I am actively concerned that industrial agriculture is dependent on fossil fuels, requires heavy natural resource inputs, drives international land grabs, and increases the disparity of health and income; I am sharing actions I have taken to inspire you to action.

There are many voices holding up agroecology as the solution for global farming practices. Agroecology employs traditional ways of farming that are less resource oriented and that work in harmony with society. New research in agroecology allows us to explore more effectively how we can use ancient knowledge to protect people and their environment at the same time.  Agroecology offers environmentally sustainable methods that can meet the rapidly growing demand for food.

In 2014, in her first public speech since her appointment to the United Nations as the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Hilal Elver declared that one billion people globally are hungry and called on governments to support a transition to ‘agricultural democracy,’ which would empower rural small farmers. Elver also said that if we deal with small farmers, we solve hunger and deal with food production, and that food policies that do not address the root causes of world hunger would be bound to fail.^[1] She continued her case for agroecology:

Global agricultural policy needs to adjust. In the crowded and hot world of tomorrow, the challenge of how to protect the vulnerable is heightened. That entails recognizing women’s role in food production — from farmer, to housewife, to working mother, women are the world’s major food providers. It also means recognizing small farmers, who are also the most vulnerable and the most hungry.

Elver criticized the vast subsidies going to large agribusiness companies and pointed out that, in the European Union, about 80% of the subsidies and 90% of research funding go to support conventional industrial agriculture. United States subsidies and research funding are likely higher. Elver is among the representatives of governments advocating for reallocation of money, subsidies, and policies to small local sustainable farmers. We investors need to step up and invest our money directly in local agriculture. Why should we depend on our governments to solve how we eat in this crowded and hot world of tomorrow, if it’s clear that small farmers are the key to a healthy future?

Why are these farmers the key? Because they are great land managers. They understand that good tilth clumps soil that holds water, have extensive farm knowledge — possibly also agroecological knowledge, and the list goes on.

Doesn’t it make sense for local investors to invest in local food?  Global issues are embedded in the food and agricultural systems of concern to this investor community, which is divesting from both industrial agriculture and fossil fuels and pushing for the cessation of international land grabs. Therefore, we must examine how our current agricultural systems are both susceptible to and perpetuate climate instability — low hanging fruit being biomass and Confined Animal Feed Organizations (CAFOs).

We can invest in agroecological practices through direct relationship-driven investing, also known as Slow Money or Local Impact Investing. It is patient capital that allows an investor to build a relationship with the entrepreneur. I would argue that it’s one of the only ways we can truly invest in a food system that delivers sustainably healthy food in equitable ways. The concerns of this investor community are closely linked to the Slow Money Movement that invests as if food, farms, and fertility matter.

When Woody Tasch published his book, Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money, I immediately joined the Slow Money Movement and invested USD 2 million in 12 local relationship-driven investments. Direct relationship-driven investment also has another dimension — the growth of democracy. Elver called on governments to support a transition to ‘agricultural democracy.’ I am calling on community members to support a transition to full-on democracy — personal, agricultural, social, and financial — through direct local relationship-driven investing. You live in your community: invest where you live! You know that your and your family’s wellbeing depends on your community’s quality of life. Your local relationship-driven investments are interconnected with every other person in your community because your small farmers, your local food and farming enterprises create the health and resilience in your community that all community members seek.

[1] N. Ahmed, Small Scale Traditional Farming Is the Only Way to Avoid Food Crisis, Yes! Solutions Journalism: Oct. 4 (2014).