Tag: profitability

Austin Unruh – Silvopasture, planting trees on millions of acres of grassland, is the most scalable and profitable regen solution

A conversation with Austin Unruh, founder of Trees for Graziers, about the investment case for silvopasture. What if we could plant hundreds of millions of trees on degraded, low-value pasture land and make money from it? What if we planted trees that are beneficial for livestock—ruminants, pigs, and poultry? The market for meat and animal products is fairly stable (unless we get a massive breakthrough in precision fermentation soon, but that’s hard to predict). Trees can dramatically lower costs and increase production.
Austin argues that this is the best entry point to get many more trees into the landscape. When chosen well, these trees provide shade (a basic need), but more importantly, they offer feed during the most difficult periods of the year—like high summer, or specific fruits that drop in the autumn, full of sugar and energy, just as cows prepare for the colder winter months. Especially with pasture-raised pigs and poultry, you can save massively on expensive (organic) feed, which is mostly grain. And as a bonus, pastures grow better with partial shade.
So, when in doubt, plant more trees on pasture. Of course, this isn’t always easy. You need to make sure pigs—who are notorious diggers— don’t destroy the young trees. You need to ensure the trees survive the first few years. You’ll need financing to bridge those early, non-fruit-bearing years. But all of that is fixable. And you’ll need a massive tree nursery to supply quality trees—preferably large ones—at scale and at an affordable price. Finally, we discuss why the beauty of a savannah-like landscape is so important.

Paul McMahon – With over $500M invested, there is a regenerative edge of about 1-3%

A conversation with Paul McMahon, co-founder of SLM, about why it makes so much sense to put money to work in real regenerative agriculture, yields, and more importantly, profits and the regenerative edge, and more.

Few papers in regenerative agriculture have been shared more than the Investment Case for Ecological Agriculture written by Paul McMahon. We have shared it countless times, learned a whole lot from the simple investment terms describing why it makes so much sense to put money to work in real regeneration. Now it has been updated, even better, it has been completely rewritten and with a lot more science and a lot more experience from the field.

In the conversation with one of the most experienced regenerative farmland investors, we explore the modules of our recent video course on why we need to change agriculture and food systems urgently, and why now is the time to do it.

Jonathan Lundgren on why all agriculture scientists should become farmers first

A check in conversation with Jonathan Lundgren, founder of Blue Dasher Farms and the Ecdysis Foundation, who talk about the 1000 Farm Initiative, the real innovation on regen production in the United Sates and beyond, and his scientific approach to regen farming practises.

Is Transition Finance key for every farmer?

Does a farmer need transition finance to start or speed up his regenerative transition? Benedikt Bösel and Koen van Seijen dug deeper into the connection between farm profitability and regenerative agriculture practices, with the co-founder and COO of Soil Capital, Nicolas Verschuere.

Nicolas Verschuere @ Groundswell – How regenerating soil health can improve farm profitability from year one

After Nicolas Verschuere’s panel at Groundswell on “How regenerating soil health can improve farm profitability from year one”, we dive a bit deeper into the start of the regenerative transition.