Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food

How to take the plunge when wanting to invest in regenerative agriculture. ----------------------------------------------------------Welcome to Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food.Join our Gumroad community, discover the tiers and benefits here: www.gumroad.com/investinginregenag. Other ways to support our work:- Share the podcast - Give a 5-star rating- Or buy us a coffee… or a meal! www.Ko-fi.com/regenerativeagriculture. ----------------------------------------------------------- This time I interviewed Rufo Quintavalle, impact investor and poet. He shared his journey into investing in regenerative agriculture and gave a lot of tips on how to start investing in regenerative agriculture and take the plunge! Instead of Silicon Valleys “Move fast and break things, we need move slowly and build things”Tips of Rufo: Don’t be too hasty but don’t be too slow either, set aside a bit of money you can afford to potentially lose and put it to work.  Get yourself educated and learn, but don’t waste the time of entrepreneurs and fund managers, don’t set up endless calls if you have no interest in investing. Think about where in the value chain you want to invest, the land itself, the processing. Think about the geographies. Think about water, many places have inadequate water supply, so make sure you take that risk into account.Alternative proteins: Rufo is extremely interested in fruits and vegetables with high protein content as replacements for animal protein. There are 4000 thousands fruits in the Amazon, and we don’t know what half of them do. And he is a bit worried about some high tech meat replacements. Clean meat. Because if the IP ends up being owned by a few wealthy people, we maybe create more negative social consequences than we create positive one. Show notes and links:www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.com/2018/01/31/rufo-quintavalle. ----------------------------------------------------------- For feedback, ideas, suggestions please contact us through Twitter @KoenvanSeijen, or get in touch through the website www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.com. Join our newsletter on www.eepurl.com/cxU33P. The above references an opinion and is for information and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professionaThoughts? Ideas? Questions? Send us a message!Find out more about the position here:https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4278379588 https://investinginregenerativeagriculture.com/course Thank you to our Field Builders Circle for supporting us. Learn more hereSupport the showFeedback, ideas, suggestions? - Twitter @KoenvanSeijen - Get in touch www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.comJoin our newsletter on www.eepurl.com/cxU33P! Support the showThanks for listening and sharing!

The biggest threat to sustainability is anonymity.----------------------------------------------------------Welcome to Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food.Join our Gumroad community, discover the tiers and benefits here: www.gumroad.com/investinginregenag. Other ways to support our work:- Share the podcast - Give a 5-star rating- Or buy us a coffee… or a meal! www.Ko-fi.com/regenerativeagriculture. ----------------------------------------------------------- At the office of Eosta I interviewed Volkert Engelsman. CEO of Eosta, international distributor of fresh organic and fair fruits and vegetables. Volkert's views:"The biggest threat to sustainability is anonymity""If I don’t know you I can exploit you""Trade in our case is not about buying low and selling high, it is responsibly running a supply chain""Marketing sustainability automatically leads to monetising sustainability"He prefers to talk only about profit but we have to factor in the costs of people and planet. So Eosta started measuring the 20% of the kpis which make up 80% of the impact to find the true cost of organic. Organic apples are for instance 19 euro cents healthier per kilo compared to conventional apples. Only looking at the pesticide differences. By taking data from the EFSA European food safety agency on pesticide residue, and fed that data to the models of DALI disability life year calculation of the WHO. "Organic is not too expensive, conventional (chemical) is too cheap" To raise awareness for the proactive healthcare of food. Eosta will be looking at the health benefits of organic food with a campaign called: doctor Goodfood. Where to start investing in a food system for the future in quite simple according to Volkert:Show notes and links:www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.com/2018/02/01/volkert-engelsman. Please hit the share button if you think this interview is relevant for someone you know!----------------------------------------------------------- For feedback, ideas, suggestions please contact us through Twitter @KoenvanSeijen, or get in touch through the website www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.com. Join our newsletter on www.eepurl.com/cxU33P. The above references an opinion and is for information and educational purposes only. It is not iThoughts? Ideas? Questions? Send us a message!Find out more about the position here:https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4278379588 https://investinginregenerativeagriculture.com/course Thank you to our Field Builders Circle for supporting us. Learn more hereSupport the showFeedback, ideas, suggestions? - Twitter @KoenvanSeijen - Get in touch www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.comJoin our newsletter on www.eepurl.com/cxU33P! Support the showThanks for listening and sharing!

