Anthony Corsaro, director of business development at Regenerative Food Systems Investment, joins us for a discussion on the importance of CPG brands for the regenerative transition and the next Regenerative Food Systems Investment Forum that will take place on October 12th and 13th in Denver, Colorado.
LISTEN TO THE CONVERSATION ON:
Why is CPG so important in the regenerative transition?
Anthony has made 18 personal investments into the regenerative ag and food space. He healed his autoimmune skin disease with nutrient-dense food.
CPG companies are crucial in the regen ag transition
According to Anthony, there are all kinds of information around CPG brands and how to invest and scale those organizations. It’s a super cashflow-intensive business. So that makes it one of the big challenging pieces.
‘Walmart’s gonna buy your product because it has a lower carbon footprint, or Walmart’s gonna buy your product because you use less water. That day is coming and may already be here.’ – Anthony Corsaro
‘I think from a long-term resiliency perspective, and in a return perspective, it’s going to be about market access. And so the people that are on the forefront of building the supply chains outside of the typical, CPG status quo, I think they’re going to have a competitive advantage. And I think that even the larger ones are going to have to start doing that. I mean, we see that with General Mills and all these other people making these huge commitments to regen ag.’ – Anthony Corsaro
‘Why is now the time or what’s the compelling reason to invest there? To me as the consumer, if you look at the data on growth in the set, and you look at Gen Z, millennials and the kind of products that they’re demanding, this is going to be super important. -‘Anthony Corsaro
What to expect at the 4th Regen Food System Investment Forum
The forum coming next October 12th and 13th in Denver, Colorado, has been brought together with the help of sponsors and speakers.
‘We’ll have 300+ attendees this year, we have 35+ speakers, two full days of stuff going on, 9+ hours of networking, we’ve got new fundraising happy hour, we’ve got pitches, we’ve got breakout sessions, we have a new venue where we’ll have different things going on, more than just one stage.’ – Anthony Corsaro
‘One, the space is exploding, which is great and needed. And two, we’re really taking a step up as an organization and as an event and hopefully bringing a lot of value to the space so we’re happy and proud of both of those things.’ Anthony Corsaro
How would Anthony invest 1b into the food and ag space
According to Anthony in the animal protein space is where interesting environmental and financial returns are and where the demand and consumption are growing.
‘I don’t think it’s going anywhere. I don’t see people eating fake meat and these other alternatives that have been offered or whatever we’re going to grow in a vat somewhere in the middle of nowhere.’ – Anthony Corsaro
‘Vertically integrated evergreen land fund that buys degraded row crop land, transitions that to multispecies, pastured livestock, and build their own processing, get vertically integrated, have their own brand that sell, all those different various meat products, grass-fed beef, pastured poultry, pastured pork, eggs, I would do that immediately.’ – Anthony Corsaro
‘And I would use some of that money to also fund research that shows all the ecological benefits of those systems and the transition. And the last thing I would do is I would set aside a portion of that money for media to show these transitions, tell that story to both consumers and investors to basically spur more of these systems created.’ – Anthony Corsano
Less talking and more investing
People need to start investing more money faster, Anthony argues. Regen pioneers learn by doing, it is trial and error to see what works. It’s necessary to invest a huge amount of capital in that trial and error with the appropriate stipulations and all the things that go along with that.
‘Nothing frustrates me more than people who talk and don’t do anything. But I do think there’s also a lot of people that love to talk. And having been totally ingrained in the ecosystem since January of 2021, all I’ve seen them do is talk. And so the time for talk is over. And let’s start doing, so that’s really where I’m a contrarian. Let’s learn by failure. If you talk to any of the regen pioneers from just a pure on farm production, they didn’t learn by thinking about it really long time on their porch.’ – Anthony Corsaro
OTHER POINTS DISCUSSED
Koen and Anthony also talked about:
- What would Anthony consider a success after the event?
- What would Anthony do if he had a magic wand
- Can regen ag scale?
- Input reduction in regen ag
LINKS:
LINKED INTERVIEWS:
- Pete Oberle on how to invest in lab grown regenerative meat
- Tripp Wall on why provenance is key and time kills food
- Mark Lewis, hunting for unicorns in regenerative agriculture and food
- Clint Brauer on why robotics are key to scale regen ag without chemicals
- Dan Miller on the crucial role of locally owned processing in regenerative agriculture
- Dan Miller on crowdfunding and its key role in regenerative agriculture
- Paul Lightfoot on how carbon negative foods are taking off and why now
- Eurof Uppington on decommodifying olive oil, the largest and most fraudulent crop in the Mediterranean
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The above references an opinion and is for information and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.