Webinar - Blended Finance: The Unlocker to Scaling Regenerative Agriculture?

Episode 4 - Blended Finance: the unlocker to Scaling Regenerative Agriculture?

With regenerative agriculture emerging as a game-changer for food security, public and philanthropic funders are stepping up. By de-risking investments, unlocking capital, and scaling successful models, blended finance is accelerating mainstream regenerative agriculture.

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Join us to explore how AgFood corporates can tap into blended finance to accelerate their transition:

• Blended finance in agriculture - An overview
• Funding Solutions – What are the blended finance models that can be leveraged by AgFood companies?
• Engaging Financial Institution – How can you engage with banks, MDBs, and impact investors to fund your Regen Ag programs?
• Proven Models – What successful blended finance structures are driving RegenAg at scale? What are the inspiring case-studies?
• Farmer-centric solutions - How can we make sure these blended finance model benefit farmers as well?

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Q&A from the audience

How can companies outside the agri-food value chain support the financing of regenerative agriculture?

Audience Question:
What are your thoughts on connecting with companies from outside the agrifood value chain for finance to scale regen ag? By this I mean industries that are dependent on ecosystem services provided by regen farmers (biodiversity enhancement, water efficiency, carbon capture) and have no means to genuinely generate them within their own industry

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Dana's Response:

Dana emphasized the importance of landscape-level financing to bring in industries beyond the agri-food value chain. The transition to regenerative agriculture is costly—estimated at €2,000 to €5,000 per hectare in Europe—and cannot be carried solely by the agri-food sector.

She highlighted the need to diversify financing sources, pointing to sectors like water utilities, real estate, and asset management, which also benefit from ecosystem services such as soil health, water regulation, and climate resilience.

While most landscape initiatives today are still led by agri-food stakeholders, the goal of programs like LENS is to gradually integrate adjacent sectors. Dana suggested that starting with water-focused strategies could be a practical entry point for cross-sector collaboration and investment.

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Ceejay's Response:

Ceejay added a note of caution, particularly around carbon offset markets. While some external industries are entering the space to buy offsets, she stressed that quality and real impact must remain the priority.

Not all carbon projects deliver long-term ecological benefits. There’s a risk of a “carbon bubble”—where scale is achieved, but impact is diluted. Ceejay called for:

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• Farmer-centered, high-integrity approaches
  
• Shared risk models
  
• Ongoing education for offset buyers to ensure alignment with regenerative goals

Transparency and trust are essential as new players enter the ecosystem services market.

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Can crop insurance and MRV (Monitoring, Reporting, Verification) systems work together to reduce farmers’ risk?

Audience Question:
Hi everyone! Question on the role of crop insurance in limiting risk exposure of farmers transitioning to regen ag. I assume there are synergies in terms of tech between MRV needed to substantiate corporate claims (e.g. emissions reductions) and index insurance. Any experience with this or thoughts anyone would like to share?

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Ceejay's Response:

Ceejay called this a timely question, especially as the data infrastructure around regenerative agriculture matures.

She explained that financial institutions often require 10+ years of data to assess risk for insurance or lending products. Unfortunately, reliable historical data is still lacking—especially for farmers who began regenerative practices early.

Governments, she said, have a critical role to play in making historical and real-time data more accessible. Public-private initiatives like the U.S. Climate-Smart Commodities Program serve as promising models, setting shared data standards for MRV and insurance use.

However, data sharing comes with challenges. Ceejay pointed to issues of:

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• Data sovereignty
  
• Farmer trust
  
• Reputational concerns from banks and insurers

Clear communication and transparency around why data is collected and how it benefits farmers are essential for success.

She concluded that trusted partnerships and clear standards are foundational to building the financial tools needed for a scaled transition to regenerative agriculture.

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Gregorio's Response:

Gregorio shared a policy perspective from the European Commission. He highlighted recent progress under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) aimed at streamlining how farm data is collected and used.

Key initiatives include:

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• A “one-stop” submission system where farmers submit data once for multiple uses (MRV, compliance, insurance, etc.)
  
• The launch of a “Sustainability Compass” to benchmark and simplify sustainability reporting
  
• Financial incentives for farmers who agree to share and reuse their data for broader ecosystem benefit

This reflects a growing recognition within EU policy circles that multi-use data systems are critical to supporting both farmers and the financial systems that serve them.