Small farmers are collectively the largest landowners in Mexico. The founders of SVX Mexico two years ago set out to invest in agriculture in a way that nurtures climate-vulnerable food systems, farming communities and the planet.
“There’s underlying wisdom that smallholder farmers have that we need to tap into,” said SVX Mexico’s Laura Ortiz.
Ortiz’s new firm, Regenera Ventures, makes equity investments in regenerative land projects using “trust-based finance” – investment terms that it co-creates with its investees. The goal is to help farmers shift to regenerative practices that will restore biodiversity and improve the health of their land, while also building new income streams, including new farm products and carbon credits.
Regenera in December inked commitments of $5.3 million from the InterAmerican Development Bank, through its IDB Lab program, and the Green Climate Fund. The US International Development Finance Corp. already committed $4 million to the fund.
Regenera aims to raise about $25 million to work with a dozen agriculture companies and support 18,000 farmers. The firm provides technical assistance via its partner Conservation International, which is funded by a portion of the new commitments and a grant from USAID.
