Financing Regenerative Agriculture Conference
Agriculture is the foundation for a living local economy. Agriculture is the fundamental process that transforms soil, water, and sunlight into the basic means of survival and economic abundance. Much of the current global financial system does not understand this basic reality. However, a small and growing network of farmers, investors, and entrepreneurs is quickly creating systemic change, and developing new pathways for financing regenerative agriculture. These world-changing organizations include:
- Slow Money Alliance
- Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE)
- Solari, Inc.
- Social Venture Network
- Farm incubators (such as the Intervale Center in Burlington, VT)
Financing Regenerative Agriculture is a participatory one-day conference that brings these networks together. At the tail end of the multi-disciplinary Carbon Farming Course, Financing Regenerative Agriculture allows farmers, landowners, and researchers to share their latest thinking and strategize with the entrepreneurs, investors, and foundation representatives who manage significant flows of financial capital in our current system. With funders, producers, and consumers of agricultural goods all at the table, this conference is an action-packed exercise in associative economics. The conference includes a series of presentations, panels, small-group breakouts, and cross-pollination discussions, capped off by whole-group plenaries and strategic planning sessions.
Schedule
8:00am – Registration & Networking
9:00am Introduction & Framing
9:15am Plenary 1 - New Paradigms for Finance
- Ethan Roland - Carbon Farming – 8 Forms of Capital
- Connor Stedman - Carbon Farming - Mapping Enterprise & Funding Options for Regenerative Land Use
- Charles Eisenstein - Sacred Economics - Money, Gift, and Transition
10:00am Breakout 1 (Same speakers take questions)
10:20am BREAK
- Freeman White - Launcht - Crowdfunding for Social Enterprise
- Rebecca Fletcher - Equity Trust - Preserving Farms for Farmers
- Linda Borghi - SPIN Farming - Make Big Money on Small Plots SPIN Farming
11:15am Open Space
12:30 Lunch
1:30pm Plenary 2 - Carbon Markets and Beyond
- Rob Maddox - Sterling Planet - Current State of the Carbon Markets
- Bob Wagner - New England Farmer’s Union - Exploring the Potential for Carbon Trading in New England Agriculture
- Abe Collins - Soil Carbon Coalition - New Soil Quantum
2:15pm Breakout 2 (Same speakers take questions)
2:35pm BREAK
3:00pm Plenary 3 - Investing for Regeneration
- Derek Denckla & Brian Kaminer - Slow Money NYC - Catalyzing new investment channels that enhance local, small sustainable food and farm business.
- John Friedman - Lawyer - Legal structures for investment in food-system enterprises
- Jeannie Zouck - Lancaster Exchange - Local stock exchanges
- Jason Eaton - Social Thread - Financial Permaculture
4:00pm Breakout 2 (Same speakers take questions)
4:15pm Action Planning & Next Steps
4:55pm Closing by Ethan
5:00pm END
Speaker Details
Presenters:Derek Denckla & Brian Kaminer
Organization: Slow Money NYC
Title: Everyone is an investor in food.
Description: In this workshop, two organizers of Slow Money NYC will explore participants’ investment preferences by mining personal values regarding money and food. We will use this foundation to spark discussion about how to make different investment choices that would support sustainable food and farm business.
Organization description: Slow Money NYC is a chapter of a national non-profit dedicated to catalyzing new investment channels that enhance local, small sustainable food and farm business. Everyone is an investor in food. We envision a new economy based on knowing where our food comes from and where our money goes. We value soil fertility, sustainable food, resilient communities, and financial opportunity for all. We work to align our food and money with our values. Our growing network of food activists, entrepreneurs and investors seek to direct our money towards building a strong food system in the NYC region by engaging people of all incomes.
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Organization: New England Farmer’s Union
Title: Exploring the Potential for Carbon Trading in New England Agriculture
Description: The New England Farmers Union’s “Buy Local” Carbon Credit Project endeavors to identify and register New England farming practices eligible for the carbon trading market to enhance their adoption rate and to open up this potential revenue stream to the region’s farmers. To this end, NEFU and its project partner, Winrock International, are investigating both the pool of potential carbon credit buyers in the region and New England farming practices readily adapted and packaged for the carbon marketplace. This presentation will present an overview of the project and a status report on its progress to date.
Bio: Policy Consultant, has worked in the field of farmland protection since 1981. Since 1985, he has worked in various senior-level positions at American Farmland Trust. Through his work with AFT, and earlier as a legislative assistant to then-Congressman James Jeffords of Vermont and a consultant to the Vermont Department of Agriculture, Bob has played an active role in the promotion and development of state and local farmland protection strategies and programs throughout the country. Bob lives with his family in Hatfield, Mass. He has served as the chair of the Hatfield Agricultural Advisory Commission since its creation in 2003 and as the chair of Hatfield’s Community Preservation Committee since 2008.
