Today’s food system has achieved remarkable abundance and efficiency. But beneath that progress lies a growing fragility. Decades of industrialization, consolidation, and globalized trade have created a system optimized for scale and cost, yet challenged when faced with the need to adapt. As climate impacts and resource pressures intensify, the question of how we produce food—and who is positioned to lead change—has never been more critical.
At International Farming, we invest in and actively manage farmland across diverse geographies, working alongside growers to produce food more sustainably and profitably. Our work sits at the intersection of agriculture, capital, and innovation—giving us a front-row view of both the power and precarity of modern agriculture.
Over the past half-century, agriculture has achieved extraordinary productivity gains. The average U.S. farmer now feeds roughly 170 people1, more than triple the number a generation ago. This efficiency has kept food affordable and abundant but has also concentrated risk. When so few growers produce for so many, disruptions from extreme weather, geopolitical conflict, or market volatility can ripple through the entire system.
Global crop yields are expected to fall by about 8% by 2050 due to climate change, as is nutrient density.2 The same practices that maximized yield in the short term have depleted soil organic matter, reduced biodiversity, and increased dependence on chemical inputs. Agrifood systems now account for nearly one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, making the way we grow food today inseparable from climate outcomes.3
Every decision a farmer makes—how to till, what to plant, when to irrigate, how to manage pests—shapes not only a farm’s productivity but also its long-term ecological function. Soil health, water retention, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity all hinge on these day-to-day choices. Yet farmers often bear a disproportionate share of the risk in shifting the way they till, plant, and irrigate. They are asked to adopt new practices and technologies while contending with volatile markets and the need to sustain viable businesses.
Across the broader food system, stakeholders often operate toward the same goals from different starting points. Consumer brands depend on reliable supply, technology providers on adoption, and investors on returns. Regenerative agriculture offers a shared opportunity: it can restore soil health, reduce inputs, and stabilize yields, but only if it makes economic sense for growers. Our role is to help bridge those interests by structuring partnerships that connect capital, innovation, and market demand in ways that make regenerative production both profitable and scalable.
Farmer-centered transformation requires practices that reflect the realities of each landscape. In the Midwest, for example, farmers may explore applying cover crops, conservation tillage, and buffer strips. In the Pacific Northwest, practices such as micro-basin tillage, understory vegetation, and organic amendments are more complementary to apple orchard characteristics. Across our peach and pecan orchard platform in Georgia, growers are exploring techniques such as frost mitigation, micro-drip irrigation, biological alternatives to chemical pesticides, and composting. These context-specific approaches improve soil structure, water retention, and biodiversity while maintaining productivity. By aligning agronomy, technology, and financing, we aim to lower barriers for farmers to adopt regenerative practices and make resilience both practical and profitable.
We believe that any meaningful shift toward a more sustainable and secure food future must begin with farmers. They are the system’s designers, stewards, and those closest to the land. By empowering their work, we help resilience take root.
These principles are explored further in Stewardship in Action: 2024, our annual sustainability report highlighting progress across Intl. Farming’s portfolio. Enter your email below to download the report.
1 Source: American Farm Bureau Federation 2 Source: Nature 3 Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations