What 2025 taught us about making regen bankable, animals, water, chefs, scale, Al in ag, agroforestry, education, food as medicine, ROl, storytelling

This is our 2025 wrap episode. If 2025 had a soundtrack, it would be pressure: pressure on systems, on people, on animals, on land.

Heat. Drought. Fire. Flood. Repeating across regions and headlines.

But this year we also paid attention to what doesn’t always make the news. We spent time in real conversations with farmers testing new practices in their fields, scientists challenging outdated models, investors reassessing what risk really means, and builders putting regenerative ideas into practice. Online and in person, we saw regeneration moving from theory into action.

As 2025 comes to a close, the picture is still complex but clearer. The evidence is growing. Regeneration works, and the path forward is becoming more defined. 

Tune in to listen to what 2025 inside regenerative food and agriculture taught us.

More about this episode.

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In Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food podcast show we talk to the pioneers in the regenerative food and agriculture space to learn more on how to put our money to work to regenerate soil, people, local communities and ecosystems while making an appropriate and fair return. Hosted by Koen van Seijen.

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The above references an opinion and is for information and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.

Chapters

• 0:00 Reflecting on 2025

Transcript

If 2025 had a soundtrack, it would be the sound of stress: stress in the system, stress in humans, stress in animals and in all other non human beings.

And then the cycle of Heat. Drought. Fire. Flood. Over and over again.

And yet, between the headlines, something else seems happening. We spent the year in conversation—with farmers walking their fields, scientists questioning old assumptions, investors rethinking risk, and builders experimenting in the real world. Online and offline, we found ourselves in rooms where regeneration wasn’t an abstract ideal, but really happening.

We are still part of nature, and yes, we are still up against deeply extractive forces. But as 2025 comes to a close, it’s hard not to feel cautiously optimistic. The signals are there. Regeneration works and the direction is becoming clearer.

Brazil and making regen and agroforestry bankable

Brazil is a working laboratory for regeneration at scale. Antonio Nobre’s two appearances at the beginning of the year were milestones. He reframed our understanding of the Amazon, the biotic pump, and the atmosphere as an organism we barely comprehend. Marcelo Salazar and Zé Porto’s work showed how to regenerate the forest and, most importantly, how to truly partner with the Indigenous peoples of the forest who have been stewarding this ecosystem for generations. And equally important again, in Brazil, with Philip Kauders we saw real world proof that agroforestry is bankable- actually bankable- thanks to field-level evidence from farmers, cooperatives, and investors. 

That naturally opened the question: if Brazil can make regenerative agroforestry profitable, what would it take to make the rest of the world bankable? Matt Schmitt pushed us to rethink financing mechanisms, while Paul McMahon explained why regenerative forestry is the gateway drug for institutional investors to put money to work in the natural capital space.

Role of Animals

What if the future of farming didn’t depend on removing animals from the land—but bringing them back? In a (western and mostly media) world obsessed with lab-grown meat, precision-fermented proteins and livestock-free agriculture, this series makes the case for something far older—and more radical: animals as agents of regeneration. We spoke with Benedikt Bösel, Dianne, Ian and Matthew Haggerty and Alfonso Chico de Guzmán , livestock farmers to understand what could be the Role of Animals in the Food and Agriculture system of the future. With scientists Ichsani Wheeler and Jonathan Lundgren we explored the current level of research. The results are striking: equal or better yields, stronger profits, higher biodiversity, improved water infiltration, and a path to substantial soil carbon storage, all without needing more land. But it isn’t just about that. It’s about farmers’ health and happiness. It’s about pushing our imagination of what farmland could look like.

Speaking about research it turns out that the ‘We’ll starve without fertilizer’ crowd forgot to check the fields. Simon Kraemer, lead author of the Regenerating Europe from the Ground Up report, brought a very clear message: regenerative agriculture can feed the world. “Show me the research”?. Now we have the research.

Training the next 100,000 Farmers

Education is one of the most powerful levers we have to transform agriculture, food and finance, but today’s systems aren’t built for the complexity of regeneration. From rethinking how capital flows into agriculture to reimagining how farmers and investors are trained, transformation is both necessary and underway. Knowledge is the bottleneck. Justin Bruch showed that organic and regenerative are already more profitable in many contexts, but we simply don’t have enough trained farmers, advisors, and investors. That’s why the work of Philippe Birker, Benedikt Bösel, Matteo Mazzola, as well as the one of Sarah Hellebek and  Darren Doherty (with his 35 years of field experience), and Thomas Kliemt became central.