The head of constructive capital at Dr Bronner's explains why they are investing in regenerative agriculture----------------------------------------------------------Welcome to Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food.Join our Gumroad community, discover the tiers and benefits here: www.gumroad.com/investinginregenag. Other ways to support our work:- Share the podcast - Give a 5-star rating- Or buy us a coffee… or a meal! www.Ko-fi.com/regenerativeagriculture. ----------------------------------------------------------- Today I’m joined by Les Szabo, director of constructive capital at Dr Bronner’s. The top-selling brand of natural soap in North America. We discussed what a soap company is doing investing in the regenerative agriculture space. How they found themselves bringing together unlikely allies like vegans and regenerative ranchers. To target a common enemy: factory farming. Les shared how they got started (and how you can do the same), their work around regenerative animal feed and a fund they are starting together with Patagonia, which will be open for outside investors. Too much to cover in a summary, I hope you enjoy listening to the full story!For show notes and all links:www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.com/2018/01/16/les-szabo. Please hit the share button if you think this interview is relevant for someone you know!----------------------------------------------------------- For feedback, ideas, suggestions please contact us through Twitter @KoenvanSeijen, or get in touch through the website www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.com. Join our newsletter on www.eepurl.com/cxU33P. The above references an opinion and is for information and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.Thoughts? Ideas? Questions? Send us a message!Find out more about the position here:https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4278379588 https://investinginregenerativeagriculture.com/course Thank you to our Field Builders Circle for supporting us. Learn more hereSupport the showFeedback, ideas, suggestions? - Twitter @KoenvanSeijen - Get in touch www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.comJoin our newsletter on www.eepurl.com/cxU33P! Support the showThanks for listening and sharing!

How the regenerative agriculture revolution starts by connecting small holder farmers in rural India with customers in the city.----------------------------------------------------------Welcome to Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food.Join our Gumroad community, discover the tiers and benefits here: www.gumroad.com/investinginregenag. Other ways to support our work:- Share the podcast - Give a 5-star rating- Or buy us a coffee… or a meal! www.Ko-fi.com/regenerativeagriculture. ----------------------------------------------------------- Today I’m talking to Shameek Chakravarty cofounder of Farmizen based in Bangalore India, on Farmizen everyone can rent mini-plots of farmland close to the city. You choose your vegetables and farmers then grow them organically for you and you can keep track of the harvest using the app. Basically it is a real life, organic, version of Farmville. We discussed the lives of Indian farmers and what challenges they face every day and how Farmizen is trying to fix those challenges. Key points:remove short term incentives for the farmers and they will take care of the land (farmers working with Farmizen receive 4/5 times as much and it is predictable)historically India had a very interesting natural farming practises, like Zero budget natural farming which Farmizen is bringing back with modern technologywhen you reconnect consumers with farmers and the land, trust will build Tips from Shameek for investors who want to start investing in the Regenerative Agriculture space:have a much longer investment horizonboth India and China are very interesting markets to look at from a regenerative agriculture point of view. Their soil quality has been deteriorated significantlyFor show notes and all links:www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.com/2018/01/21/shameek-chakravarty. Please hit the share button if you think this interview is relevant for someone you know!----------------------------------------------------------- For feedback, ideas, suggestions please contact us through Twitter @KoenvanSeijen, or get in touch through the website www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.com. Join our newsletter on www.eepurl.com/cxU33P. The above references an opinion and is for information and educational purposes only. It is not inteThoughts? Ideas? Questions? Send us a message!Find out more about the position here:https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4278379588 https://investinginregenerativeagriculture.com/course Thank you to our Field Builders Circle for supporting us. Learn more hereSupport the showFeedback, ideas, suggestions? - Twitter @KoenvanSeijen - Get in touch www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.comJoin our newsletter on www.eepurl.com/cxU33P! Support the showThanks for listening and sharing!

