Financing Regenerative Agriculture at Scale

In May and June 2025, the Regenerative Innovation Portfolio and Invest-NL hosted the first edition of Innovation Dialogue Series: ‘Critical Enablers for Financing Regenerative Agriculture at Scale’. Through three interactive sessions, a growing coalition of investors, banks, intermediaries, and innovators worked to identify tangible financial mechanisms to accelerate systemic change. 

The second session of the series featured a lively panel discussion, held at the 10^th F&A NEXT Summit (May 22). At the heart of the discussion were the questions: What are the most effective ways to finance the transition to regenerative agriculture? Which financial mechanisms are already being deployed, and what lessons have been learned? And crucially – what are the enablers needed to bring regenerative agriculture financing to scale?

The panelists were brought together by Foodvalley and Invest-NL, two impact focused organizations with complementary expertise and network in regenAg financing. This time, Karin-Slobbe Visser from Foodvalley moderated the panel, featuring:

• Lucy Schroder – One Planet Business for Biodiversity (OP2B), WBCSD 

• Valdemar Engel – The Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO) 

• Adam Kybird – Triodos Food System Transition Fund 

To set the scene for the panel discussion, Michiel Strijland, Business Development Manager Agri Food at Invest-NL, outlined five key financial challenges to scale the financing of regenerative agriculture.

Setting the Scene: Five Financial Barriers to Regenerative Agriculture

Michiel emphasized that while enthusiasm for regenerative agriculture is growing, several systemic barriers remain: 

1. Risk & Uncertainty – Yields and long-term profitability remain unpredictable, making it difficult for investors to commit capital. 

2. Short-Term Losses – Farmers face income drops during the transition (e.g., when reducing synthetic fertilizers). 

3. Knowledge Gaps – Many farmers still lack technical guidance and peer networks. 

4. Market Mismatch – Farmers producing sustainable products often sell into conventional markets with no price premium. 

5. Scaling Challenges – Existing financing models remain fragmented and too small to move beyond pilot projects. 

With this context, the panel turned to solutions and real-world examples of how to overcome these barriers.

Lucy Schroder: Stakeholder collaborations can help to address the Financial Burden of Transitions to Regenerative Agriculture

Lucy Schroder presented findings from a Unilever, PepsiCo, OP2B and Deloitte report, Closing the Gap: An analysis of the costs and incentives for regenerative agriculture in Europe. The report finds that while regenerative agriculture is profitable for farmers in the long term, the cost to transition in Europe varies between €2,000–€5,000 per hectare, depending on thefarm size and location – a burden farmers cannot carry alone.

Her recommendations: 

• Share transition costs across the food system: Public and private actors all have a role to play in providing supports and incentives to farmers in transition. Many value chain actors, such as corporate off-takers, are demonstrating leadership by offering their farmers premiums, technical assistance, and other supports such as building partnerships with banks to improve loan terms for transitioning regenerative farmers. 

• Align transition supports behind an accountable outcomes framework: Stakeholder alignment on regenerative agriculture outcomes is a starting point for value chain collaboration and for demonstrating the benefits of regenerative agriculture over time. Each stakeholder’s investment in transition is contingent on a return on their investment over time, whether that comes in the form of a direct return on investment,  or other investment motivators like improvements in scope 3 emissions, supply chain resilience, improved farmer livelihoods, or improved ecological health. OP2B and WBCSD aligned over 1000 businesses on a common framework for regenerative agriculture, helping to further harmonize alignment across emerging regenerative agriculture frameworks such as SAI platform, Textile Exchange, and key SBTi targets.   

• Landscape-level collaboration to create a 1-stop-shop for farmers: Coordinating transition supports for farmers at the landscape level reduces the administrative burden for farmers in accessing the full range of transition incentives. More importantly, a more advanced collaboration among stakeholders through blended finance or other co-investment approaches can better leverage the investments of the landscape’s off-takers, regional banks, municipalities, water boards, real estate agencies, and more, present wholistic and cost-effective transition supports. 

Adam Kybird: Supporting Farmers Through the Transition Phase

Adam Kybird focused on the financial risks farmers face during the transition to regenerative or organic systems—particularly the three-year certification gap before returns kick in. 

One solution Adam highlighted is Crowdfarming, a farmer-to-consumer platform in Spain and Italy: 

• Farmers receive 60–70% higher prices for their products. 

• More importantly, they gain price certainty for 3–5 years, which helps them plan investments and navigate the costly transition phase. 

Throughout the discussion, the panelists agreed that the transition to regenerative agriculture cannot rest solely on consumers nor farmers. While education and consumer demand play an important role, large food companies, banks, insurers, and public institutions must align incentives and share financial risks. The challenge is fundamentally systemic: food is underpriced because environmental and social costs are not reflected in its price, yet ensuring food remains affordable is equally crucial. 

Recognizing this systemic challenge, Michiel closed the session with a forward-looking question to the panelists: If you had $1 billion dollars to change the system, what would you do? While the answers varied, a clear theme emerged: the problem is not a lack of capital, but a lack of coordination and education. The panelists agreed that pooling resources and aligning them towards shared goals but also educating both farmers and consumers are among the highest-impact actions.  

“We need to go further, and we need to go together,” Karin Slobbe-Visser summarized.  

Join the Movement

Financing regenerative agriculture at scale requires more than capital – it demands trust, transparency, and cross-sector learning and action. Through Innovation Dialogue Series, we’ve seen what becomes possible when diverse actors come together with a shared purpose and a willingness to challenge assumptions. 

Do you want to bring in a regenerative finance initiative or collaborate in another way? Get in touch with the Regenerative Innovation Portfolio team via Karin Slobbe-Visser.