Acumen Announces $300M Agricultural Adaptation Commitment

NEW YORK CITY (NOVEMBER 11, 2024) — Acumen, a leading global nonprofit impact investor, announced today a $300 million climate finance commitment over the next five years to support agricultural adaptation founders, entrepreneurs, and social enterprises across East and West Africa, India, Latin America, and Pakistan. This latest commitment makes Acumen one of the largest adaptation investors in agriculture for small and vulnerable farmers in developing markets.

Global food systems face immense pressure, with climate change expected to cut agricultural productivity by 17% by 2050. Despite rising climate finance, adaptation remains underfunded: only $7 billion of the $660 billion in climate finance went to agrifood adaptation, just 1% of the total. By committing $300 million, Acumen aims to mobilize an additional $1.2 billion for nature-based solutions, climate-resilient farming, adaptation technologies, and innovative finance.

“We know what it takes to close the adaptation gap.”

Jacqueline Novogratz, Acumen founder and CEO

“For 20 years, we’ve invested in agricultural adaptation in emerging markets and now have interventions that boost productivity, restore ecosystems, and attract capital. While this investment is an achievement for Acumen, it highlights a global failure: climate finance is growing, but adaptation funding lags behind the escalating climate crisis. We hope this investment sparks greater ambition, closes the gap for a more equitable food system, and shows that agricultural adaptation is within reach,” said Acumen founder and CEO Jacqueline Novogratz.

Acumen’s previous adaptation investments have been supported by partners such as the Green Climate Fund, the IKEA Foundation, and the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). Acumen’s strategy focuses on empowering smallholder farmers, who drive global supply chains while bearing the brunt of the climate crisis. These farmers produce a third of the world’s food, yet 456 million of them live on less than $3 a day.

By 2030, Acumen aims to help 40 million farmers increase their incomes and yields, creating a resilient food system that feeds one billion people. Acumen’s agricultural adaptation investment strategy also aims to increase crop diversity for 10 million small and vulnerable farmers, and help 25 million smallholder farmers transition to regenerative agricultural practices — impacting 25 million hectares of farmland.

The $300 million agricultural adaptation investments are expected to be made into 100 companies spread across the following Acumen programs over five years:

1. Pre-seed stage equity and technical assistance for innovative climate solutions that create new markets;
2. Pre-seed equity and technical assistance for productive use of energy in agriculture innovations;
3. Seed and growth stage equity and technical assistance for scaling climate businesses in sub-Saharan Africa; and,
4. Early and growth stage equity and technical assistance for scaling climate-focused agribusinesses in Pakistan.

“Scaling solutions to the evolving climate crisis requires much larger commitments from both the private and public sectors for climate adaptation,” said Chris Wayne, Acumen’s Associate Director, Investing in Agriculture. “Current adaptation funding isn’t keeping up even though the impacts are being felt now and we have the solutions. A new generation of agricultural entrepreneurs is creating the innovations and business models needed to build climate resilience for smallholder farmers — and we intend to support them with this new investment. We must close the adaptation gap. It’s unacceptable that smallholder farmers, living on less than $3 a day, subsidize our coffee while earning less than the cost to produce it. Nor can we ignore that 600 million people, who supply 30% of our food, remain among the world’s poorest and struggle to feed their own families.”

Smallholder farmers are the key to unlocking a future food system that is sustainable and fair. Smallholder farmers in developing economies:

• Supply 30% of the global food supply;
• Support the livelihoods of 2 billion people; and,
• Contribute as much as 25% of total Gross Domestic Product and employ more than 40% of the total workforce in developing markets.

For 20 years, Acumen has driven climate adaptation innovation in emerging markets, supporting agribusinesses from early-stage ideas to large-scale operations. Success stories across East and West Africa, India, Latin America, and Pakistan include: Hatch Africa (formerly Ethiochicken), which boosts poultry productivity; Victory Farms, which promotes sustainable tilapia farming; Kentaste, which provides steady income for coconut farmers; and, S4S, which produces and sells solar dehydrators to help farmers reduce waste and increase earnings from their harvests.

About Acumen

Acumen is a global force of entrepreneurs, investors, philanthropists, and social innovators working together to build a world based on dignity. We were founded by Jacqueline Novogratz on the radical idea that business, when cultivated with moral imagination, can break the cycle of poverty. We invest in transformational companies, build sustainable markets, and prepare leaders with the tools they need to create a more just and inclusive future. Since 2001, we have scaled companies and shaped markets in some of the hardest-to-reach communities on the planet, impacting over half-a-billion lives. To learn more visit acumen.org. For media inquiries, please email media@acumen.org.