why this is crucial, you can find a lot of great resources on the websites of Commonland, Regeneration International, Kiss the Ground, Regen Network and NoRegrets.
So let’s state that every farmer and landowner should be rebuilding her or his soil.
Which would be amazing! But sadly many won’t…
Lack of knowledge and resources make this regenerative transition very difficult.
Why look at fund managers??
In this regenerative agriculture and food revolution there is a lot of attention on companies, their suppliers, individual hero farmers, policies, certification schemes. Billions of investment capital will try to enter the regenerative agriculture and food space in the next 10 years.
Together we can get these fund managers on our radar and make sure this investment money finds an effective and relevant place to get to work, rebuilding soil, people, local communities and ecosystems.
Together we can identify the ones truly committed and able to rebuild soil at scale and keep them accountable, while a fair financial return comes back to the investors.
We made start, please click to find the full Google Sheet here and add your comments to help us create an up to date overview of which soil building funds are there and who is planning to start such a fund/vehicle!
P.S. We don’t think investment funds building soil are thé solution to all agriculture challenges (far from that), but instead saying that they are an important piece of the puzzle and thus deserve our attention.
Thank you to Ethan Roland Soloviev for designing the Google sheet back, all your feedback and helping me to write this article for the first time in 2018!
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