How TIFS and DiversiFund are connecting research, partnerships, and investment capital to bring promising financial solutions to market.
When a Michigan corn and soybean grower recently reviewed a quote for a new kind of crop insurance, he saw something that traditional insurance models had never shown him: a risk assessment based on the conditions of his own fields, including how well their soils could withstand wet springs and dry summers. The information offered a more accurate picture of his farm’s resilience and raised new possibilities for how he might evaluate the next piece of land he leases.
That kind of practical insight is what years of research, collaboration, and financial innovation are making possible. NextGen Crop Insurance emerged from work incubated by TIFS (Transformational Investing in Food Systems), advanced through grant-funded pilots, and is now moving toward commercialization with DiversiFund.
The initiative illustrates the complementary roles TIFS and DiversiFund play in transforming the financial systems that shape agriculture. TIFS develops and tests promising approaches through research, partnerships, and catalytic funding, while DiversiFund creates pathways for investment capital to bring those innovations to market and support their growth.
NextGen Crop Insurance is one of the first examples of how this relationship can help move regenerative agriculture solutions beyond the pilot stage and toward adoption at scale.
Two pieces, one strategy
DiversiFund is a systems-level investment platform sponsored by TIFS and managed by Front Hill Partners. Building on TIFS’ research into the financial barriers and investment opportunities shaping food systems transformation, DiversiFund directs capital toward four priority areas: Regional Infrastructure, Financial Intermediaries, Data & Insurance, and Natural Assets.
The partnership brings together complementary expertise and capabilities. TIFS draws on its research, extensive networks, and relationships across agriculture and finance to identify promising opportunities, build partnerships, guide impact priorities, and build a pipeline of innovations. Front Hill Partners provides the investment expertise, due diligence, and fund management needed to move those innovations toward commercialization and scale.
This structure allows each organization to contribute its strengths while maintaining clear responsibilities and independent investment decision-making. It also creates a pathway for innovations developed through TIFS’ catalytic work to establish a foundation to attract aligned investors and investment capital, building a scalable platform that has the capacity to generate financial returns for investors, and deliver measurable impact across the food system.
From Coalition to Pilot
The Resilience in Agriculture Lending & Insurance Coalition (RALIC) grew out of a longstanding challenge in agricultural finance: while healthy soils can improve a farm’s resilience to extreme weather, conventional lending and insurance models have struggled to account for that value. Led by Tina Owens, TIFS convened RALIC to bring farmers, conservation districts, commodity groups, NGOs, state government, and risk specialists together to explore how to incorporate soil health into financial risk assessment and pricing.
Through these partnerships, the coalition began translating research into practical financial tools. SAGE developed field-level analytics to assess soil function and its relationship to agricultural risk. Aon’s Agriculture Resilience Center applied actuarial science to create the risk models that price the risks of crop loss in farmer fields. AgriCap Group, which has managed farmer-owned insurance captives since 2018, brought the insurance expertise needed to translate those insights into a viable product. TIFS secured a grant from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to support the NextGen Crop Insurance pilot in four Michigan counties. Aon, AgriCap and SAGE will now make NextGen Crop Insurance available to corn and soybean growers in 15 states for the 2027 crop year.
“This pilot is the first real test of pricing that reflects what’s actually happening in the soil, and it’s the blueprint for how insurers, lenders, and investors will price risk across financial services in the future.” — Tina Owens, Founder and Leader of RALIC
The Michigan pilot is an important step toward demonstrating how soil health data can inform agricultural insurance and create new financial incentives for regenerative practices. Expanding that approach beyond the initial pilot will require additional investment, market infrastructure, and partnerships to support broader adoption. This is where DiversiFund’s role is critical to fund the crop insurance rollout ahead of spring planting 2027.
From pilot to market
NextGen Crop Insurance has the potential to address a longstanding gap in agricultural finance: the limited ability of conventional insurance models to recognize and reward the resilience farmers build through improved soil health and land management.