Documents: The “Buy Local” Carbon Credit Project
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Jeannie Zouck - Lancaster Exchange
[More info coming soon]
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Title: Sacred Economics – Money, Gift, and Transition
Description: What would an economic system look like if it were the ally, not the enemy, of our aspirations for planetary healing? In this talk, Charles describes the intimate connection between the crises in money and food, and offers a vision for the regeneration of each.
Bio: Charles Eisenstein is the author of The Ascent of Humanity and Sacred Economics. He serves on the faculty of Goddard College.
Website: http://charleseisenstein.net
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Organization: Social Thread
Title: Financial Permaculture
Description: Sustainable or Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) uses screening, advocacy, and community investments as core strategies for change. We find the resulting portfolios lacking in actual environmental and social sustainability. We ask, how can a more authentically ecological portfolio be built while sustaining competitive returns? We will examine known flaws in the mixed market economy, and explore new ideas such as place-based investing, network based investing, total economic return assessment, and corporate hybrids. Can a permanent financial culture (infrastructure) be designed and built? Can we make money on it?
Bio: Jason Eaton is the founder and president of Social Thread. Jason began his career as an ecologist. After years of work as an activist on social and environmental issues, combined with a few classes on economics, he decided the best way to bring about sustainability was to influence the way money works. Jason’s undergraduate studies were in Natural Resource Ecology and holds a graduate certificate in Environmental Education, both from the University of Idaho. Jason is both a Registered Representative and an Investment Advisor Representative. His work focuses on building ethically screened portfolios. This includes cash, debt, equity and alternative asset classes which we believe constitute a globally diversified portfolio. His interests include the economics of localization and innovative investment strategies for social change.
Website: www.socialthread.com
Securities and investment advisory services are offered through Cadaret, Grant & Co., Inc., a member of FINRA/SIPC and a SEC registered investment advisor. Social Thread, Cadaret Grant, and United Financial Services are separate entities.
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Organization: Launcht
Title: Crowdfunding for Social Enterprise
Description: Join us for a presentation and discussion of crowdfunding. Specifically, this session will demonstrate how crowdfunding can be used to raise seed capital for new regenerative agriculture projects and social ventures. You will learn the top tips for successful crowdfunding. If you would like, you will also be able to use a part of the time to outline a crowdfunding pitch for your idea and get feedback on your pitch. There will be plenty of time for Q&A, so even if you’re just curious about crowdfunding, you should come join us; this will be a great introduction to the topic of crowdfunding.
Bio: Freeman White, Launcht.com CEO, believes that social entrepreneurs are our best hope for solving the biggest problems in the world. He designed Launcht as a crowdfunding platform that social entrepreneurs can use to raise seed funding for their business ideas. He envisions a world where the funding of social enterprises is market-driven and democratic. In 2003 he dove headfirst into the world of education and education reform and he was named a StartingBloc fellow in 2005. Since then he has worked as an architect and builder of cloud computing solutions to support the work of socially responsible businesses.
Website: www.Launcht.com
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Title: Legal structures for investment in food-system enterprises
Description: My talk will be about the structures deals can take and how entrepreneurs should think about them. Mixes of debt and equity will be discussed and examples given. Attention will be given to considerations of asset class, valuation and regulatory issues.
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Organization: Carbon Farming
Title: Mapping Enterprise & Funding Options for Regenerative Land Use
Bio: Connor Stedman is an M.S. candidate in Ecological Planning at the University of Vermont and co-organizer of the 2012 Carbon Farming Course
Websites: renewingthecommons.wordpress.
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[More info coming soon]
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Organization: Equity Trust
Title: Preserving Farms for Farmers
Description: How does affordability relate to sustainability? If we want to support regenerative agriculture and carbon farming, long-term land access and ability to build equity are essential to farmers who will be investing deeply in the soil. What tools do we have to create farmer access to land, and ensure that the farmer has security and can build equity? What about the farmhouse? Drawing on case studies, this workshop will explore these questions and others as we study two approaches to farm protection that have roots in the community land trust and conservation land trust movements. Both of these “shared-equity” approaches can ensure active farming and protect the affordability of land and farm buildings for successive farmers.
Bio: Rebecca Fletcher, Program Manager, has been with Equity Trust since 2005. Rebecca provides counseling, technical consulting services, and education to individuals and groups across the U.S. including farmers, land trusts, municipalities, community groups, and others using shared equity models of ownership for housing and farms. Now in its 20th year, Equity Trust is a small, national nonprofit organization that works to change relationships between people, land, and resources. A focus of our work during the past 15 years has been to help farmers and their communities partner to protect farms, including protecting farmer housing and farm affordability.
