Moving toward better

Stepping into a debate in 2023 is risky, and it's also the way we'll create lasting positive change.?

Thanks Louisa Burwood-Taylor for courageously sharing your thoughts and opinions for AgFunder on how we get diverse and opposing viewpoints to come together on the future of food systems. One could easily suggest that goes for all sectors where there is potential for lasting positive change.

Several years ago I was at an impact investing gathering, and one investor was sharing an organization that they believed was creating impact. They could not even finish their story when a fellow impact investor - at an impact investing event - jumped up in the middle of the room and shouted "That's not impact! I would never invest!!". ?

That moment, and what you describe, is the great challenge in impact that has been amplified today. You quoted Tamar Haspel about making "...the tent bigger" as a possible solution and called it techno-optimist. Exactly. Having come from the tech world, so often everyone in tech views all the others as being a part of tech. Fintech is the same as SAAS is the same as gaming is the same as block-chain: we're all the same trying to float the boat higher. It's one big tent.?

Yet, I was a little shocked when I moved into impact investing and entrepreneurship. When we come together for positive change, we don't see it as a tent - it's a pyramid and often people see their stratified selves looking down on the rest of the pyramid. "You're not doing enough", "that's not impact", "this needs a pursuit solution" (to your point on regenerative ag vs. plant based).?

The reality is that no one participating in the future of agriculture, sustainable food systems, or impact innovation in general are exactly right, and no one is perfect. Each approach and solution has pros and cons. When we think about sustainable food systems, that will mean bringing together farmers, supply chain, distribution, retail, and technology providers in agri-food tech, water tech, circular economy, and clean-tech, and more to build a sustainable solution. None of those solutions are more or less important so their is no pyramid, only one big tent under which combined the change happens. Our goal - together - is to try and ensure our own approaches our net positive and to help everyone around us who is trying to do the same. If we can achieve that, then we'll realize lasting positive change.

Reading your article, reminded my of this now timeless quote from the final episode of Ted Lasso by the quietly brilliant Higgins. "The best we can do is to keep asking for help and accepting it when you can. And if you keep on doing that, you’ll always be moving towards better."?

Louisa, today I agree with you (and passionately so). Tomorrow, I may not. Together, let's agree to keep the discussion going, raise the tent, and build a sustainable food system.