Food System and Agriculture Financing: Opportunities & Innovations

Description

Please join Johns Hopkins University's new master's program in Non-Governmental Organization Management and DC's Women Impact Investing Network for an exciting panel discussion and networking opportunity with experts on new and emerging finance and funding models for food system and agricultural initiatives, entitled "Food System and Agriculture Financing: Opportunities and Innovation." A reception will follow the panel.

The panel will bring together guests representing different sectors and funding sources, from philanthropy to public financing to impact investing, to show how they deploy capital intended to support the growth of resilient agriculture and food systems enterprises, and some of the innovative tools these practitioners use.

Panelist include:

• Kirsten Dueck, Senior Program Officer, PATH Foundation
• Katie Kramer, Vice President of Finance, Council of Development Finance Agencies
• Margaret Schnuck Rogers, Director of the Good Food Practice, Arabella Advisors
• Lucy Jodlowska, Executive Director, Wallace Center, Winrock International (moderator)

During a time of looming climate change and unprecedented ecosystem crises, impacting agriculture and food system production in the US and beyond, the means of how we grow and source our food is under growing pressure and threats. One needs to only watch the nightly news to learn that many family farms are increasingly under water -literally and figuratively- and how difficult it can be to get a new food business off the ground.

Despite these challenging circumstances, there is an abundance of funding resources and mechanisms for agricultural and food system development & innovation, particularly for enterprises with dual and triple bottom lines- those that care not only about profit but also about environment and community. Join us for an exciting panel conversation from guests representing different sectors and funding sources, from philanthropy to public financing to impact investing, to learn how they deploy capital intended to support the growth of resilient agriculture and food systems enterprises, and some of the innovative tools these practitioners use.