In addition to providing consultation on land tenure issues, we provide model documents, and help to adapt these approaches to local situations. Equity Trust has produced a variety of publications to help people explore new approaches, models, and ideas for creating greater equity in the world. These resources include: Preserving Farms for Farmers: A Manual for Those Working to Keep Farms Affordable, Property and Values: Alternatives to Public and Private Ownership, Farmland and Farmers for the Future (25-minute DVD). Equity Trust’s model agricultural ground lease, and model agricultural easement can be downloaded for free along with commentary at www.equitytrust.org
Equity Trust also operates a small revolving loan fund that accepts loans and gifts from individuals and organizations and pools these funds to make loans to projects — primarily affordable housing and farm protection projects — that are pioneering sustainable ways of balancing the needs of individuals with the needs of the community, the earth, and future generations. the earth, and future generations.
Website: www.equitytrust.org
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Organization: SPIN Farming
Title: Make Big Money on Small Plots SPIN Farming
Description: You have a calling to farm but you have no money, no land and no farming experience. No problem. Be a SPIN farmer!
Bio: Linda is the Farmer of Abundant Life Farm in Walker Valley, NY. Her recipe for this half-acre farm is equal parts SPIN-Farming and Biodynamics. Carved out of a wooded hillside, the farm was up and operational in 6 months. Though records are not yet kept on how quickly farms can be created, this must be some sort of record. It is also the third location for her farm and proves just how portable the farming profession can be. Linda’s sales channels include restaurants, a 15 member CSA and mobile farm stand. Linda has worked both sides of the fence, as a vendor and producer. She began her career in 1977, managing 4 star restaurants on the upper east side of New York, including La Grenouille, Bruno’s, Toscana and Piccolo Mondo. She began farming in 1988 on Block Island, RI where she first established Abundant Life Farm. There she invented a 5 gallon pasteurization machine, and was the only farm in the country with a “herd” of one cow to be licensed to sell cheese to the public. In 1996 she returned to the mainland to manage the cut flower operation of 26 Costco wholesale locations, from Norfolk, VA to Holbrook, LI. Linda was the first intern at the Pfeiffer Center Garden in Chestnut Ridge NY, which pioneered the practices of Rudolf Steiner’s Biodynamic agriculture. In 2004 she re-established Abundant Life Farm in Middletown, NY. In 2006 she began practicing SPIN-Farming®. In 2007 Orange Magazine named her “Who’s Who of Manure”, and she opened the Eat Local Virtual Farm stand which created a direct distribution channel from farmer to eater. In 2008 she moved Abundant Life Farm to Walker Valley, NY. In 2009 Linda spoke at the United Nations at a conference entitled “Food, Famine and the Future of Food Technology.” In 2011 Linda began working with groups in both Sierra Leone and Uganda and in 2012 will launch THe Gardening with Children Program teaching the youth in Biodynamic SPIN Farming and Gardening practices.
Websites: AbundantLifeFarm.com
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Organization: Sterling Planet
Title: Current State of the Carbon Markets
Description: I will provide a brief over of the carbon markets and discuss the there current state, with a focus on opportunities for farmers to sell carbon offsets.
Bio: Robert A. Maddox, Jr. has over 20 years of experience with energy and environmental issues through his work as a former 7-term State Representative and member of the CT Clean Energy Board. He presently is the Chief Sustainability Officer for Sterling Planet, a company that provides complete environmental solutions through the sale of Renewable Electricity Credits (RECs), Energy Efficiency Credits, and carbon offsets. Mr. Maddox frequently provides expert testimony before several state regulatory commissions and his insights on sustainable energy and carbon regulation are sought out by many policy makers, universities and the press.
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Organization: Soil Carbon Coalition
Title: New Quantum Soils
Description: Grazing management, factors of soil formation and practical ways to harness them, Holistic Management, keyline landscape design and soil development, soil and environmental services, payment for environmental services, biosphere function and interaction with agricultural management.
Bio: Abe Collins is a cattle grazier on Cimarron Farm in St. Albans, Vermont. He has milked cows, currently finishes beef cattle, and spends much of his time learning from other producers and working on decision-support tools for graziers, farmers and allies.
Abe has been at the fore of the development of the idea and practice of grazing and agricultural management for topsoil formation, and connecting rural providers and urban beneficiaries of the environmental services that come from topsoil.
Abe is the founder of New Soil Quantum, which works to network and harness land managers’ know-how in combination with environmental monitoring, modeling and decision-support tools.
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Venue and Accommodations
The Carbon Farming Course is hosted by the beautiful Threefold Educational Center in Chestnut Ridge, NY, home of the Pfeiffer Center for Biodynamic Agriculture. On- and off-site housing and food options are available. More information on venue and accommodations here.