October 9, 2014 - Read the full Your Mark on the World article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/10RN9og. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwitunes or on Stitcher by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ymotwstitcher. The Social Venture Network recently recognized four social entrepreneurs with its annual Innovation Awards. Your Mark on the World will profile each of the four in the coming weeks. Craig Wichner doesn’t mince words, “The current agricultural system in the US is like the dead parrot from the Monty Python skit: It’s obviously not working. That big ag practices are causing social and environmental harm is well known, yet we continue to plow money into it anyway. It’s time for a new model.” Craig is the cofounder and Managing Director of Farmland LP, one of the four companies winning the SVN Innovation Awards. Farmland LP buys conventional farmland and converts it to organic farmland. In the process, the company says, the land becomes more productive and therefore more profitable—to say nothing of being better for people and planet. Craig explains the opportunity this way, “Sustainable agriculture is a team sport: What the soil needs in terms of biological diversity to remain healthy is well matched to a multi-tenant real estate model with investor appeal. This is the innovation that will allow organic to scale.” “Farmland, at $2.4 trillion is as large as other classes of commercial real estate and has only 1% institutional ownership. It’s ripe for disruption,” he adds.
#127: Award Winner Converts Farmland To Organic