David LeZaks on creating a new financial ecosystem for regenerative agriculture

In this episode of the podcast, we talk with David LeZaks, a senior fellow at the Croatan Institute, about his work in regenerative agriculture finance. Croatan Institute is an independent, nonprofit research institute whose mission is to harness the power of investment for social good and ecological resilience by working at the critical nexus where sustainability, finance, and economic development intersect.

 

Fortunately, some investors are taking a more altruistic approach to how they invest their cash. Sometimes referred to as impact investment, more and more investors are only investing money where the project matches a specific set of goals or values like environmental rehabilitation or local food.

 

A new regenerative ag-dedicated venture capital investment firm called Soilworks recently launched and acquired grazing management software service PastureMap as its first investment, for example. 

David talks about some of his recent work identifying barriers for small and medium-scale livestock producers due to Covid-19 in an effort to identify key pain points where investment is needed. He was also involved in producing the Soil Wealth report, which surveyed the landscape to identify existing investment vehicles for regenerative agriculture and opportunities to expand them.

 

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Thanks, and enjoy the show!