A new chapter is underway in the effort to finance the transition to regenerative agriculture in the American Midwest. Today, the TransCap Initiative, with financial support from the Walton Family Foundation and The Rockefeller Foundation, announces the launch of Stage 2 of its systemic investing prototype: a bold, six-month collaboration to design a first-of-its-kind capital orchestrator—an innovative financial platform to align and deploy multiple capital types to build a sustainable and profitable future for the agricultural industry.
Joining them is a newly formed Design Council, comprising 20 leading organizations across the agricultural sector in the region. This group spans grassroots farming networks, technical assistance providers, non-profits, asset managers, investors and philanthropic funders—bringing together deep expertise and lived experience to shape how capital can be deployed more strategically and equitably.
The 20 organizations are:
- CREO
- Desert Bloom
- Environmental Defense Fund
- Food System 6
- Fractal Agriculture
- Funders for Regenerative Agriculture
- Healing Soils Foundation
- McKnight Foundation
- Midwest Row Crop Collaborative
- Minnesota Farmers Union
- PepsiCo
- Potlikker Capital
- Practical Farmers of Iowa
- Platform for Agriculture and Climate Transformation
- The Rockefeller Foundation
- Transformational Investing in Food Systems
- University of Minnesota Forever Green Initiative
- The Walton Family Foundation
- Zell Family Office
- Zero Foodprint
- And led by the TransCap Initiative
“Capital is flowing into regenerative agriculture, but it's often fragmented and uncoordinated,” said Ivana Gazibara, the TransCap Initiative’s Director of Prototyping. “The capital orchestrator is a shared platform to move from one-off solutions to coordinated investment portfolios that reflect the complexity and ambition of the agricultural transition we need.”
“Agriculture and business both need to be sustainable to be successful in the long run,” said Morgan Snyder, Senior Program Officer, Walton Family Foundation. “We’re proud to support this effort to design a financial architecture that’s shaped by the people who know the land, the communities, and the challenges firsthand.”
“Regenerative agriculture isn’t just good for the soil—it’s good business,” said Anne Schwagerl, Vice President at Minnesota Farmers Union. “Done right, it can build a thriving, resilient, and profitable agricultural economy that benefits farmers, rural communities, and the environment. This collaboration is about ensuring money flows to make that vision a reality.”
The capital orchestrator will function as a ‘backbone organization’, mobilizing and coordinating different types of capital into the strategic areas most important for regenerative agriculture in the Midwest. The goal is to move beyond piecemeal funding toward a coordinated financial architecture capable of unlocking systemic tipping points and scaling transformation.
While capital orchestrators are emerging in other sectors—like ReFED in food waste or the Groundbreak Coalition for racial justice—this is the first initiative of its kind focused on regenerative agriculture in the Midwest.
Over the next six months, the Design Council will explore critical questions: What types of capital should flow through the orchestrator? How should it be structured and governed? How can it reflect the needs of farmers and frontline actors while attracting aligned investors?
This effort builds on foundational research from Stage 1 of the prototype, which mapped systemic bottlenecks and identified leverage points in the region’s agricultural transition.
For a deeper look at why we're co-designing a capital orchestrator for regenerative agriculture in the American Midwest read the full story by Ivana Gazibara, project lead.
Media contact:
Madeleine Lewis, Head of Communications, TransCap Initiative, ml@transformation.capital , +44(0) 7966 042535
