Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food

A conversation with Chris Tolles, founder of Yard Stick, about soil carbon and the connection to changing agriculture practises, insetting vs offsetting, where in the hype cycle the soil carbon market is and why more companies should get really good at doing one thing instead of saying yes to every opportunity. How difficult is it really to measure in field, instant, accurate and cheaply? Yardstic...

A conversation with Thimm Zwiener, co-founder of FarmOn, a regenerative hotline for independent farming advice, about how to give everyone of the 600 million farmers in the world access to a trustworthy and regenerative field experience when they have questions, the role of technology, especially the newly hyped large language models like ChatGPT, the risks, and much more. It is safe to say we wil...

A conversation with Ichsani Wheeler and Lenka Danilovic. Ichsani is a scientist, co-founder of OpenGeoHub and EnvirometriX, while Lenka is an hydrologist and intern at OpenGeoHub. In this conversation, we talk about the world of remote sensing, and we unpack what the eyes in the sky can help us learn about indigenous land and water management. How far back can we look at arid landscapes that used...

A conversation with Emma Fuller, co-founder of Fractal, about the transition to regenerative practices or outcomes of the millions of acres of broad-acre row cropping, corn, soy, and wheat in the US, Brazil, Argentina. Fractal provides farmers with equity financing by investing alongside them in their farmland to fund their growth. We all know the amazing examples that are pushing the boundaries o...

A conversation with Zach Ben, cofounder, along with his wife Mary, of Bidii Baby Foods, an indigenous baby food line created by farmers and new parents to increase access to traditional foods in early childhood. We talk about the role of farming and stewarding the land in Navajo Nation and the role of nutrition and health with newborns. After centuries of oppression, violence, and genocide, could...

A conversation with Ivo Degn and Philippe Birker, founders of Climate Farmers, about the reason why they picked carbon credits as the first business to focus on, how they recently raised $2,5 million in a very unusual way, at least for a startup, what they consider a regenerative investment and much more. How a beer in the summer of 2019 in Mauerpark in Berlin at the then hottest day ever recorded...

A conversation with Edie Mukiibi, farmer, agronomist, activist, and current president of Slow Food International, about modern input-heavy agrochemical agronomy education, the disillusionment with agrochemicals, hybrid seeds, and much more. A wide-ranging interview that starts on a small farm in Uganda, where Edie was born, grew up, and received a very agrochemical agronomy education, which led to...

A conversation with Charley Cummings, founder and CEO of Walden Mutual Bank, about building a cooperative bank, owned by the customers, and why starting a bank might be the most impactful thing you can do in your regional food system and much more. Why would Charley after founding a successful, local, animal protein, direct to consumer, grass fed and finished businesses decided to start a bank, an...

A conversation with Sam Kass, former White House Chef and Senior Policy Advisor for Nutrition of the Obama's administration and partner at Acre VC. We talk about the potential of VC in the space, the challenges of the real world and why we should focus on getting everyone access to carrots before focusing on the quality and growing practices, why carbon payments is a very interesting and real...

A conversation with Keoni Lee, CEO of Hawaii Investment Ready, about having to import massive amounts of food, inputs, fuel, etc., being at huge risk from climate disruptions and climate change and much more. Why do we need to take systems change lens into investing? You can’t focus on single solutions and hope that the massive global food and agriculture system will change. Hawaii, with 1,4 milli...

A conversation with Tina Owens, regenerative agriculture consultant and part of the Nutrient Density Alliance (for Regenerative Agriculture), about the state of the nutrient density space, the research, why life cycle assessments are broken and a lot more. We are at the telegraph stage of nutrition, and that means lots of opportunities for companies. What does it mean that only 1% of nutrition dat...

A very special episode: Koen van Seijen, author and host of the Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food podcast, is interviewed by John Kempf, the founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture (AEA) and top expert in biological and regenerative farming.  In this conversation, John and Koen discuss: Current investment activity in agriculture The role of capital in regenerative adoption Regenerative p...

A conversation with Kevin Morse, cofounder and CEO of Cairnspring Mills, about the fascinating world of grain, wheat and the little secret of flour, building a new Back to the Future mill, and much more.  Why regional agriculture processing is crucial for healthy soil, healthy people and healthy local communities. Not hyper local because that is fragile. At Cairnspring Mills, they are now hitting...

