Insights and questions for regenerative agriculture

Takeaways from RFSI Forum 2022

This year’s Regenerative Food Systems Investment (RFSI) Forum 2022 was inspiring, educational, humbling, and outright fun. It was wonderful to be in-person with so many individuals thinking about how to improve food systems from different angles and approaches. There were many insights throughout the two days, and I wanted to share several quotes and thoughts in particular that resonated (these are slightly paraphrased):

Farmers

• “Why is a young farmer going to want to go into farming without a living wage?”

• “89% of farmers need a second, off-farm job to feed their families. Quality of life for farmers is not talked about enough, especially when it comes to aspects of regenerative agriculture.” - Lauren Manning

• “We cannot ask farmers alone to take on the risk of transitioning to regenerative. What happens if it doesn’t work for them? There’s a big need for investors [institutional and alternative capital partners] to come in and take the risk with them.” - Lauren Manning

• The ideal capital partner for farmers would be “a soil scientist who won the lottery.” 😂 - Clint Jessen

• “Don’t curse a farmer with your mouth full.” We need a societal shift on how farmers are perceived.

Regen Ag x Climate Change

• “Regenerative agriculture is a life raft in the face of climate impacts. It’s about resilience and adaptation - mitigation is a bonus.” - Jessica Newman

• “The biggest issue is water and it’s not being talked about enough. We need to shift away from just focusing on carbon.” Margot Conover

• “All we need to do is support our natural systems. Let Mother Nature do what she does best.” - Robyn O’Brien

The Regen System

• “What is going to prevent regenerative agriculture from becoming a commodity? From becoming another extractive system?” - John Kempf

• “We need a symbiotic relationship between supply chains and offtake agreements. There needs to be transparency and trust both ways. Instead, it’s a very transactional system, with input providers of all types taking on a one-sided relationship.” - John Kempf

• Local, decentralized but interconnected food systems enable the greatest resilience. However, not enough capital and prioritization seems to be placed on processing infrastructure. Capital needs to be made available for processing.

Role of Technology

• “We need to create and/or enhance the ability to capture biological metrics in order to de-risk financing for farmers.” - Robyn O’Brien

• “If CPG brands want regen, they need to pay farmers for all the data and processing required. Can’t put it on the farmer.” - Gina Asoudegan 

• Technology solutions have the potential to make farming more enticing from a labor, cost, and profit perspective. Lowering the initial green premium of regenerative practices and providing new revenue opportunities, particularly for smallholders.