Green Growth: Strengthening Organic Agriculture with Regenerative Practices for a Sustainable Future
This is the first of a series of short blogs by the Food & Agri team of Anders Invest. Here, we outline our perspectives on key themes that are relevant to the Food & Agri sector and explain how we try to make an impact with our portfolio companies and investment strategies.
Climate change presents challenges to humankind, with a variety of notable impacts across the globe, such as receding ice caps and severe weather occurrences. Food and agriculture have the potential to contribute positively to climate change mitigation. As stated by the UN, approximately 40% of the Earth's land is currently degraded, with the possibility of depleting our topsoil in around 60 years. In this Blog we investigate the potential of regenerative and organic farming to combat the adverse climate effects of agriculture and how we try to implement this at our portfolio company in Moldova: Prograin Organic.
Organic and regenerative farming are both sustainable farming methods that have the potential to complement each other for even greater sustainable benefits. Regenerative agriculture is gaining momentum in recent years; by focusing on restoring soil health, enhancing biodiversity, and sequestering carbon, it aims to create a resilient and productive agricultural system. However, regenerative agriculture currently lacks universal definitions, practices, regulation, and supervision to have a consistent impact. Organic agriculture, through a certification system, does have universal definitions, practices, regulation, and supervision. However, it is relatively narrower than regenerative farming as it primarily focuses on avoiding synthetic chemicals and promoting natural inputs.
We aim to combine the best of both worlds; that organic farming can be complemented with regenerative farming practices, specifically focusing on promoting the regenerative properties of soil.
“At Anders Invest, we endorse organic as a dependable sustainability standard, while striving to surpass it by promoting regenerative practices in our portfolio companies. For instance, our Moldovan company, Prograin Organic, assists conventional farmers in transitioning to sustainable farming methods by providing organic fertilizers that boost soil regeneration. We pursue this approach not only to generate a positive impact but also to secure long-term financial returns through increased yields and improved crop quality” comments Jurjen van der Werf (Investment Manager at Anders Invest).
