Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food

366 Austin Unruh - Silvopasture, planting trees on millions of acres of grassland, is the most scalable and profitable regen solution

May 20, 2025

Ask episode

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

A conversation with Austin Unruh, founder of Trees for Graziers, about the investment case for silvopasture. What if we could plant hundreds of millions of trees on degraded, low-value pasture land and make money from it? What if we planted trees that are beneficial for livestock—ruminants, pigs, and poultry? The market for meat and animal products is fairly stable (unless we get a massive breakthrough in precision fermentation soon, but that’s hard to predict). Trees can dramatically lower costs and increase production.
Austin argues that this is the best entry point to get many more trees into the landscape. When chosen well, these trees provide shade (a basic need), but more importantly, they offer feed during the most difficult periods of the year—like high summer, or specific fruits that drop in the autumn, full of sugar and energy, just as cows prepare for the colder winter months. Especially with pasture-raised pigs and poultry, you can save massively on expensive (organic) feed, which is mostly grain. And as a bonus, pastures grow better with partial shade.

More about this episode on https://investinginregenerativeagriculture.com/austin-unruh.

==========================

In Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food podcast show we talk to the pioneers in the regenerative food and agriculture space to learn more on how to put our money to work to regenerate soil, people, local communities and ecosystems while making an appropriate and fair return. Hosted by Koen van Seijen.

==========================

👩🏻‍💻 VISIT OUR WEBSITE https://investinginregenerativeagriculture.com/

📚 JOIN OUR VIDEO COURSE: https://investinginregenerativeagriculture.com/course/

💪🏻 SUPPORT OUR WORK https://investinginregenag.gumroad.com