Twenty Leading Investors, Funders, and Farming Organizations Join Forces to Design Innovative Financial Infrastructure for Regenerative Agriculture in the Midwest

New “capital orchestrator” aims to strategically align capital flows to accelerate regenerative agricultural production in key U.S. region

ZURICH | June 20, 2025 ― 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: the Platform for Agriculture and Climate Transformation, Transformational Investing in Food Systems (TIFS), Practical Farmers of Iowa, Minnesota Farmers Union, Walton Family Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, University of Minnesota Forever Green Initiative, Funders for Regenerative Agriculture, Zero Foodprint, Healing Soils Foundation, Environmental Defense Fund, Food System 6, CREO, Fractal Agriculture, Zell Family Office, McKnight Foundation, Midwest Row Crop Collaborative, Desert Bloom, PepsiCo, and Potlikker Capital.

“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.

About TransCap Initiative

The TransCap Initiative is a collaborative innovation space for developing, demonstrating, and scaling systemic investing in the places that matter most for human prosperity — such as cities, landscapes, and coastal zones — as well as in value chains and other real-economy systems. We apply systems thinking, human-centered design, and the principles of mission-driven innovation to explore how financial capital can catalyze the transformation of systems in service of a low-carbon, climate-resilient, just, and inclusive future. Our mission involves developing a knowledge and innovation base, testing novel concepts and approaches, and building a community of practice. In doing so, we recognize the complex adaptive nature of human and natural systems and the fundamental uncertainty that governs their evolution, and we thus emphasize the need for collaboration, experimentation, and learning. The places and value chains we intend to transform act as centres of gravity for our work. In each of these systems, we will work with challenge owners, communities, innovators, investors, and other stakeholders to design, structure, and finance strategic investment portfolios nested within a broader systems intervention approach. http://www.transformation.capital.

About The Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation is a pioneering philanthropy built on collaborative partnerships at the frontiers of science, technology, and innovation that enable individuals, families, and communities to flourish. We make big bets to promote the well-being of humanity. Today, we are focused on advancing human opportunity and reversing the climate crisis by transforming systems in food, health, energy, and finance. For more information, sign up for our newsletter at www.rockefellerfoundation.org/subscribe and follow us on X @RockefellerFdn and LinkedIn @the-rockefeller-foundation.