Madison Hosts a "Slow Money" Conference

Yesterday, we learned that the Chicago City Council had passed a "green food" resolution that, among other things, called for more farmers markets, CSAs and local food. The resolution is a symbolic gesture, but it's an important acknowledgment of the deficiencies in the current system.

The green food resolution is nice, but it's not likely to produce tangible improvements to Chicago's food system in the near future. For a look at where real solutions to local food issues are being laid out, you only have to go about 150 miles up Interstate 90, to Madison, WI, where about 100 farmers, food entrepreneurs and investors met yesterday for an invitation-only "slow money" conference.

Grant Abert, a Madison-based investor and philanthropist told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,

"The goal is to talk about how best to build the local food movement and support financially small farmers and food producers. ... What slow money is all about is creating financial intermediaries that would invest in these small, local food and agricultural enterprises."

Those intermediaries include municipal bonds, "setting up a fund to help expand the size and number of community-supported agriculture outlets," and creating local systems that make it easier for foundations to invest in farm operations. According to the article, slow money investors expect single-digit return on investment when investing in local food and sustainable farming, compared to the more than 20-percent returns that venture capitalists expect to gain.

Also in attendance yesterday in Madison were Organic Valley CFO Mike Bedessem, Margaret Bau, the cooperative development specialist at USDA Rural Development, and of course, Woody Tasch (who also spoke at the Kickapoo Fair), author of Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money: Investing as if Food, Farms and Fertility Mattered.

-Mark

Comments

[Noreen Edwards Metz]

What a great idea! I'd like to be in on that. Where can I find out more about Slow Money.

[OrganicNation.tv]

Hi Noreen, thanks for your comment! You can find out more about Slow Money at this website: http://www.slowmoneyalliance.org/

[Bill Lubing]

The conference on Monday in Madison was incredible. I interviewed Woody on Sunday evening before his public presentation at Mills Hall on the UW Campus. Videos of both the interview and his presentation can be found at www.farmstofood.com.

[OrganicNation.tv]

Thanks Bill!

[AstrologyReadings]

Hi, great blog. Keep up the good work!