Writer of Dirt and Growing a Revolution.----------------------------------------------------------Welcome to Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food.Join our Gumroad community, discover the tiers and benefits here: www.gumroad.com/investinginregenag. Other ways to support our work:- Share the podcast - Give a 5-star rating- Or buy us a coffee… or a meal! www.Ko-fi.com/regenerativeagriculture. ----------------------------------------------------------- I interviewed David R Montgomery, writer of the book Growing a Revolution where he travelled around the world visiting farmers who are growing high quality produce, profitably while growing soil carbon. All of them shared the same approach to working with the soil: ditching the plow, covering the soil and diversifying crop rotations. Meeting these farmers turned him from a pessimist into a cautious optimist. Plus we touched upon a very interesting topic which I hope to discuss further in future interviews (and which will be the topic of a new book of David and his wife Anna). How do we grow more nutrient rich calories instead of just calories? Micro nutrient contents of food has dropped 25-50% over the past decades.Healthy food starts with healthy soil?! Some tips for impact investors:Look at financing the transition, how can you partner with farmers who don’t have the financial resources, make the transition to regenerative agriculture?Look into turning around degraded land and turn it into a net asset. Show notes and links:www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.com/2018/02/17/david-r-montgomery. Please hit the share button if you think this interview is relevant for someone you know!----------------------------------------------------------- For feedback, ideas, suggestions please contact us through Twitter @KoenvanSeijen, or get in touch through the website www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.com. Join our newsletter on www.eepurl.com/cxU33P. The above references an opinion and is for information and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.Thoughts? Ideas? Questions? Send us a message!Find out more about the position here:https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4278379588 https://investinginregenerativeagriculture.com/course Thank you to our Field Builders Circle for supporting us. Learn more hereSupport the showFeedback, ideas, suggestions? - Twitter @KoenvanSeijen - Get in touch www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.comJoin our newsletter on www.eepurl.com/cxU33P! Support the showThanks for listening and sharing!

How do we pay a fair price to our farmers? If not they can't take care of our land. ----------------------------------------------------------Welcome to Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food.Join our Gumroad community, discover the tiers and benefits here: www.gumroad.com/investinginregenag. Other ways to support our work:- Share the podcast - Give a 5-star rating- Or buy us a coffee… or a meal! www.Ko-fi.com/regenerativeagriculture. ----------------------------------------------------------- I interviewed Osvaldo de Falco, co-founder of Biorfarm. A platform which connects Italian organic fruit farmers directly to the end customers, while paying the farmers a fair price (usually 2 or 3 times as much compared to the traditional distribution channels).This is key in Regenerative Agriculture because if we don't pay our farmers a fair price they can't take care of and improve the land. Osvaldo experienced this problem first hand as his farther got 0,20/0,25 cents for his organic oranges, which were sold 'fresh' in an organic supermarket in Milan for 3,5 euro. Biorfarm pays 0,90 cents to their orange farmers.www.biorfarm.com is now getting ready to scale and will try to raise crowdfunding in the next months. Some key take aways from the conversation:The farmer is happy (with a platform like Biorfarm) because (s)he gets respect as a farmers.The land is the past the present and the future of the farmer, but we don't give them space to improve it.Most farmers want to leave the land in a better shape (better soil health) to their children. Being stuck in the current value they simply can't. Fresh is a supermarket could mean anything.Show notes and links:www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.com/2017/12/08/osvaldo-de-falco. ----------------------------------------------------------- For feedback, ideas, suggestions please contact us through Twitter @KoenvanSeijen, or get in touch through the website www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.com. Join our newsletter on www.eepurl.com/cxU33P. The above references an opinion and is for information and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.Thoughts? Ideas? Questions? Send us a message!Find out more about the position here:https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4278379588 Thank you to our Field Builders Circle for supporting us. Learn more hereSupport the showFeedback, ideas, suggestions? - Twitter @KoenvanSeijen - Get in touch www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.comJoin our newsletter on www.eepurl.com/cxU33P! Support the showThanks for listening and sharing!