Federal crop insurance rates rely heavily on historical losses and county averages, which can obscure important differences in risk between individual fields. As a result, farmers who invest in practices that improve soil health and reduce vulnerability to extreme weather may see little direct benefit reflected in their insurance premiums. This disconnect limits the financial incentives for regenerative practices, even as climate-related risks continue to grow.
NextGen offers a more precise approach. Using field-level soil data and analytics, the Michigan pilot is evaluating risk based on the characteristics and performance of individual fields, including how they have responded to challenging growing seasons. Developed as a private insurance product with its own actuarial pricing, NextGen is designed to complement existing federal crop insurance coverage while better aligning premiums with the resilience of individual farms.
The potential value for farmers extends beyond lowering insurance costs and creating a dividend option. More accurate field-level risk assessments could inform lending decisions, help producers evaluate land purchases and leases, and contribute to emerging markets that value the environmental performance of agricultural production. By making soil health more visible within financial decision-making, NextGen can strengthen the economic case for investments in regenerative land management.
Bringing this innovation to more farmers will require investment in the infrastructure needed to deliver and support the product at scale. Expansion beyond the four-county Michigan pilot into the broader Corn Belt, and eventually other crops and regions, depends on building distribution capacity through AgriCap’s established agent network and securing capital to support growing insurance pools.
Through DiversiFund, Front Hill Partners can structure investments around these interconnected needs, supporting both the delivery infrastructure and the financial capacity required for expansion. The opportunity reflects a central premise of TIFS’ work: when financial products recognize the economic value of healthy soils, capital can help accelerate regenerative practices while creating the potential for competitive financial returns.
As NextGen develops, its performance will help demonstrate whether more accurate pricing of agricultural risk can create lasting value for farmers, insurers, and investors, while supporting a more resilient food system.
Beyond crop insurance
NextGen is one example of a pattern that runs across DiversiFund’s work. In Regional Infrastructure, DiversiFund has invested in Green Acres Milling in Minnesota, a majority female-owned processing and clean-energy facility. It anchors regional markets for regenerative grain, unlocks more than $40 million in blended capital, and supports the transition of 120,000 acres of farmland.
Why the pairing matters
Promising financial innovations in agriculture often face significant barriers to reaching scale. Even when research demonstrates their potential and early pilots show encouraging results, securing the right kind of capital to support broader adoption remains a challenge. Traditional investment structures are not always well suited to innovations that require longer development timelines, cross-sector collaboration, or new approaches to measuring risk and returns.
TIFS has identified this financing gap as the Missing Middle: a disconnect between promising solutions and the capital structures needed to bring them to market. NextGen Crop Insurance offers a tangible example of how to address that gap.
TIFS and DiversiFund developed their relationship with this challenge in mind. Through research, convening, and catalytic funding, TIFS works with partners to develop and test financial innovations that address systemic barriers to food systems transformation. DiversiFund builds on that foundation with a flexible, multi-asset investment approach that structures capital around the specific needs of each opportunity.
This model creates a pathway for innovations to move from early-stage development toward commercialization and broader market adoption, while maintaining a focus on their intended impact. It also reflects the long-term, collaborative nature of TIFS’ work. Rather than simply identifying investment opportunities, TIFS helps develop the partnerships, evidence, and financial models that make new approaches viable. DiversiFund provides a mechanism for mobilizing the investment capital needed to bring that work to scale.
What comes next
Closing the Missing Middle will require more than bringing individual innovations to market. It calls for a broader shift in how promising solutions are developed, financed, and supported, with research, partnerships, and investment capital working together to address the structural barriers holding back food systems transformation.
NextGen Crop Insurance offers one example of this approach in agricultural risk management, while Green Acres Milling demonstrates its potential to strengthen regional food infrastructure. Together, these initiatives illustrate how targeted financial innovation can unlock opportunities across different parts of the food system.
Expanding this work will depend on partnerships with funders and investors who recognize the long-term value of systems-level change and are willing to support these financial innovations Through TIFS and DiversiFund, we can build on years of research to de-risk investment opportunities and collaborate to mobilize capital where it can have a meaningful and lasting impact.
TIFS welcomes conversations with funders, investors, and partners interested in advancing the next generation of financial solutions for a more resilient and regenerative food system.