News: Silta and Royal Eijkelkamp partner in aims to channel financing towards nature-inclusive agriculture
Royal Eijkelkamp will explore how the Silta solution can help finance projects related to nature-inclusive agriculture through DeFi and TradFi.
Royal Eijkelkamp is a family business that offers a range of solutions for soil and water projects around the world in order to contribute to a safe and healthy living environment. With its HQ in Giesbeek and subsidiaries in Sassenheim, Bromsgrove, UK and Wilmington, NC, Royal Eijkelkamp is powered by more than 110 years’ experience and expertise in soil and water research. Together with its network, the company seeks to offer solutions — including one-stop solutions — for soil- and water-related problems associated with issues such as food security and climate adaptation.
Royal Eijkelkamp works with governments all over the world on groundwater monitoring and measurement. One of the problems encountered is the chemicals used in agriculture which end up in the groundwater for a long time. This is why Royal Eijkelkamp is driving a transition into nature-inclusive agriculture — a form of sustainable agriculture which does not utilise fertilisers, chemicals, pesticides or fungicides, but enforces the microbiological system in order to grow a resilient food and ecosystem without chemicals. Going forward, these kinds of projects could be funded by Silta’s network of financiers.
Alfred Geitenbeek, Director Strategic Business Development of Royal Eijkelkamp, comments on the partnership: “When moving into inclusive agriculture, business cases are sometimes softer than you would need in order to gain financing from banks. Silta might serve private persons, companies and institutions with a softer view and a better understanding for financing impact projects. We see huge potential for sharing our network in the Silta ecosystem for continuous feedback and creativity. We also believe that a Silta investor can contribute a lot to increase our impact through knowledge sharing and perhaps even active participation. We like to see the solution as an active community with a shared mission for a more inclusive world!”
One example of Royal Eijkelkamp’s upcoming agriculture projects is a community development project with a real business case in South Africa, where local communities organised in a foundation or other structure are wishing to develop agriculture and ecology with a phased approach. The first phase would involve the local production of crops and corn for own use and for sales in supermarkets. The second phase would involve the produce of expert crops, such as a high-value crop like blueberries. The third phase might include wildlife restoration in the area. The total estimated value of this kind of project is estimated at 10M€ split in phases over a 4 to 5 year period, and could be financed through a blend from private institutions and Silta’s network of lenders.
Silta performs due diligence and assesses the viability of borrowers’ projects and their impact. The resulting Silta Score, stored on-chain in an NFT, enables Silta’s network of pre-qualified DeFi and TradFi lenders to assess the project and make offers to lend.
“Royal Eijkelkamp’s continuous work towards creating a positive and lasting contribution is aligned with Silta’s mission to facilitate access to finance for building sustainable real-world infrastructure assets,” says Carlos Pancrazi, Outreach Manager of Silta. “Their focus on building nature-inclusive agriculture to avoid the use of pesticides in the fields is a critical aspect to improving the quality of our life and environment.”
About Royal Eijkelkamp
Royal Eijkelkamp: Personal attention and a unique range of solutions: for more than 110 years, this has been the trademark at Royal Eijkelkamp. Royal Eijkelkamp has been devising, developing, producing and delivering solutions for soil and water related projects worldwide since 1911.
About Silta Finance
Silta DAO steers DeFi and TradFi towards sustainability-focused developers of real-world assets (RWA). Silta is paving the way for community-led, decentralized due diligence and impact assessment in project financing. The Silta Score represents the risks and impacts of a particular RWA project. DeFi protocols and TradFi lenders can use the Silta Score to gain insights into the use of funds and risks associated with a project. Find out more at silta.finance.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended as any kind of investment advice. Read our full legal disclaimer here. For further information, email us at contact@silta.finance.
