As the Winter Season of Waiting Ends
January can be a time of few events post-holiday, restarting work weeks, and the coldest, darkest days of the year. But winter has its purpose. The blanket of snow at the farm insulates the soil, protecting the roots and organisms below. Beneath the frost layer, soil microbes are still active, waiting to increase their activity after the thaw.
Just like the soil’s life beneath the snow, The Nest and our portfolio have remained busy beneath the surface of winter. This month, we celebrate a recognition for Monarch Tractor and the announcement of Quick Organics’ partnership with Rodale Institute. Domaine de Graux has continued with planning for a new educational food forest, and with RFSI Europe just weeks away, we are ready to spring into life.
Meet The Nest Team at RFSI Europe
RFSI Europe gives us one more reason to look forward to the end of winter. This year’s theme of the conference is Driving Planetary and Human Health through AgriFood Innovation. The Nest team will be in attendance and The Nest's Anouk Schoors and Eric Smith of Edacious will be presenting!
To help identify some of the most promising innovations working to enable regeneration in Europe today, RFSI and The First Thirty (TFT) held a call for pitchers, selecting Zymofix among the Top 10 most innovative projects pitches.
The Nest will be providing scholarships for farmers to attend the event. RFSI Europe, taking place 26-27 February, will bring together 300+ investors, capital activators, and critical stakeholders to activate capital across the regenerative food system. Learn more and register here with the NEST10code to get 10% off.
Portfolio Updates
Quick Organics
Quick Organics announced a partnership with Rodale Institute, enabling producers in the Institute's network access to Quick Organics' platform.
Frankie Grundler of Quick Organics led a panel discussion, “Leadership Development and Change Management in the Organic Certification Community,” at CultiVAte ACA Conference on January 30. ACA (Accredited Certifiers Association) is the trade group for National Organic Program certifiers.
Buoyant Ventures
Buoyant Ventures announced their investment into Gravity Climate, an energy and carbon management platform. Gravity Climate targets the industrial and energy-intensive companies with features like automated Scope 1–3 emissions accounting, facilitation for energy-efficiency upgrades, and tools to track ROI. The $13M Series A round was led by Ansa Capital, with participation from Eclipse, Hanover, and Caffeinated Capital, Communitas Capital, and WEX Venture Capital. Read about the investment and Buoyant’s trend predictions for 2025 in The Lighthouse.
AgFunder
The AgFunder news team reflects on 2024, including this post highlighting the biggest developments in regenerative agriculture, and the year ahead. Major developments highlighted include finance, more involvement from agrifood corporates, and aiding in the growth of smallholder operations.
Monarch Tractor
Monarch was named to i3’s 2025 Global Cleantech 100 list for the second year in a row. The list highlights the most promising private cleantech companies that are making significant contributions to sustainable innovation. The Cleantech 100 also includes Raptor Maps, part of Buoyant Ventures’ portfolio.
Propagate
The Propagate team, along with farm partners, will be presenting two sessions at the Pasa Sustainable Agriculture Conference in Lancaster, PA, on Feb 5–7.
- "Building Agroforestry Systems for Resiliency & Success" with Breadtree Farms
- "Success in Agroforestry: Partnerships for Effective Working Buffers" with Stroud Water Research Center and Wild Fox Farm
Ardo
Ardo is excited to share their latest CSR report, highlighting their progress and commitment to a more sustainable food system. As Ardo navigates new sustainability challenges, their key question remains: How can we keep feeding future generations? This journey requires collaboration across the entire food value chain – from farmers and producers to customers, policymakers, and financial partners.
Read the full report here: Ardo Corporate Sustainability Report 2024
Ardo's CEO Sabine Sagaert was also featured in an article by De Tijd. Read the article here.
Other Updates
Atomo Coffee launches two 50/50 blend products that offer a way to enjoy the rich flavor of coffee while reducing coffee deforestation and carbon emissions.
Pymwymic and Nufarm co-led a €9m Series A funding round in Kilter, a pioneering Norwegian agtech startup developing autonomous robots for precision agriculture.
Synthesis Capital provides perspective on the role of alternative proteins in food security.
Foundation
Top 50 Farmers
Applications for the Top 50 Farmers closed in December. The Selection Committee is reviewing applications for the 2025 cohort. The cohort will include farmers at different stages of transition from the beginning of the journey to role models who have been farming regeneratively for years, all sharing their diverse paths to adopting regenerative agriculture. The 2025 cohort will be announced in early spring.
Opportunities
Steward is hiring for financial underwriters.
AgFunder posted 18 new job openings in January, including product development and scientist roles.
Ardo has 75 job openings listed.
Edacious has 3 job roles open in food systems customer success, sales and the laboratory.
Propagate is hiring for a program manager.
Arborview’s portfolio has 41 job roles open across 8 companies.
Astanor’s portfolio has 48 job openings across 29 companies.
Omnivore’s portfolio has 135 open jobs across 34 companies.
From the Farm
This month, Domaine de Graux announced plans to develop a food forest on the farm. The Domaine, in collaboration with Louis De Jaeger and his team at Commensalist, were chosen as one of the winners of the “Biodiversité Entreprises” call for projects, launched by SPW Environment (Service public de Wallonie). The project combines education, biodiversity, and sustainability into a plan that will enable children and adults to “taste a living ecosystem.” Harvests from the food forest will be featured in the estate’s catering activities, serving visitors a delicious lesson in agroecology. Commensalist is working with Domaine on additional plantings to support biodiversity at the farm. Domaine de Graux will also be tripling the size of its market garden this season.
Domaine de Graux is looking to recruit a passionate market gardener to join their agroecological farm. As the farms cultivated area will be multiplied by 3 this year, Domaine de Graux is looking for someone to work alongside their current market gardener. Want to be part of this adventure? Take a look at the farm’s website to discover more!