RR News Update: October 10, 2019

October 10, 2019 | Blog

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.

View Photo Gallery

 

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:

Author Julian Cribb on his New Book, Food or War, and Why Food Insecurity Should be a National Security Priority

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