Why Now?

For decades, American agriculture has been structured to incentivize and subsidize monocultures, scale, consolidation, and global supply chains. As a result, farmers who use sustainable practices, prioritize diversity, and sell into local markets face a daunting challenge: they must compete with systems that produce cheap food by externalizing costs. They build and run their businesses while also planting seeds, harvesting crops, and trucking coolers to markets, the profits of which are already earmarked for the required costs of the next planting cycle.

There is a once-in-a-century transition happening in U.S. farming. As older farmers retire and other farms are consolidated or closed, a new generation of farmers is emerging that see their role as central to fighting the climate crisis, feeding communities, and establishing just and inclusive local food systems. Fortunately, there are unprecedented sources of funding available. The FARMpreneur program provides these farmers with the kind of effective learning experiences and ecosystem support that dramatically grew the field of social entrepreneurship during the past 25 years.

Climate Imperative

Scaling regenerative agriculture is a critical climate solution as well as a chance to create more resilient and equitable food systems. Farmers are on the front lines of regional food security, community well-being, and planetary health. Increasing temperatures, volatile weather, droughts, and flooding have already made farming more challenging.

Adoption of regenerative agriculture is a critical climate solution, but scaling has been slow in all major geographies. Recent market and policy tailwinds have created renewed interest in regenerative agriculture. Major companies that interact with agricultural value chains — from brands and retailers to traders — have made commitments to support adoption as part of their net-zero carbon and biodiversity goals. Governments across the world have created new incentives for growers to adopt practices, and some have begun rethinking subsidy regimes that typically incentivize conventional, intensive agriculture.

Why Invest in Farmers?

Climate-smart farmers who produce nutrient-dense foods provide services that are undervalued by our society. Farmers rarely have time to reflect and develop new business strategies that help them adapt to changing market conditions and opportunities to become more profitable and resilient. 

FARMpreneurs is a unique educational program that guides farmers through an intensive development strategy process that brings them perspective, focus, and feedback from experts and peers. Graduates of the program emerge as empowered farmers, ready to be in the driver's seat of their business, more investable and offering value propositions to investors, lenders and grantors.

Our hypothesis: Empowering small climate-smart farmers with mindsets and skill sets to grow and thrive as social entrepreneurs fills an unmet need and has cascading impacts on the food system.