Food Systems & Development Finance
Toby Rittner, Allison Rowland, Ariel Miller
First published February 2019
CDFA is pleased to announce the debut of our first white paper on how traditional development finance tools can be used to demonstrate the viability of the food system as an asset class. Many food-related initiatives, projects, and businesses have lacked sufficient resources and financing for economic and community development, largely because the food system as a whole has not been formally defined as an asset class.
Through CDFA’s partnership with the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, this series of white papers makes the case for a clear definition of the food system that directs development finance to food-related activity, supporting the growth of a food system that is economically stimulating and provides community improvements. With the intention to begin creating an asset class for the food system, CDFA has identified six distinct areas of activity that exist within a comprehensive food system and which could be recipients of investment, including social enterprise, agriculture, entrepreneurs, industry, institutional buyers, and infrastructure.
This first white paper explores the potential for development finance to support this new food system asset class with a dozen case studies featuring bonds, tax increment finance, tax credits, and revolving loan fund programs. Read Food Systems & Development Finance today!
Thank you for continuing to support CDFA. If your organization has completed any food-related projects that utilized traditional development finance tools, CDFA would like to hear about them. Please contact CDFA to submit a project or financing program.