The growth of agribusiness, which prioritizes efficiency and profit maximization, has led to an over-concentrated and consolidated food system. Today, this system is fragile and broken. Recent global events have spotlighted the ways in which this drive toward efficiency comes at a cost of resilience. The landscape is now ripe for impact investors as new farm and food businesses are emerging that are profitable while attaining goals of equity, livelihoods, human health, and planetary health.
Regenerative agriculture – in its most holistic definition – has to potential to address the interdependent issues of climate change, biodiversity loss, and increasing income inequality. Our session will involve companies and investors who are working with farmers and land stewards in East Africa that produce healthy food, create community wealth, and enhance ecosystems and biodiversity.
We propose a panel discussion followed by a dialogue with the participants about the following questions:
o How can an investor discern deeply regenerative investments and, inversely, how can a company or fund manager tell their holistic story?
o What business and investment models are demonstrating the financial viability of regenerative approaches?
o How are we growing the regenerative asset class?
Our panel will include representatives from the following organizations.
o The Rockefeller Foundation has been mapping the landscape of regenerative finance and calling for increased ambition from philanthropy for regenerative food systems.
o Transformational Investing in Food Systems (TIFS) is supporting an impact network aimed at catalyzing capital for regenerative futures. TIFS has developed holistic screening tools for funds and companies.
o Grounded Investment Company has created an innovative investing approach and is investing in regenerative companies in East Africa.
o Neycha is an agroecological business accelerator and fund that is growing regenerative companies in East Africa.
o Neycha, Grounded, and TIFS are leading efforts to build a regenerative and agroecological investment community of practice in East Africa
In this session, we’ll use an interactive format to examine the characteristics of food businesses that embrace these values, highlight examples of investments that can achieve holistic impact goals, and apply investing tools that can help move toward a regenerative economy.
