In July 2019, Croatan Institute released a groundbreaking report, “Soil Wealth: Investing in Regenerative Agriculture across Asset Classes” that identified 127 US focused investable strategies, with combined assets under management of $321.1 billion, that explicitly integrate sustainable food and agriculture thematically or as criteria in their investment process, as well as 67 mechanisms, instruments and approaches that can be mobilized for financing regenerative agriculture across asset classes. 

In order to advance the potential that regenerative agriculture presents in mitigating climate change, improving soil health, and building community resilience, significant capital needs to be deployed on farms, as well as across value chains. This report quantifies the current investment landscape surrounding regenerative agriculture and cultivates an understanding of how investors can allocate investments across asset classes to further these efforts.

Based on our analyses of cash and cash equivalents, fixed income, real assets, public equity, private equity, and venture capital markets, this report concludes with a series of recommendations for investors working within each asset class and for stakeholders such as foundations, policymakers, asset owners and asset managers, and regenerative agriculture practitioners.

In 2020, Croatan Institute received USDA NRCS funding to further explore one of the place-based mechanisms identified in this report, Regenerative Organic Agriculture Districts that we now call “Soil Wealth Areas.” See below for more information about this work.