Mad Capital launches $50 million Perennial Fund II to scale regenerative organic agriculture in U.S.

Mad Capital recently launched its Perennial Fund II (PFII) to provide farmers in the United States with tailored loans that help them transition to regenerative organic farmland while also increasing farmer profits.

PFII, which is targeting $50 million, has received early commitments from Builders Vision, The Rockefeller Foundation, the Schmidt Family Foundation, Zellis Family Foundation, Zarpet Family Foundation, Matthew Zell Family Foundation, Lacebark Investments, and nine other investors.

Building on the success of Mad Capital’s portfolio of funds supporting regenerative organic agriculture, the PFII aims to bring Mad Capital’s total financing to over 150,000 acres of farmland and partnerships with more than 50 farming families.

“We are aiming to build a bridge between two distant worlds that need one another to transition our food system—Wall Street and organic farmers,” said Brandon Welch, co-founder and CEO at Mad Capital. “Providing farmers with access to capital gives humanity a shot at producing an abundance of healthy food while being ecologically accountable to our working lands and those who steward them.”

Agriculture is one of the leading drivers of climate change, and extractive farming practices are causing biodiversity loss and healthy soil. Regenerative organic farmers reverse this damage by working with nature, not against it, creating economically and ecologically resilient food systems. PFII—Mad Capital’s second private credit fund—will provide regenerative organic farmers in the U.S. with tailored loans to cover the full array of capital needs so they can transition to organic, invest in soil health, develop new markets, and diversify their enterprise.

“Mad Capital is playing an integral role in the transition to regenerative organic agriculture. Through their innovative and holistic approach, they are providing capital to farmers who have been overlooked and underserved by traditional capital markets, while their broader platform also offers technical assistance, market access, and a sense of community,” said Sara Balawajder, Director, Investments at Builder’s Vision. “We’re excited about Perennial Fund II and its potential to de-risk this space and open up capital market access more widely to farmers looking to transition their practices.”

PFII will utilize an innovative blended structure with a first-loss pool to bolster the underlying performance of this quickly emerging sub-asset class within ag lending. It’s designed to generate impact forward and uncorrelated current yield within the core fixed-income allocation of a portfolio. Early indications from Mad Capital’s Perennial Fund I (PFI) portfolio show that this risk is further reduced within the niche of regenerative organic farmers due to the substantial increase in on-farm revenue from organic premiums.

“The Rockefeller Foundation believes Mad Capital’s model and team have a strong track record of delivering both the performance institutional investors are seeking and the impact on people and climate the world needs,” said Maria Kozloski, Senior Vice President of Innovative Finance and Economic Equity at The Rockefeller Foundation.

Only 1% of farmland in the United States is certified organic, compared to almost 10% in the EU. Lack of access to capital is a primary barrier to wider adoption, as traditional financing institutions lack the understanding and financial products to support regenerative organic farmers. Transition finance such as Mad Capital’s is one of the keys to keeping pace with the surge in consumer demand for regenerative organic food and fiber.

“This is a bold reimagination of financing in nature’s image, empowering farmers to create farm ecosystems that are good for the Earth and good for humanity,” said Phil Taylor, co-founder at Mad Capital.

Launched in 2019, Mad Capital has been actively lending to regenerative organic farmers for five years. As of February 2024, Mad Capital has deployed over $25 million to 30 farmers, which has helped transition over 10,500 acres of land to organic and grow their total portfolio acres by 26% per year, up to 79,115 acres. The PFII brings Mad Capital closer to its ultimate goal of financing 5,000,000 acres of regenerative organic farmland by the end of 2032.

 Organic & Non-GMO Insights April 2024