The movement is shifting from inspiration to instruction. Together with The Rhizome, we launched a new report examining the $250–400bn annual financing gap in regenerative food systems—not just how much capital is needed, but what kind. By mapping investor archetypes from agile family offices to institutional “tankers”, we found that education is critical, but insufficient on its own. Full report here.

10,000 FARMERS A YEAR GO REGENERATIVE IN INDIA

Whenever someone asked, “But what about scale?”, Anand’s work with more than 10,000 farmers in India became the answer. We rarely talk about it, but we should: millions of farmers in India are already making the transition to regenerative agriculture. With Anand Ethirajalu, farmer-turned-ecologist and project director for the Save Soil movement, we explore what’s working from farm transitions to WhatsApp support groups and massive tree planting to restore the small water cycle. Oh, and the Indian government has made natural farming a national goal. 

Drought, fire, flood: water cycle at the center

Water finally is taking its rightful place in the regen conversation. Rob de Laet and Douglas Sheil confronted a scientific establishment still hesitant to take the water cycle, biotic pumps, and small-water cycles seriously. Their question- why is this still niche?- echoed throughout the year. Water might be the most powerful climate lever we’re not pulling, while the science is pretty clear and getting clearer by the day: water cools the planet. But since most rain comes from elsewhere, shouldn’t we be more interested in this “elsewhere”? Water might be a much easier sell than carbon, and how it could spark the kind of cross-border cooperation we so desperately need. It’s a wide-ranging conversation- tropical forests, the Sahel, natural regeneration, politics- and an invitation to think big, to work together, and to see water as the thread that connects it all.

Chefs disrupting the agrifood system

What happens when the former head chef in one of the best restaurants in the world, Noma, starts going deep down the rabbit hole of sustainability and responsibility? With Matt Orlando (shout out for his newly opened restaurant in Copenhagen ESSE) we had a deep conversation about the role of fine dining and the hospitality world in transforming the agri-food system, the role of technology, and of course, fermentation, and the VC-funded BS in food tech and fermentation. 

On a similar page- and please check the video on Youtube for some mouthwatering winter spinach and bread! – our conversation with Dan Barber. When vegetables come from exceptional seeds and thrive in healthy soil, there’s no need for unhealthy additives. No, we shouldn’t go back to the past. No, we’re not Luddites. In fact, Dan is incredibly bullish on AI in natural breeding– perhaps the best of both worlds, accelerating breeding for local conditions rather than global, flavorless, nutrient-poor crops reliant on excessive chemicals.

We keep thinking about ways we have dive deeper into the role of chef in this transition also thanks to Cindie Christiansen who we had the pleasure to talk to in our long stay in Copenhagen this year. [Speaking of Denmark, our thank you goes as well to Rasmus Nørgaard who is rethinking real estate from ground up and what we can learn from his experience because, let’s face it, soil is a real asset in investment terms, and Frederik Lean Hansen who is building the regen dating agency matching landowners with land seekers]. 

Food as Medicine

Taste might be the most powerful narrative device in regeneration and this brings us to one of the interesting and relevant topics in the space: food as medicine.

Herb Young’s work blew open the conversation around nutrient density. It’s not just about soil health or yield- it’s about the actual human nutrition we deliver per hectare. The kicker? His citrus is, on average, eight times more nutrient-dense than conventional oranges—so one of his equals eight of theirs. Suddenly, “food as medicine” sounds a lot more affordable.  Different roles for Erin Martin on the policy and lobbying side and even a different industry with James Arthur Smith in the aquaculture space, but the results are similar: consumers respond far more powerfully to quantifiable health benefits than environmental claims and the health can drastically improve when nutritious food is served.

The episode with James brought the regenerative aquaculture series to a close. Supported by The Nest family office,  the series dives deep into what is possible with climate-positive fish and drone-delivered  eggs with Joseph Rehmann, as well asdecentralised insect farming for feed with Sébastien Crépieux.

Narratives, storytelling, and the bubble problem

Still on Seatopia, the company struck a chord by offering mercury-free, plastic-free seafood with extreme omega-3 levels, an example of regen storytelling that moves markets.

2025 exposed, indeed, a painful truth: we are fantastic at doing the work and terrible at telling the story. One of the most engaged conversations was indeed with Anat Shenker-Osorio, founder of A.S.O. Communication. She explained why climate messages don’t land. Most people don’t want to join a losing team. So let’s stop framing the regeneration efforts as a long, hard fight against the odds and start messaging like the small but winning team.

