A conversation with Stefania Avanzini, director of One Planet Business for Biodiversity (OP2B), about working hard to create alternative vertically integrated, farmed-owned food companies and transforming the current giants. Because, whether we like it or not, most of the food we buy in supermarkets comes from these companies. These companies are finally feeling the pain from climate weirding in their supply chains. So, what are they doing about it, and why did 26 of them join the coalition of businesses for biodiversity?
LISTEN TO THE CONVERSATION ON:
How does a coalition with companies with a total turnover of over 900 billion dollars work on changing the food system? These are the whales of the food system, not the small fishes, and with all their issues and challenges, they are fundamental to the future of our food system.
A COALITION APPROACH IS SO IMPORTANT
The One Planet Business for Biodiversity (OP2B), now a key player within the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, aims to increase agricultural biodiversity and protect and restore nature.
”Five years ago, a group of companies realised that they needed to move from their individual company projects that they were already having, trying to improve the resilience of their value chain, to a collective approach. And so, they decided to create a coalition, or group of like-minded companies and CEOs at the top who actually thought that we have a mission to contribute to transform our agricultural models so that they protect and restore biodiversity, so with a very strong mission to increase agricultural biodiversity that was seen already five years ago as a key transition lever, I would say. And today, the coalition is comprised of 26 companies and value chain actors that have an aggregated turnover of over 900 billion.” Stefania Avanzini
”I really see that the link between nature and climate is very much embedded. I see more and more consensus for a holistic transformation that will benefit farmers, nature, and climate.” Stefania Avanzini
3.6 BILLION DOLLARS INVESTED IN THE LAST 5 YEARS
Stefania aims to celebrate significant investments and the engagement of more farmers in regenerative practices in the next five years.
”The thing I would mostly want to celebrate with the coalition in five years is really a massive unlock of investments in agriculture, especially at the landscape level, of course. I didn’t bring so much number, but I can say in the past five years, the OP2B members have invested over 3.6 billion US dollars and have engaged over 300,000 farmers in their project on regenerative agriculture. This was in the past, from 2019 until now in 2024, but if we’re looking at the next five years, how can we just unlock really that massive investment that is needed to really accelerate the transition? Because today, I think what we can say is that the transition has been happening for many, many years. You know, millions of farmers are engaged in agroecological and regenerative farming practices out there, but they are still the minority. I think it’s estimated that 15% of global agricultural land is actually, we can say, using regenerative or agricultural farming practices.” Stefania Avanzini
INDIVIDUAL COMPANIES AND DEMO FARMS ARE NOT ENOUGH
Stefania was drawn to the mission of the One Planet Business for Biodiversity due to its collective approach.
”The second thing that really brought me from OP2B is that, as I’ve also worked for the leading network for social entrepreneurship, I’ve really vetted into a lot of individual enterprises, supported individual entrepreneurs, and understood the power of the collective to really make a change in a system. You just don’t need one innovative idea. You need this idea to spread, but you also need the collective to come on board. And I was very, very seduced when I heard about the mission of the One Planet Business for Biodiversity. Because, as you said five years ago, some of the leading value chain actors understood the limitations of their individual pilot projects and said, actually, if we really want to contribute to moving to agricultural models that work within planetary boundaries and that also benefit biodiversity and nature, we actually need to do this collectively, cross-sectoral. So not only one sector is presented in the coalition, but they have also understood the power of the collective, the power that they can collect, and how they can collectively also incentivise the transition.” Stefania Avanzini
OTHER POINTS DISCUSSED
Koen and Stefania also talked about:
- From creating markets for diversified crops to comprehensive financing packages for farmers
- Importance of shared financial risk, the challenges of collective landscape actions, and the need for better market incentives
- The role of health and nutrient density in agriculture
LINKS:
- One Planet Business for Biodiversity (OP2B)
- Beans is How is an ambitious campaign to double global bean consumption by 2028
- Positive business case for farmers
- Call for a widespread industry alignment on how to measure and scale regenerative agriculture
- Nutrient Density Alliance
- Livelihoods Funds
- Mirova
- EIT Food
- Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty – Muhammad Yunus
- Ashoka Bioregional Weaving Labs
- The Guardian view on nature-friendly farming: England’s green subsidies are working
- LENS Landscapes Enterprise Network
- Ellen MacArthur Big Food Redesign Challenge
LINKED INTERVIEWS:
- Willem Ferwerda – Kickstarted the restoration industry with Commonland 11 years ago, now finally big money shows interest, but we need billions
- Matthijs Westerwoudt – Paying farmers for cultivating weeds and making biodiversity super tasty by selling drinks and teas made from native plants
- Dan Barber, great flavour, health benefits and healthy ecosystems can only come from healthy soils not a lab
- Benjamin Ware on how Nestlé, doing $93 billion a year in sales, is getting serious about regeneration
- Tina Owens – Only 1% of nutrition data is tracked on food labels and that means lots of opportunities for companies
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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.
This topic is the most important area for climate change mitigation. I live in the Midwest in Manitoba. I looked into the Midwest Row Crop Initiative. It sounds so hopeful. My concern, as an environmental activist is the long term risks of using a collaborative approach with companies whose very business model depends on maintaining the current model. Bayer for glyphosate, and Nutien fertilizers. Even Pepsi with ultra processed foods there could be conflicts.
I understand that the benefits of immediate implementation thru existing supply chain and farmer trust are important. But once these projects start to scale they will naturally cut into some of these partner companies revenues. If these companies are influencing the design of the projects, or the interpretation of the results the risk of greenwashing and negative interpretations or recommendations is huge.
Civil Eats recently reported on US government money used for carbon credits for agricultural practices that are now being used to support the purchase of glyphosate. The company recommended a cover crop solution that includes killing the cover crop prior to planting the main crop. This is a good example of a conflict resulting in greenwashing. I believe that this risk can be reduced by strong government direction including regulations with deadlines and penalties. Solid government data collection. Let the private sector do all the cooperative solutions working with community groups to keep their reputations and marketing models. This is excellent. But at the end of the day they need guardrails and only regulation can achieve lasting results. The industry is just to powerful and currently pays nothing for the damage it produces.