While there are long-standing patterns to disrupt, the agriculture sector in the South is also rife with market opportunities. The WKKF Mission Driven Investment (MDI) team declared that changing perceptions of the South from a deficit to an asset frame is crucial to the region attracting more and better capital. WKKF has been working to build more inclusive food systems across the South for decades, focused on building systems that provide people greater access to locally grown, healthy food through networks that create an equitable approach to production, distribution and consumption.
As California, America’s largest supplier of fruits and vegetables, continues to face the effects of climate change, researchers and scientists are pointing to agricultural investment in the Mississippi Delta as a comparable environment that will help diversify the supply chain. Investing to create sustainable and equitable agriculture practices regionally can combat growing food insecurity and ensure that local farmers, especially farmers of color, fully benefit from the market. Yet investors looking to achieve these goals need to bear in mind multiple dynamics relevant to the sector.
Timing is one: while some medium-term investment opportunities exist, the MDI team believes the deeper opportunity for change is in 30-year commitments. Buying land and managing it in a way that returns outputs to communities and creates jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities can fundamentally change the economic dynamics of the region. Climate change is another: in addition to planning for changing weather and acute climate events, there are many innovations in sustainable practices, such as hydroponics. Technology is a third: farming practices are changing rapidly as new technologies develop, and new tech skills are needed for a changing sector and workforce.
The ROI in the South conversation featured two experts working in very different parts of the agriculture ecosystem: Cindy Ayers Elliott, a former investment banker who returned to Mississippi to found Footprint Farms, the largest urban farm in the state; and Dave Chen, founder and CEO of Equilibrium Capital, a leading asset management firm that develops sustainable finance and active ESG strategies in agriculture. Watch the full conversation and read the key takeaways below.