Expert on Regenerative Agriculture. Diving deep on demand!----------------------------------------------------------Welcome to Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food.Join our Gumroad community, discover the tiers and benefits here: www.gumroad.com/investinginregenag. Other ways to support our work:- Share the podcast - Give a 5-star rating- Or buy us a coffee… or a meal! www.Ko-fi.com/regenerativeagriculture. ----------------------------------------------------------- I was joined by Ethan Soloviev, Ethan is an international expert on regenerative agriculture, a farmer, writer, and the Vice President of Research at HowGood, Inc.Some thoughts from the show:Can the supply of regenerative agriculture products meet the rapidly growing demandWhy leverage points don't work... and what can.How to create chimeras for regenerative agriculture investing.We discover why Ethan loves personal care and cosmetics so much (Hint: it has nothing to do with his skin but with margins). Most farms who will reach regenerative status will do so through perennial tree crop systems.Prime investment opportunity: Perennial crops & agroforestry edges of climate disruption. Increased human migration produces huge challenges, and opportunities for right livelihood. How to tell which companies to invest in (Hint: it has to do with who is actually measuring carbon). Show notes and links:www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.com/2017/11/28/ethan-soloviev. ----------------------------------------------------------- For feedback, ideas, suggestions please contact us through Twitter @KoenvanSeijen, or get in touch through the website www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.com. Join our newsletter on www.eepurl.com/cxU33P. The above references an opinion and is for information and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.Thoughts? Ideas? Questions? Send us a message!Find out more about the position here:https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4278379588 https://investinginregenerativeagriculture.com/course Thank you to our Field Builders Circle for supporting us. Learn more hereSupport the showFeedback, ideas, suggestions? - Twitter @KoenvanSeijen - Get in touch www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.comJoin our newsletter on www.eepurl.com/cxU33P! Support the showThanks for listening and sharing!

Founder of Bonterra Partners, a specialist working with investors to invest in regenerative agriculture.----------------------------------------------------------Welcome to Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food.Join our Gumroad community, discover the tiers and benefits here: www.gumroad.com/investinginregenag. Other ways to support our work:- Share the podcast - Give a 5-star rating- Or buy us a coffee… or a meal! www.Ko-fi.com/regenerativeagriculture. ----------------------------------------------------------- This time I interviewed Renee Cheung, founder of Bonterra Partners, a natural capital investment specialist. Renee works with investors to identify and invest in sustainable, profit-generating environmental and real asset strategies. We discussed what have been the developments in regenerative agriculture in the last years:holistic grazingcover-crops no-till systemsProgressive smaller HNIs are taking interest in regenerative agri holistic grazing management, key line farming, mixed cropping etc. The main challenges:gap between the funds and the soil/groundthe need for more good risk/return dealslonger timeframe for most conservation practises to generate good returnsInvestment proposals have to be boring for large institutional investor investment committees to approve them. It is much easier to explain a large monoculture GMO corn/soy rotation or invest in feedlot cattle than a regenerative agriculture opportunity. Nature and regenerative agriculture are more complex thus more difficult to explain and get funded. Show notes and links:www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.com/2017/10/28/renee-cheung. ----------------------------------------------------------- For feedback, ideas, suggestions please contact us through Twitter @KoenvanSeijen, or get in touch through the website www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.com. Join our newsletter on www.eepurl.com/cxU33P. The above references an opinion and is for information and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.Thoughts? Ideas? Questions? Send us a message!Find out more about the position here:https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4278379588 Thank you to our Field Builders Circle for supporting us. Learn more hereSupport the showFeedback, ideas, suggestions? - Twitter @KoenvanSeijen - Get in touch www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.comJoin our newsletter on www.eepurl.com/cxU33P! Support the showThanks for listening and sharing!

