RFSI Europe - Top 5 Takeaways
My mind is still churning on all the connections and ideas from RFSI Europe last week! (And maybe the 9-hour time difference as well…?)
It was amazingly informative to meet and learn from so many folks who are doing incredible work across Europe on regenerative agriculture. Huge congrats to the Regenerative Food Systems Investment team for such an epic recent!
Here are my top 5 takeaways from the show:
🙅 Real Assets Aren’t Revolutionary
Paul McMahon gave one of the best presentations I’ve ever seen breaking down information from SLM Partners ’s recently released Investing in Regenerative Agriculture white paper. Anyone investing in regenerative agriculture today owes Paul and the SLM team a debt of gratitude for their foundational work building our space.
Real assets (farmland) is the most institutional-ready opportunity we have today to get the big money in the game; however, it is not a “transformational” investment pathway (with some exceptions). The land owned by farmland funds is largely already high-functioning and regenerative - with investors marginally improving properties over time.
Farmland funds are more of an insurance against regression (losing regen farmland) than a transformative improvement vehicle (converting large swaths of land to regen). What they can do is protect it, optimize, it, track it, and help us tell an amazing story about how regenerative stewardship takes farmland to its highest return potential. All incredibly important!!
So while I’m excited to see billions of additional capital flow into regenerative real asset strategies in the next decade, let’s just understand where it sits in the nexus of transformative impact (on the lower end). It is incredibly important that we use regenerative real asset strategies as a foundational gateway for capital allocation into the space that can provide institutional-level support and data underpinning more complex and innovative strategies (before they have data of their own).
Which leads me to my next point…
🚨 Looking For Lenders!!
We need to 10x the amount of farm lenders at these events (which I know the RFSI team is hard at work trying to do).
We talk in circles about how...
We need to finance actual on-farm transition
Farmers work on annual timelines totally dependent on debt
And transition has to be approached gradually year over year
Sounds like it is absolutely IMPERATIVE for us to change the way we finance the operating capital of these farming businesses!
I stand resound in my belief that farm lending strategies offer the most transformative opportunity for investment in regenerative food systems (and this is coming from a guy raising a fund for something else).
And it’s also important to note:
There’s no competition. We need every single fund and strategy to keep showing up and push the collective forward. Together.
In other words…
👉 Let’s Leave “Either Or” Behind
It seemed like the biggest unlock in so many conversations was simply refusing to accept the fact that we needed to sacrifice something to achieve something else. Or that things needed to be binary tradeoffs (Either or).
When in reality, true regenerative systems create the biggest win-win-win scenarios ever (Both and).
If we want win-win results, we need to think in “both and” - leaving “either or” behind.
Appreciate the prompt here during the first session from Anne van Leeuwen!
👔 Bring On The Suits!!
What is the first thing I would do if I was one of these big-shot philanthropists or foundations focused on food?
I would create a new non-profit advisory organization staffed with blue chip attorneys, investment bankers, and accountants that consult with high-potential people and organizations focused on regen.
Because like it or not people…
“Accountants and attorneys run the world.”
What if we could marry the deep ecological knowledge and mission commitment of our leaders with best-in-class law, tax, and business operations at a reduced or pro-bono rate…?
If and when that happens…
Get your popcorn ready!
Appreciating a conversation with Martin Reiter before the show that sparked this train of thought.
😮 Philanthropy Is F*cked
So many of the “investment” conversations around regen involve dialogue where we’re asking return-seeking investors to do what they are incapable of doing…
Operate strategies that don’t produce a meaningful return, have an unknown or intolerable risk profile, and / or be some sort of research and development funding for a new approach.
This is the role of philanthropy! Professional funds and fund managers can’t do this! (At least not at a meaningful AUM)
We need philanthropy to show up in new and different ways to catalyze the changes we all want to see.
I don't have the answers here, but I'm excited to continue learning about what these folks are up to and how we can direct more of their resources into systemic solutions that underpin future-proofed, for-profit enterprises.
Appreciate this conversation and Cate Havstad-Casad you just made my day. One of the things we are talking a lot about in the Mad universe is how we can offer pilots, case studies as Anthony mentions, that can be replicated across food, finance and agriculture. This is a big year for us as we add some real talent to the team and move from two companies to three. Stay tuned!
Lenteland farmer at 't Gagel
9moReally nice meeting you Anthony Corsaro (AC)!
Investing in Agricultural as a Nature-based Solution | Asset Management | Building Natural Capital through Agriculture | Director | GAICD
9moThanks for the download Anthony Corsaro (AC) wish I was there
Founder at Range Revolution, Co-Owner Casad Family Farms, Founder of Havstad Hat Company
9moReally appreciated reading this roundup of thoughts AC. Your point about lenders is very on point from an ops perspective. If I could wave a wand I would 10X the Mad Agriculture Steward Dirt Capital Partners Iroquois Valley Farmland REIT of the world.
Strategic Land Management Consultant | Sustainable Rural Business Solutions | Agro-Ecology Advocate
9moThat’s probably the most meaningful summary of some of the key nubs from the event 👏🏻!! Investment in the real asset is the fall back underpinning investment at the moment but take a look at the likes of Wildfarmed doing a good thing without that as the basis and really making waves. It’s not the be all and end all, the more examples we have of it the better for all of us.