Soil Wealth

Soil Health + Community Wealth

Soil Wealth encompasses the constellation of benefits that result when we build soil health and community wealth through regenerative, organic, and agroecological practices. Soil Wealth recognizes that there exists an array of agroecological practices rooted in wisdom from multiple cultures and seeks to nurture these existing ecological assets to build community resilience.

The Soil Wealth program provides resources, case studies, and on-the-ground technical assistance to demonstrate how a total portfolio, multi-asset class approach can be used to effectively unlock capital and finance ecologically resilient and equitable farms, forestry, food, and fiber systems.

Our Work Centers on...

Frontline Communities

Facilitating access to aligned capital and technical resources for land stewards, agricultural producers, and value-web enterprises
Convening spaces for place-based partners to network, build community, and collaborate

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Capital Providers

Connecting capital providers with partners on the ground in regenerative food, farming, and forestry systems
Convene diverse agricultural stakeholders and publish innovative research on the intersection of finance and social equity

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Soil Wealth: Investing in Regenerative Agriculture across Asset Classes

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.

Short Film | Soil Wealth: Investing in Regenerative Agriculture

There are practical ways to invest in regenerative agriculture and farmers in the US, while building community wealth and ecological resilience. Our premiere short film, with support from Patagonia and Waverley Street Foundation, features farmers and capital providers we have partnered with over the years to demonstrate effective, market-based solutions for funding the future of resilient, sustainable economies.