Challenges and Opportunities for Farming

Koen van Seijen

20 years: Food and agriculture

Join Koen van Seijen in this video, as we explore the barriers that stop farmers from making the transition to regenerative farming. Koen also discusses potential opportunities for change, from land ownership models to innovative company structures and investment strategies to align with regenerative practices.

Agriculture

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Challenges and Opportunities for Farming

9 mins 33 secs

Key learning objectives:

Understand the barriers that prevent farmers from transitioning to regenerative agriculture
Outline how stewardship in agriculture contrasts with our current model
Understand the long-term opportunities of regenerative agriculture
Outline the 4 returns investment framework for regenerative agriculture

Overview:

What if the very foundations of our food system could be reimagined to nurture the planet instead of depleting it? We need to confront the hard truths about modern farming including thin profit margins, an ageing workforce and the shackles of land ownership.

Koen challenges you to rethink how we steward our land and resources, embracing innovative models like steward-ownership and evergreen investments. This isn’t just about agriculture; it’s about cultivating a mindset that prioritises the health of our environment for generations to come.

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Summary

What are some of the issues that prevent farmers from transitioning to regenerative agriculture?

Modern farming faces a series of fundamental challenges:

Farmers operate on razor-thin margins, with limited capacity to invest in regenerative practices
For many, retirement savings are tied up in the land, incentivising short-term decisions that prioritise selling at high value rather than long-term care
The dominance of ageing farmers—where in the EU, for every farm manager under 40, there are three over 65—exacerbates this problem.

Why is land stewardship vital for transforming agriculture?

This creates a system where short-term financial survival often takes precedence over soil health or sustainable practices. Moreover, the long-standing practice of private land ownership raises questions about its role in exacerbating these challenges, given the lack of incentives for renters or absentee owners to invest in regeneration. It is important to look at land value as intrinsically linked to soil health. The concept of stewardship offers a mindset shift. Moving from seeing land as a commodity to be owned, to viewing it as something we care for across generations, offers profound implications for agricultural practices.

How does regenerative agriculture offer solutions?

Indigenous communities have long practised this "seven-generation" thinking, considering the long-term impacts of their actions - as long as 7 generations down the line. Regenerative farming promotes this stewardship by restoring ecosystems and encouraging long-term care over immediate profit. But making this transition is challenging. It requires changing deeply ingrained economic and social systems that prioritise immediate returns.

What are some opportunities to change the system?

Innovative models like steward-ownership are providing alternatives. By embedding self-governance and purpose-driven principles. Investments in regenerative agriculture, such as long-term funding models like evergreen structures, also offer promise by aligning with the slow, nature-driven timelines of farming. These systems, designed to promote sustainability over generations, align better with the slower growth cycles of perennial crops, like olive trees, which can take decades to mature fully.

How can we reshape investment returns to promote regeneration?

Shifting the focus from short-term financial returns to long-term benefits is key. Restoring ecosystems will likely involve lower initial returns as systems are rehabilitated. However, once regeneration gains momentum, the potential for long-term gains could outpace traditional extractive models. In the new framework, returns aren't just measured in financial terms.

What is the 4 returns investment framework developed by Commonland?

Regenerative projects deliver four types of returns:

Return of inspiration - Creating hope and purpose
Social returns - Reviving jobs and communities
Natural returns - Restoring biodiversity and soil health
Financial returns - Generating sustainable income

Transforming agriculture requires patience, a long-term perspective, and a willingness to challenge established norms. The solutions won't come overnight, but by investing in new systems, supporting companies and farmers on regenerative journeys, and rethinking our relationship with land and ownership, we can lay the foundation for a more resilient and sustainable future.

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Koen van Seijen

Koen van Seijen is a regenerative agriculture and food expert, has been exploring the carbon sequestration potential of regenerative farming since 2011. He is the founder and host of the Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food podcast. In the last decade through 300 podcast interviews with investors, fund managers, scientists, entrepreneurs and farmers, Koen explored the role of money and entrepreneurship all over the world in regenerating soils, ecosystems and communities. Koen also works at Toniic, a global community of asset owners seeking deeper positive net impact across the capital spectrum. Toniic members consist of around 500 high net wealth individuals, family offices, and foundations, who are deepening their impact in over 25 countries.

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