Top Tier Impact in Lisbon - Innovation and investment in regenerative farming
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of speaking on a panel with Leehe Skuler, Nuno Gaspar de Oliveira, and Samuel Delesque hosted by Top Tier Impact in Lisbon, focused on innovation and investment in regenerative farming.
We covered a range of topics, from how biodiversity and natural capital metrics can reshape investor risk models, to the challenge of aligning founders, institutional investors and policymakers to scale regenerative finance.
Our moderator, Alessa Berg, asked me to speak about land-based sectors with regenerative potential that remain overlooked by capital. I focused on one we know well: converting extensively grazed farmland into regenerative cattle operations, a model we have implemented since 2019 in Uruguay and Paraguay, and are now expanding to Portugal and Brazil.
The principle is simple. We acquire degraded grasslands or poorly managed pasture-crop systems and convert them to regenerative grazing using Adaptive Multi-Paddock (AMP) grazing. This rotational system, modelled on natural herd movement, produces high-quality, ethically raised livestock while improving carrying capacity, reducing inputs, and restoring ecological function.
It took us six years to refine a model that is profitable and replicable at scale. We can now take an empty farm and build fully regenerative operations in less than six months, as we just did at our 2,000 ha farm El Castillo in northern Uruguay. That kind of speed and replicability creates a real opportunity to scale regeneration.
So why is the sector still overlooked?
Regenerative practices are still perceived as niche or unscalable. And because beef is politically contentious, investing in animal protein today takes a contrarian mindset.
Regenerative grazing is often conflated with conventional systems. Many investors struggle to distinguish regeneratively produced beef from beef raised on poorly managed pastures or in industrial feedlots. More than one North American investor has told us they apply a blanket restriction on animal protein, regardless of production model.
These farms are also often fragmented, undercapitalised and operationally complex, which deters investors lacking a partner like The Land Group.
Finally, valuations often fail to reflect gains in carrying capacity, ecological recovery, or ecosystem service optionality, making the business case appear weaker than it is.
Regenerative grazing requires capital, strong execution and a willingness to manage complexity. When you have those, the outcomes speak for themselves.
As I said on the panel, regenerative farming is today where renewable energy was twenty years ago: a fragmented sector, full of promise, but still largely ignored by institutional capital. Fast forward, and renewables have become a core asset class dominated by utilities and institutions. It is only a matter of time before the same happens with regenerative farming.
Thank you, Alessa Berg and Manuela Guzman L. for the kind invitation to join this event.
Francisco Roque de Pinho
