January News and Updates
The Nest’s Anouk Schoors Featured at RFSI Europe
The Nest’s Anouk Schoors will be a featured speaker at the Regenerative Food Systems Investment Forum event, RFSI Europe, February 28-29 at the Double Tree by Hilton in Brussels City, Belgium. She will be a panelist for the session, “A Systems Approach to Investing,” which will be held on Wednesday the 28th. The Nest was pleased to support Farmer Scholarships to cover the conference registration fees for the region’s farmers and ranchers.
If you plan on attending the event, please use the code NEST10 to receive 10% off registration. Event details and registration can be found at this link.
Other Events
Monarch Tractor Presence at COP28
Monarch’s Chief Farming Officer and co-founder, Carlo Mondavi presented at COP28, giving a keynote presentation, “Can an Autonomous Tractor Save the Future of Farming?” on Energy &Industry Day, December 5, 2023. Read more about Monarch’s role at the event.
Portfolio News
Pymwymic invests in FA Bio
Pymwymic alongside the Clean Growth Fund co-led a £5.3minvestment round for FA Bio. FA Bio is a British biotech company that focuses on microbial products that increase crop yields, protect biodiversity, and replace chemical inputs. Other key investors in the round included Ship2BVentures. The investment is Pymwymic’s fifth portfolio company under their Healthy Food Systems Impact Fund II. Learn more about the investment and FA Bio.
Propagate Partners with Rodale Institute on Agroforestry Educational Hubs
Rodale’s research sites in eastern Pennsylvania will be home to Propagate agroforestry demonstration projects. The projects aim to raise awareness while providing education on regenerative agriculture practices and advancing research.
“The Institute’s goal is to stay on the cutting edge of agroforestry research and develop tools and resources to help farmers interested in incorporating agroforestry practices. Propagate has emerged as a leader in agroforestry design and implementation, and collaborating with their team will allow us to both have a greater impact on increasing the understanding and uptake of agroforestry across the country, ”said Rodale Institute scientist Dr. Leigh Archer.
Propagate and Rodale hope to grow the partnership — and more trees — in the future with the installation of more projects in the eastern U.S. Planting is expected to begin in Fall 2024. Learn more about the partnership and projects.
The announcement is just one of the headlines for Propagate this month as founders Ethan Steinberg and Jeremy Kaufman were also interviewed on the Investing in Regenerative Agriculture podcast. The interview focuses on the growth of Propagate in the past 1.5 years and the team’s goal to invest $15 million into agroforestry systems in the U.S. Listen to the interview.
Finally, Ethan Steinberg explains to AgFunder News how money can really grow on trees and the critical role of patient capital for agroforestry. The in-depth interview also includes Propagate’s unique finance model and the team’s approach to solve barriers to agroforestry adoption. You can read the interview here.
Agricarbon Helps Sustainable Dairy Coop First Milk Establish Baseline
Accurate and repeatable soil testing methods are critical for operations that want to set soil carbon sequestration goals. Such was the case for First Milk, a dairy coop with an ambitious goal to sequester 100,000t of CO2-e each year by 2025. Learn why the dairy chose Agricarbon’s solution in this case study, originally published in Direct Driller Magazine.
Agricarbon’s latest article, also published in Direct Driller, provides an informative and thorough guide for farmers on choosing a Project Developer for soil carbon projects. Find this latest article on the Agricarbon website.
Omnivore Publishes Their Fund 2: Impact Report for 2023
Omnivore’s Fund 2 includes six investment themes that support smallholder agriculture from field to market. Overall, Omnivore reported that every $1 invested returned a value of $4 in social impacts. The Fund 2 reached a noteworthy 11.4 million farms, created $1.44billion in economic value — while avoiding 38 million metric tons of CO2equivalent emissions and preventing 7.6 million metric tons of food waste. Read the Impact Report at this link.
The Nest Journal
January’s Journal posts include a feature on Marifish.Inc, part of our foundation initiatives. Marifish.Inc is an innovation hub for sustainable aquaculture and mariculture in Belgium. The project launched in November 2023, and will serve as an all-in-one incubator, accelerator, and innovation community. Marifish will help the next generation of fisheries entrepreneurs develop solutions that rebuild health of our oceans while supporting the local community. Learn more about this exciting incubator project.
In the Media
Eric Smith, Edacious, on investing in regenerative agriculture
Eric Smith, CEO, and co-founder of Edacious, appeared on the Investing in Regenerative Agriculture podcast. The interview includes his perspective on the need to measure quality of food and how we can transform from a food system driven by chemicals to one driven by biology. Listen to the episode.
Allison Meyers, Buoyant Ventures, on The Green Light
Allison Meyers of Buoyant Ventures is featured on The Green Light podcast. She discusses closing a $76M climate tech VC fund backed by Bank of America & Microsoft and how Buoyant is advancing global sustainability and climate solutions by funding startups, including ReelData AI. Listen to the podcast.
Blume Equity Highlighted as New First-Time Fund in Europe
Sifted highlighted Blume as a notable first-time fund in its 2023 highlight list. The article noted Blume’s all-female leadership and focus on climate tech. View the list.
Opportunities
Trace Genomics is hiring for three U.S.-based positions, Technical Sales Manager, Instrumentation Technician, and Soil Microbiome Scientist.
From the Farm
This month, Domaine de Graux highlight edits baseline soil test results, including an impressive soil biological activity nearly 8.5 times that of nearby conventional operations for the same crops. The team also welcomed new members, Eve De Canniere, Event& Product Manager, and Pascale Slaets, Administrative Assistant.
The farm also launched two new products, onion confit and apple and pear juice, in addition to the Angus beef and jams. Available for purchase here.
