CASH AND CROPS: UNDERSTANDING AND REDIRECTING FINANCIAL FLOWS FOR FARMERS
Federal funding plays an outsized role in shaping the overall direction of US agricultural practices, yet many current funding mechanisms - from subsidies to crop insurance - create incentives for practices that are environmentally harmful and disproportionately benefit a small number of farmers. Changes under the new administration are likely to further undermine support for regenerative agriculture. Learn about the current federal funding structures and how regenerative agriculture needs to adapt given the current challenges.
Emma Fuller
Co-Founder, Fractal Agriculture
Emma Fuller is co-founder of Fractal Agriculture, an investment platform built to drive adoption of regenerative practices at scale by providing farmers with needed capital to invest in their operations, while investors get exposure to high quality farmland. At Fractal Agriculture, she leads data science and impact underwriting, developing data driven approaches to value soil health and climate risk in farmland. Prior to Fractal, Emma led the Corteva Agriscience team responsible for developing and leading Corteva’s soil carbon program. Her experience with the power of incentives leaves her bullish on building solutions that financially reward farmers for their stewardship, as it is one of the many solutions needed for addressing climate change and improving agricultural lands and supporting the communities that depend on them.
Kathleen A. Merrigan
Executive Director, Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems, and the Kelly and Brian Swette Professor, College of Global Futures, Arizona State University
Kathleen A. Merrigan is an expert in food and agriculture, celebrated by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2010. Currently, she is the Kelly and Brian Swette Professor in the College of Global Futures and Executive Director of the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems at Arizona State University.
From 2009 to 2013, Merrigan was Deputy Secretary and COO of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where she led efforts to support local food systems through the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Initiative, and managed USDA’s $150 billion budget. She is known for authoring the law that established national standards for organic food and the federal definition of sustainable agriculture. Merrigan is a board member of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, the Invasive Species Corporation, a Trustee of CIFOR-ICRAF and an advisor to Astanor Ventures and the Organic Farming Research Foundation.
Merrigan holds a PhD in Public Policy and Environmental Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Master in Public Affairs from University of Texas at Austin, and BA from Williams College.