Unlocking Finance to Drive Sustainable Food System Change - A World Food Day 2024 Learning Event

Hosted by NFP and Invest International and with speakers from Rabo Partnerships and Wageningen University & Research (WUR), the event explored the vital role of finance in driving sustainable change in global food systems. The room was filled to capacity, reflecting the high level of interest in the topic. Moderated by Suzanne van Tilburg, Global Head of Food and Energy Networks at the Rabobank, the event offered a comprehensive agenda, focusing on how the financial sector can scale up efforts to achieve sustainable, resilient, and equitable food systems worldwide.

Setting the Stage for Change

Suzanne van Tilburg opened the session by highlighting the urgent need to channel more finance towards transforming food systems. With global hunger on the rise, she stressed that current financial flows are inadequate for addressing key challenges such as food insecurity, climate change, and inequality.

A Deep Dive into Food Systems Thinking

The first speaker, Herman Brouwers from WUR's Centre for Development Innovation (WCDI), introduced the concept of food systems thinking. He explained that current food systems are facing critical challenges worldwide. They often fall short of achieving food security and health, they fail to tackle poverty and inequality and do not (sufficiently) prevent climate change. Brouwers underscored the need for a multi-stakeholder approach to tackle the complex, non-linear nature of food systems, which requires moving beyond traditional, linear solutions. Systems thinking can help to navigate this complexity.

A food systems approach helps you to zoom out and zoom in again, go beyond fixing symptoms, see the dynamics, create foresight needed to manage risk, get clarity on trade-offs and synergies and to identify systemic leverage points for interventions. The food system transformation process needs smart investment from public & private finance partners.

Financial Flows in Food Systems: Challenges and Opportunities

Bart van Kranenburg of Rabo Partnerships took the stage next to discuss financial flows within food systems, summarizing insights from the recent ‘Financing the Future of Food’ learning event co-organized by NFP, Rabo Partnerships and Foresight4Food, with contributions from IFAD, FAO. He emphasized the need for financial institutions to take an integrated approach that next to economic aspects also considers food security & nutrition, sustainability, resilience and decent livelihoods. The financial sector, including commercial banks, plays a pivotal role in financing these transformations, but faces challenges like the availability of funds, high risk and high operational expenditures (OpEx).

Van Kranenburg called for the inclusion of financial institutions from the beginning of the transition process to ensure their support for long-term processes. He also stressed the importance of involving all stakeholders in setting realistic and inclusive targets.

Empowering Local Innovators: Insights from Invest International

Raymond Beimers, Sector Head of Agrifood at Invest International shared how his organization supports Dutch companies in entering emerging markets and driving innovation in food systems. By providing loans, investments, and technical assistance, Invest International helps entrepreneurs bring sustainable solutions like alternative proteins, controlled environment agriculture and regenerative practices to market.

In a panel discussion Invest International showcased the success stories of two of its transformative clients: Fiber Foods and PeelPioneers. Fiber Foods, led by Inez van Oord, focuses on empowering women in Uganda through the jackfruit value chain, contributing to the protein transition. Peel Pioneers, represented by Remco van Soest, transforms citrus peel waste into valuable products like oils and fiber-rich food ingredients, demonstrating the potential for innovative circular economy solutions

Invest International financed these companies with startup loans but also helped them to enter the market. They took the risks with the much-needed initial capital, but it needs to be profitable in the end and eventually be able to scale.

What does Invest International need to take up its role in food system transformation? Beimers states that Invest International mainly needs entrepreneurs who are willing to take risks, we need partnerships, and we need a good policy environment. E.g. collaboration with the agricultural councilors of the Dutch Embassies (landbouwraden) are instrumental for good connections in the local agricultural sector. We also need other financial actors for risk sharing and for scaling the innovations.

The most important lesson shared by the panel is that it is important to get impact investors on board, backed by government through a/o blended finance and the advice of agri councilors. Investors are looking for impact, and we need to prove it. We also need clarity and transparency on what we mean by impact. We need impact investors that are not only looking at financial returns, risk balance and other returns, but also for impact leading to a more sustainable food system.

Call to action

Lisette van Benthum, Coalition Builder at NFP, closed the event by emphasizing the crucial role of innovative businesses like Peel Pioneers and Fiber Foods to realize transformation. The financial sector has an important role to play by financing innovative business solutions which contribute to Transformation. There is a need for public & private financial institutions to align profitability with social and environmental objectives. Collective learning & collaboration across sectors are critical to enable the financial sector to take up their role in transformation

Looking Forward: Building Momentum for Change

The World Food Day learning session underscored that unlocking finance is crucial for driving sustainable food systems transformation. With diverse pathways to explore and significant challenges ahead, collaboration will be essential. The event organizers pledged to continue fostering collective learning and developing new financial models to support the transition.

This inspiring session not only provided valuable insights but also laid the groundwork for future discussions and actions to reshape our food systems for a more sustainable, equitable, and resilient world. Stay tuned for upcoming events as the journey towards a transformed global food landscape continues!

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