Still, how do we get people outside our bubble to care about this ? According to Louis De Jaeger, we need to paint a compelling vision of a regenerative future characterized by abundance rather than sacrifice. “We’re going to have an even more luxurious lifestyle, we’re going to have better food that tastes fantastic” he assures us. His approach isn’t about shaming people into environmentalism but showing how regenerative practices create healthier, more desirable lives.  And organizing a festival, not the next Burning Man, but a regeneration festival.

Legends

Speaking about storytelling we had on the show Anthony James, host of The RegenNarration podcast. The pioneers who spent decades developing innovative approaches to land stewardship won’t be around forever, but they’re actively passing their hard-earned wisdom to a new generation eager to accelerate positive change. Anthony has had many legends at his microphone and shared with us what he’s learned, what he sees, and what he thinks is coming next in regenerative food and agriculture.

Béla Hatvany, pioneering entrepreneur in the automation of libraries and the information industry, born in 1938, turned into angel investor and philanthropist, told us about his journey, what’s enough, the role of AI and EI (empathetic intelligence), and the potential of precision fermentation.

Follow the Money: regen turns into ROI

2025 was the year regeneration and finance truly collided. Also you cannot regenerate landscapes while degrading farmers’ livelihoods. Giuggioli’s family is building a regenerative brand, Quintosapore, in the hills of Umbria. Five years in, they’re measuring nutrient density, managing costs, paying living year-round wages—and proving that regeneration and business discipline are not opposites.

Dimitri Tsitos demonstrated that intensive tree-crop systems are not just ecologically sound, they outperform conventional systems financially. InSoil with Laimonas Noreika showed that farmers can earn real carbon income, while Regenrate with its SAFE fuel transformed cover crops into an actual revenue stream. Money is flowing, and for the first time, it is flowing to the farmers too.

We had the opportunity to have many in person conversations this year, to walk many lands and also to sit in a podcast studio at Nordhus in Copenhagen. There we met in person for the first time ever, Thomas Hogenhaven. Together with his team at Planetary Impact Ventures, he turned down a $7M institutional investment. Why? Because when you’re building a radical evergreen fund with no carry, values and incentives come first. A very interesting story that talks about alignment and long term thinking. 

We also had the opportunity to walk the land of one of the farms where Andres Jara gets the fava beans that make Favamole. A very deep conversation talking about regenerative business models, flavour, regen finance, scale and how to ​​build a regenerative food brand simply because legumes deserve a bigger role.

Gen-Re series

We believe capital is a powerful tool with a crucial role to play in the regenerative transition. It can accelerate the (re)creation of healthy soils, resilient food systems, and thriving communities. With that in mind- and with the intention of putting some skin in the game, not just talking or writing about it- we co-founded Gen‑Re (Generation-Re), an angel investment syndicate backing regenerative agriculture and food innovators. Connected to it, we just launched a Generation-Re series featuring some of the companies we have recently supported through the syndicate. Which ones? 

• Rhizocore, they are mapping the underground fungi world by building a unicorn.
• Zukunftmoor, they are rewetting peatlands is the biggest climate opportunity to cut CO2 
• Antler Bio, they are giving cows a voice through epigenetics while improving animal welfare and profitability

AI4SoilHealth and Open Geospatial Carbon Registry (OGCR)

Last but not least, for the AI, Soil Health and AgTech series, we welcomed Paul Clarke and Tom Hengl. For Paul, formerly of Ocado, AI, machine learning, and large language models represent only a fraction of what is currently available and the challenges we face today are so immense that we cannot afford to ignore the potential of these technologies. 

Tom made his second appearance on the show, sharing the latest developments in ag tech and how we can already monitor and observe most places on Earth from the sky at a resolution of 30 by 30 meters. Importantly, we can now look back nearly 25 years for almost all locations in Europe and analyse changes on a field-by-field basis.

In the middle of this year we joined another EU-funded initiative, OGCR, with the goal to provide transparent, scientifically validated, and openly accessible geospatial carbon accounting tools. More to follow on it next year. Stay tuned!

Celebrating beyond 1M downloads

In November 2025, we hit a major milestone: our 1.000.000 episode download on all podcast platforms (Youtube excluded). What began as a simple coffee conversation with the late Tony Lovell of SLM Partners has grown into a thriving platform connecting people, ideas, and solutions across the regenerative landscape. The podcast has become a true bridge, connecting people and ideas. 

It’s a wrap! Here’s to a regenerative, nutritious, and peaceful year for us all.
Let’s continue to build, work, invest, and regenerate together!