A conversation with Olivier Husson, engineer, system agronomist and agroecologist, working on a health approach based around the balance of Eh (electrons) and pH (protons) in soil, plants, microorganisms, animals, etc. Unbalanced Eh-pH conditions lead to poor nutrition and poor photosynthesis. As consequence, plants which lack energy and are being oxidised are attacked by pests and pathogens. Ever...

A conversation with Tim Coates, co-founder of Oxbury Bank, the UK’s only specialist agricultural bank, about flood risk mitigation, water quality, water cycle restoration, selling flood mitigation to institutional investors and much more. Tim Coast, a third-generation farmer founded an agriculture focussed bank. He argues that the best place to start (at least in the UK) water cycle restoration mi...

A conversation with Erwin Westers, regenerative farmer, about soil biology, the German regenerative movement, the seed business, healthy seeds, healthy soils, healthy people, epigenetics, taste, flavour and why there is so much to learn in the German-speaking world on regeneration. It is all about soil biology. Erwin found it out after farming low till and with cover crops for over 5 years, not wi...

A conversation with Anastassia Makarieva, researcher at the Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute and with a fellowship at the University of Munich, about how healthy ecosystems, and specifically healthy forests, regulate moisture and thus rain. We discuss tipping points and where to look for wet spots even in very dry landscapes. Learn from one of the key scientists who developed the biotic pump t...

A check-in interview with Marcus Link and Mark Drewell, founders of New Foundation Farms (NFF), about how they went from trying to raise £20M to buying 1000 acres in the UK, building their stacked enterprise on leased land and ending up going almost full circle back to the beginning. Having learned a lot in the past 3 years, Marcus and Mark realised that in order to build a highly profitable and e...

A dynamic session speaking to both funders and founders about their experiences with financing in the realm of food and farming. Recorded live at Groundswell Agriculture  2023, Koen van Seijen in conversation with Tessa Etkin-Silver of Be the Earth Foundation, Ruth Anslow of HISBE Food and Marc Jones of Wildfarming Co. The conversation will address some of the functions of the financial system tha...

Regenerate Soil, Regenerate Health: Author, Anne Biklé in Conversation With Zach Bush, MD - Conversation recorded live at Groundswell 2023. Hosted by Koen van Seijen This eye-opening moderated session explores the interconnections between our health and our environment and how this translates into wellbeing for people and communities alike. Anne and Zach share their thoughts and experiences on the...

A conversation with Paul Greive, founder of Pasturebird, about rising millions of birds on pasture per year, selling to one of the largest chicken producers in the world, the positive impact of chickens, and much more. Can chickens ever be regenerative? With Paul we discuss the impact on degraded farmland, replacing fossil fuel and toxic fertilisers and, of course, one of the biggest exits in the...

A check-in interview with Zach Weiss, founder of Elemental Ecosystems and Water Stories, about his mission to train hundreds of thousands of people in key water restoration techniques, institutions, how would Zach make the space investable and bankable, and much more. We interviewed Zach four and a half years ago. What has he seen in the last years? Has the conversation changed? Have institutions...

A conversation with Ties van der Hoeven, founder and creative director of The Weather Makers, about restoring the water cycles in the Mediterranean, the effect of water vapour on cooling the planet, our tunnel vision focussed on carbon, and much more. A check in interview with The Weather Makers, an extremely ambitious project focussing on restoring the water cycles in the Mediterranean. They acci...

A conversation with Henry Rowlands, CEO of Soil in Formation (SIF) about how to measure a holistic set of parameters related to soil risks and soil health accurately, in-situ and in real time by using electrochemical sensors and more. Soil in Formation (SIF) is on the verge of making it possible to measure a holistic set of parameters related to soil risks and soil health accurately, in-situ and i...

A conversation with Marcel de Berg, founder of Green Water Cools, about the cooling potential of green water, avoiding regrets of institutional investors and focusing a bit of our attention and resources on restoring water cycles, biodiversity, and more. --------------------------------------------------- Join our Gumroad community, discover the tiers and benefits on www.gumroad.com/investinginreg...