“It’s not a sin to cut down a tree, it’s a sin not to plant a forest.”
Christophe was riding the subway in New York City when he overheard a conversation about reversing climate change through regenerative agriculture. Intrigued, he introduced himself to Harry and Ethan, two of the three co-founders of Propagate Ventures, an investment fund that works with landowners to design and install tree-crop systems that complement existing farm operations. Propagate wants to move beyond sustainability to design a regenerative framework that generates economic returns, builds soil health and sequesters carbon—using agriculture as a mechanism to solve the problems of climate change, rather than creating them.
Today Ross and Christophe are joined by Propagate Co-Founders Jeremy Kaufman and Ethan Steinberg to discuss the fundamentals of agroforestry and how the Propagate model works to provide farmers with capital for planting trees. They walk us through the process, explaining how an analysis of crops appropriate to the bioregion and the farmer’s goals work together to determine the specific tree crop appropriate to the project. Jeremy and Ethan describe how they are using the market to benefit humanity and the planet, creating environmentally-positive wealth for generations to come. Listen in to understand Propagate’s plans to collaborate with ‘Big Ag,’ small farmers and indigenous groups, and learn how you can get involved in learning more about agroforestry and regeneration.
Key Takeaways
[3:53] The aims of Propagate Ventures
[8:11] The benefits of being a public benefit corporation
[11:10] The fundamentals of agroforestry
[13:24] The ‘Evergreen’ profit-share model
[20:35] How Propagate determines appropriate tree crops
[29:22] Propagate’s approach to engaging stakeholders
[36:00] The farmer’s role in the carbon sequestration web
[39:09] ‘Big Ag’ versus the small farmer
[43:49] Where Propagate stands at present
[47:50] How investors can engage
Connect with Ross & Christophe
Geagora’s Hackathon Submission
Resources