Shows
Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food364 Paul McMahon - Why regen forestry is natural capital’s Trojan horse for institutional investorsA conversation with Paul McMahon, co-founder SLM partners, about forestry being the gateway drug for natural capital for institutional investors to put money to work. Why? Because they are used to investing in forestry — it is a well-established investment sector with very long-time horizons. Rotations here are 30+ years, but it’s also one with many challenges: current practices usually mean cutting down a forest after 30 years and completely replanting it. That basically scars a landscape for life — mostly monocultures.Interestingly, alternatives have been popping up over the last few decades. Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF), where you selectively harves...2025-05-061h 06
Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food363 James Arthur Smith - Mercury-free, microplastic-free, and Omega-3 rich: the future of seafoodA check in conversation with James Arthur Smith, founder of Seatopia, about their data-driven focus on nutrient density (plus mercury/microplastics testing) resonates more strongly than abstract “sustainability” marketing strategy and it ultimately driving real ecosystem restoration. We explore how Seatopia defines regenerative aquaculture in a multi- trophic system—integrating finfish alongside shellfish and seaweeds, how they measure and quantify our impact at every step and how they partner with artisan milling companies developing species-appropriate feeds that eliminate fishmeal, soy, corn, and canola oil—pivoting toward insect protein and algae-based oils.More about this episode on https...2025-04-291h 07
Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food362 Mike Velings - VC & PE won’t deliver regeneration — €250M evergreen proves itA conversation with Mike Velings, co-founder of Aqua-Spark, a global investment fund for sustainable aquaculture, about how an invite he should have never received lead to the creation of the largest aquaculture fund in history, with over $250 million in assets under management (AUM) and ambitious plans to grow to $2 billion or more. This conversation goes beyond the billion dollar question—it’s already been answered. We explore why focusing on long- term investments is essential for transforming an industry and why current venture capital and private equity fund models might cause more harm than good. How can we b...2025-04-221h 24
Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food361 Herb Young - After 36 years at Bayer, growing regen citrus with 8x the nutrientsA conversation with Herb Young, farmer who, after 36 years in the chemical industry working for Bayer, retired and bought a small farm in Georgia—where things quickly got out of hand. While researching organic premiums, Herb came across regenerative agriculture—and fell deep, very deep, down the rabbit hole. For over a year, he read everything, listened to everything, and then planted his first trees. A few years later, Herb is now one of the leading regenerative citrus growers in the country, conducting cutting-edge research while selling his first harvest directly to consumers in over 36 states. And the m...2025-04-151h 06
Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food360 Ethan Soloviev - AI, good food at Davos, food as medicine and regen taking offA check- in conversation with Ethan Soloviev, Chief Innovation Officer at HowGood, about how regenerative agriculture is truly taking off, its position within large food and agriculture companies, and whether we risk watering it down or falling into greenwashing (Spoiler: Surprisingly, we're doing a lot about it!). We also get an update on HowGood—they're doing well and focusing more on nutrient density-, plus, we talk about Regen House, which is revolutionizing the way good food fosters meaningful conversations at major events like COPs, climate summits, and Davos, bringing farmers, indigenous community members, an...2025-04-0856 min
Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food359 Louis De Jaeger - Eat More Trees: a Masterclass with thé storyteller of the Regen SpaceA conversation with Louis De Jaeger, international keynote speaker, author, award-winning filmmaker, and landscape designer, about dreams, action, and storytelling—how to reach and touch people. We discuss why storytelling is highly underrated and underfunded, and why he is organizing a festival—not the next Burning Man, but a regeneration festival.He shares his excitement about small water cycle restoration, the biotic pump, and much more. And in the end, it all boils down to one simple message: Eat More Trees.During his 5-year sabbatical that turned into a lifelong mission to rege...2025-04-011h 19
Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food358 Laimonas Noreika - From FinTech to Farms: bridging the €60B loan gap for Europe's small farmsA conversation with Laimonas Noreika, founder of HeavyFinance, about providing loans to farmers, bringing innovation to the traditionally stagnant agri-loan sector (some numbers: over €70M loaned to farmers and over 13,000 individual investors have invested through them). The profitability of regenerative agriculture isn't just a theory—it's backed by hard data from hundreds of thousands of hectares across Eastern Europe. According to Laimonas, the financial case for regenerative farming methods is compelling, showing roughly 20% higher profits compared to conventional approaches, even without factoring in potential carbon credit revenue.Traditional banking institutions have created a €60 billion annual financi...2025-03-2552 min
Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food357 Kiira Heymann - From Non-GMO to Non-ultra-processed: everyone has the right to know what’s in their foodA conversation with Kiira Heymann, Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Non-GMO Project and the Food Integrity Collective. After the success of the Non-GMO Project in the U.S., which is now featured on almost 63,000 products, the team is launching the Non-Ultra-Processed Food verification. In this conversation, we discuss why—why introduce another label? And why is it so important for the food sector to focus on increasing consumers' capacity to demand more from their food system, rather than just adding another label?This isn't just another label—it's a carefully considered intervention designed to reconnect people with...2025-03-1844 min
Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food356 Dimitri Tsitos - Making regenerative intensive tree crops profitableA deep dive into the world of intensive—or super-intensive—tree crops, particularly olives and almonds with Dimitri Tsitos, co-founder of Agrosystemic, the Regenerative Agroforestry Podcast, the Arbo-Innova project and Mazi Farm. In Portugal, the sector is booming—highly profitable yet highly destructive—due to its high- input, high-output nature, with heavy reliance on fertilizers and chemicals.This raises the question: can there be another way? That's exactly what Dimitri and his team have been researching over the past few years—on real farms, running large-scale regenerative plots alongside conventional ones. The bad news? It's not easy. It demands...2025-03-111h 28
Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food355 Tom Hengl - We should reward the stewards of the land like we celebrate Olympic championsA long-overdue check-in conversation with Tom Hengl, director at OpenGeoHub, one of the leading scientists in earth observation and remote sensing—one of the most cited in his field, belonging to the top 0.1% (based on Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers). We discuss the significant changes in the world of remote sensing, satellites, and the hype surrounding AI, machine learning, and large language models over the past three years. While the hype has brought some interesting advancements, it also distracts people from the real work that needs to be done.We delve into the AI4SoilHealth European pr...2025-03-041h 02
Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food354 Dan Barber - AI-Powered natural breeding: The End of GMOs, Gene Editing, and CRISPR?An overdue check-in conversation with Dan Barber, chef, co-owner of Blue Hill restaurants and co-founder of Row 7 Seeds, where we dive into the fascinating world of seeds and how breeding is evolving with the explosion of AI and other technologies. No, we don’t need GMOs, CRISPR, or other risky blunt instruments. We discuss the implosion of the fake meat hype, which was at its peak when we last spoke four years ago, why insane umami flavor and potentially self-nitrogen-fixing tomatoes are revolutionary. This is a deep conversation about bread and wheat—and why breeding wheat specifically for whole meal...2025-02-251h 05
Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food353 Sébastien Crépieux - Insects, the perfect livestock to reintegrate into an arable farmA conversation with Sébastien Crépieux, founder of Invers, developing a decentralised insect farming supply chain for animal nutrition, placing farmers at the heart of the model. The role of animals and livestock in farming is something we cover frequently, but we’ve never discussed insects which can transform immense amounts of agricultural waste—such as leftovers from beer brewing or wheat milling—into high-quality protein and fats. Perhaps most importantly, their frass (manure) is an amazing fertilizer. Of course, humans could consume insect protein directly, but in the Global North, th...2025-02-181h 06
Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food352 Matt Schmitt - How to make regenerative food and agriculture bankableA conversation with Matt Schmitt, founder of Structure Climate, about how to get institutional investors invest in the regenerative food and agriculture transitions. These are big terms we use regularly, but what do they actually mean and, more importantly, how do we get there? How do we get novel climate technologies- like biochar machinery, chestnut agroforestry systems, biofertilizer plants, or weeding robots- bankable? Novel technologies often start as luxury goods with a clear customer demand, even if they don’t yet have many existing transactions, just very clear customer interest. How do we make these technologies investable, or at...2025-02-111h 06
Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food351 Paul Clarke - Smart Machines, AI and Modeling: engineering our way outA conversation with Paul Clarke, technologist, innovator, inventor about technology and innovative tools from various domains, including modelling, digital twins, digital shadows, robots, and other smart hardware solutions that are crucial for the regenerative transition—tools we’ve barely begun to consider, let alone adopt.We often hear about AI, machine learning, and large language models, but these represent only a fraction of what is currently available. Paul argues that the challenges we face are so immense that we cannot afford to ignore the potential of these technologies. They are essential for building better farms, advancing farm tech...2025-02-0459 min
Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food350 Alice Henry - Finally real money for cover crops from sustainable aviation fuelCrops and sustainable aviation fuel—probably not something you think about every day. Alice Henry, co-founder of Regenrate, took a deep dive into why cover crops, which provide amazing benefits to farmers and farmland, are not more widely used. No big surprise—it’s about the money. Planting cover crops costs money, and the business model of carbon credits isn’t enough to nudge farmers.Enter the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) market, where there is both money and massive demand due to changing European and global regulations. That means working with big oil majors and helping...2025-01-3157 min
Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food349 Joseph Rehmann - Climate-positive fish is possible and its eggs are delivered by dronesA conversation with Joseph Rehmann, co-founder of Victory Farms in Kenya, with the mission to be the world's most sustainable fish business and provide high nutrition protein to the mass market in Africa. How do you go from being a happy but unfulfilled banker to co-founding one of the leading and largest animal protein companies in East Africa?We unpack Joseph's journey into fish farming—specifically tilapia, a species indigenous to the region- and how he and his company are proving that it can have a net positive impact on the environment, people, and finances. Of course, Vi...2025-01-281h 20