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During the pandemic, many Hawai\’i residents saw empty food shelves for the first time, which daylighted the urgency food system leaders have warned about. These leaders are gathering to envision new possibilities by investing in relationships. Aligned by a vision of food sovereignty and a shared aloha (love) for their island home, each other, and future generations, this movement is poised to tackle needed large-scale food and agricultural changes.

We believe that regenerative agriculture practices, and more specifically tech-enabled solutions promoting sustainable practices, can help turn agriculture from a carbon source to a carbon sink, replenish our waterways through healthier and more absorbent soil, improve the quality of food consumed, and allow biodiversity to thrive across our lands, all while improving the way food and other raw materials are produced and delivered to end consumers.

Concerns regarding producing enough food for the global population using our resource intensive system along with mounting negative impacts from that food system on the planet, has ‘Blended Capital’ investment beginning to flow into food systems transformation. Family offices, governments, and investors are looking to make an impact and understand that protein diversification, complementing animal protein, is a powerful way to do so.

For the past 15 years, under the loose banner of the ‘slow money’ movement, $100 million has flowed to over 1000 small, diversified organic farms and local food businesses via volunteer-led activities in dozens of communities. In this fertile field, seeds of a replicable, local 0% lending model have sprouted. There are now five “SOIL” groups in the U.S. and one in Israel, using donated capital to make 0% loans, to the tune of over $4 million in aggregate to some 150 farms and food businesses.