As global demand for sustainable food systems accelerates, regenerative agriculture is increasingly recognized for its potential to address climate change, biodiversity loss, and social inequities.
Yet despite growing momentum, regenerative practices remain difficult to scale. Producers face fragmented markets, limited access to patient capital, and misaligned incentives across value chains—making it challenging to expand adoption without compromising ecological or social integrity.
To help overcome these barriers, TIFS leveraged five years of research and innovation to launch an initiative to advance Regenerative Catalysts. The initiative has been implemented with support from The Rockefeller Foundation and in partnership with ecosystem builders and finance experts in Brazil, Kenya, and Indonesia.
The Regenerative Catalysts initiative focuses on the challenges of supporting bottom-up, place-based regenerative projects that operate at the regional or value-chain level. Support for these projects can take the form of strengthening their operating models, designing context-appropriate financing structures, and connecting to aligned markets and capital to drive deep ecological, social, and economic impact, not just expanded participation.
Regenerative Catalysts:
- Demonstrate the feasibility of deep regenerative practices across diverse contexts
- Showcase innovative financing models that support producers and long-term ecosystem health
- Catalyze large-scale adoption by generating evidence, partnerships, and pathways for replication
Regenerative Catalysts serve as real-world demonstrations of what becomes possible when land stewardship, finance, and markets are intentionally aligned. By strengthening early proof points, coordinating stakeholders, and designing financial models that reflect regenerative realities, TIFS helps initiatives move beyond pilots toward durable, system-level change.
In doing so, TIFS occupies a crucial role in the Missing Middle— shaping the conditions under which capital, policy, markets, and community innovation can converge. Our long-term ambition is to mobilize private and commercial investment, while we ensure that, as scale emerges, it does so with integrity: preserving ecological health, strengthening local economies, and advancing equitable access to nutritious food.
Regeneration is not a niche trend or a singular practice. It is a structural transition, and Regenerative Catalysts show how that transition is already taking root; they are demonstrate regeneration in their local context and provide proof points of a transition to mature and replicable markets across the global food system.
In the meantime, if you’re interested in learning more about this program, exploring collaboration, or discussing how this might be useful in your context, reach out to TIFS’ Director, Rex Raimond, at rraimond@tifsinitiative.org.