Pollination, TIFS, Rockefeller Foundation Release Catalogue of Regenerative Agriculture Financing Instruments

Pollination and Transformational Investing in Food Systems (TIFS) partnered to launch a new report canvassing the market of available resources, with support from The Rockefeller Foundation

WASHINGTON, DC | June 11, 2024 ― Pollination and Transformational Investing in Food Systems (TIFS), with support from The Rockefeller Foundation, today released a foundational guide for mobilizing and scaling capital for the regenerative transition. Canvassing the market of available resources for financing regenerative agriculture solutions, Financing Regenerative Agriculture offers insights from key market participants and provides interested stakeholders with a broad catalogue of the innovative regenerative financing instruments currently being deployed globally.

“In order to shift conventional food systems to regenerative agriculture, the world needs to close funding gaps and unlock USD 4.5 trillion in new investments per year,” said Maria Kozloski, Senior Vice President of Innovative Finance at The Rockefeller Foundation. “This report highlights the potential of investment solutions that deliver healthy food while also rehabilitating land, water, and nature.”

Regenerative agriculture, a net-zero approach to food production, prioritizes optimizing soil health, water retention, and biodiversity, better equipping producers to address the risks inherent in food production posed by climate change. However, financial incentives and favorable capital costs for regenerative and agroecological producers remain scarce.

With a USD 250,000 grant from The Rockefeller Foundation, Pollination partnered with TIFS to synthesize learnings and insights gained from over 40 primary interviews with practitioners in the field. The report expands awareness of structures that have the potential to scale capital deployment, positively impact millions of producers, regenerate millions of hectares of land, and mobilize sizeable investment flows in both developed and emerging markets.

“As industries move towards implementation in 2024, this new body of work addresses a critical need in the global push for regenerative agriculture,” said Dave Haynes, Managing Director at Pollination. “We are excited to highlight the breadth of economically enticing incentives that will bring more constituents to the table.”

“The global financial sector has a tremendous opportunity to serve innovative farmers and companies with financial products that build regenerative agricultural systems. This report organizes a growing body of evidence and opportunities to invest in a maturing sector that is generating net-positive financial and non-financial returns,” said Rex Raimond, Director of TIFS. “Financial actors now have at their fingertips many viable pathways to utilize for regenerative agricultural investments.”

The new report highlights several key learnings identified through this research, including:

• The financing of regenerative agriculture is nascent across most geographies, with the primary barrier to increasing capital deployment being a lack of demonstrable evidence that the financing will fit financiers’ current risk and reward standards. Growth in the market for regenerative agriculture financing requires continued development of the underlying commercial model, establishment of supporting markets, and entry of large institutional capital.
• Financing for regenerative agriculture will follow a market maturity curve over time with phases that have unique objectives, and consequently, different financing instruments and suitable sources of funds. Based on where the market is today, the regenerative agriculture financing market will not accelerate toward maturity without significant pools of concessional capital with high risk tolerance deployed across a range of opportunities.
• Pension funds, insurance companies, endowments, and foundations with substantial capacity to direct large pools of capital toward regenerative agriculture have viable options to contribute to and significantly influence the development of the regenerative agriculture financing ecosystem. Several financing structures for supporting the transition to regenerative models exist across the world – some with growing traction and others that are more nascent models with potential.

“Transitioning to healthier, more resilient food systems will only come by working together to design solutions that distribute risk across the value chain so that no one actor is bearing the full costs alone,” said Roy Steiner, Senior Vice President of the Food Initiative at The Rockefeller Foundation. “This report helps us envision the financial structures needed to redirect finance and rebuild food systems that are better for people and planet.”

About Pollination

Pollination is a global climate change investment and advisory firm dedicated to accelerating the transition to a net-zero, nature positive future. Launched in 2019, the organization has a presence in 13 countries across the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific. The Pollination team includes global leaders in finance, technology, business, law and policy. Harnessing the team’s diverse expertise, Pollination helps government, business, and public and private capital to navigate the climate transition, designing and investing in breakthrough ideas that deliver financial returns. For more information, visit www.pollinationgroup.com.

About The Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation is a pioneering philanthropy built on collaborative partnerships at the frontiers of science, technology, and innovation that enable individuals, families, and communities to flourish. We make big bets to promote the well-being of humanity. Today, we are focused on advancing human opportunity and reversing the climate crisis by transforming systems in food, health, energy, and finance. For more information, sign up for our newsletter at www.rockefellerfoundation.org/subscribe and follow us on X @RockefellerFdn and LI @the-rockefeller-foundation.

About Transformational Investing in Food Systems

Transformational Investing in Food Systems (TIFS) is an impact network dedicated to unlocking capital for regenerative and agroecological businesses and financial innovations. TIFS is building a movement of investors, financial innovators, and enterprises working on food and nutrition security, dignified livelihoods for food producers, and healthy ecosystems. For more information, visit www.tifsinitiative.org.