The importance of improving soil health is being overlooked by regenerative agriculture investors, according to Regenerate Asset Management chief executive Ben Stafford.
On Tuesday, New Private Markets was among the attendees at a screening of Six Inches of Soil, a documentary film about UK regenerative agriculture.
Stafford emphasised the importance of soil in a panel discussion following the screening: “Most of our competitors who are doing this are not looking at soil health. They’re looking at irrigation pipes. They’re looking at putting roots in the ground. They’re calculating their forestry positions, saying: ‘we’re sucking in carbon. That’s it, done’. And actually, most groups in this space, especially within the larger ag scale, are missing soil health as a factor of impact. And I think that’s a key contributor to why this is such a big impact play.”
Regenerate was established by Stafford and fellow ex-Impax director Ryan Cameron. The Regenerate European Sustainable Agriculture Fund launched last year and received a cornerstone investment of approximately €150 million from M&G Investment’s Catalyst strategy. The firm signed its first deal, which saw it acquire a permanent crop blueberry asset in Portugal, earlier this year.
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