Co-founder of Herenboeren, a community owned regenerative farm in the Netherlands.----------------------------------------------------------Welcome to Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food.Join our Gumroad community, discover the tiers and benefits here: www.gumroad.com/investinginregenag. Other ways to support our work:- Share the podcast - Give a 5-star rating- Or buy us a coffee… or a meal! www.Ko-fi.com/regenerativeagriculture. ----------------------------------------------------------- This time I interviewed Geert van der Veer, co-founder of Herenboeren. Who bought a farm with 150 families (now growing to 200 families) and hired a farmer to farm the land in the most productive and regenerative way possible. Producing about 60% of the daily food for the families at prices lower than a supermarket. Now Geert is working to help other local communities to do the same, and in doing so helping start 1000 locally owned regenerative farms all over Europe. Local Energy: They always start with local energy, if you want a local Herenboeren farm near you, you need to put in part of the work to gather the local community. Herenboeren will help you with the set up, finding/buying the land, finding the farmer and help run it. But they can’t bring the local energy together to form the strong local community needed to support a thriving Herenboeren farm. Challenges: It proofs really difficult to find farmers who can farm regeneratively at scale:“ We have one challenge because our farmers are always specialised in producing one product, and on our farm they have to do about everything that exists in that way” We also talked about the role of impact investors in this local revolution. Geert sees two options:helping local communities acquire land for a Herenboeren farmhelping Herenboeren (a service organisation which services the Herenboeren in their day to day operation) scale upShow notes and links:www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.com/2017/10/20/geert-van-der-veer. Please hit the share button if you think this interview is relevant for someone you know!----------------------------------------------------------- For feedback, ideas, suggestions please contact us through Twitter @KoenvanSeijen, or get in touch through the website www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.com. Join our newsletter on www.eepurl.com/cxU33P. The above Thoughts? Ideas? Questions? Send us a message!Find out more about the position here:https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4278379588 Thank you to our Field Builders Circle for supporting us. Learn more hereSupport the showFeedback, ideas, suggestions? - Twitter @KoenvanSeijen - Get in touch www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.comJoin our newsletter on www.eepurl.com/cxU33P! Support the showThanks for listening and sharing!

Raised one of the first regenerative agriculture impact investing funds, now managing over 17000 acres and executing complex ten year rotations. Including cattle, organic grains and organic vegetables.----------------------------------------------------------Welcome to Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food.Join our Gumroad community, discover the tiers and benefits here: www.gumroad.com/investinginregenag. Other ways to support our work:- Share the podcast - Give a 5-star rating- Or buy us a coffee… or a meal! www.Ko-fi.com/regenerativeagriculture. ----------------------------------------------------------- I interviewed Craig Wichner co-founder of FarmlandLP one of the first impact investment funds focussed on Regenerative Agriculture. We discussed many things! From soil carbon to drones and from deep roots to how we can show that regenerative agriculture is more profitable than conventional chemical based agriculture.Some key takeaways:“How do you shift from a chemical based agriculture to a biological based agriculture?”“Showing organic farmland is more profitable than conventional agriculture!”Farmland“Organic farmland we have managed generates 72% more revenue per acre.” “53% of US farmland growing 2 commodity crops, corn and soy.”“At least 4-6 times more revenue per acre growing sweet corn than commodity corn”The big shift comes from average farmer understand that sustainable agri is more profitable than chemical farming. Really looking at the land, what work best on this land in a sustainable way?“What is the best way to maximise biological productivity and economic value?” Future developments:They just completed a permanent crop suitability study for some of the land. Looking at the mix of perennial systems plus open ground. Next year they will be getting more technology on the farm, aerial imagery with drones. Consumers:“Milk is the gateway drug to organic products” as first time mothers start asking questions about the milk they give to their newborns. Organic standards aren’t the holy grail, there are some issues with it. Show notes and linkswww.investinginregenerativeagriculture.com/2017/09/27/craig-wichner. Please hit the share button if you think this interview is relevant for someone you know!----------------------------------------------------------- For feedback, ideas, suggestions please contact us through Twitter @KoenvanSeijThoughts? Ideas? Questions? Send us a message!Find out more about the position here:https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4278379588 https://investinginregenerativeagriculture.com/course Thank you to our Field Builders Circle for supporting us. Learn more hereSupport the showFeedback, ideas, suggestions? - Twitter @KoenvanSeijen - Get in touch www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.comJoin our newsletter on www.eepurl.com/cxU33P! Support the showThanks for listening and sharing!