How private sector investment in food production can make the world less hungry - a podcast by The Food Fix

Food finances are tricky. For example, funding food production in developing countries has been difficult for a number of reasons, according to Rebecca Toole, a policy expert in economics.

“Farmers may seem like risky borrowers,” Toole said. “They often don’t have a established credit history, they also might not have stores of capital they could use as collateral for loans.”

Heifer International, a global non-profit, has been using a method called ‘Impact Investing.’ That’s where you have the private sector invest in food production, with a smaller relative return to their investment.

Bill Foreman, spokesman for Heifer International, says the return can then be used for another investment.

“The idea is that you invest capital and you don’t really expect to get the same kind of return,” So we expect to get some capital back and then we use it for another project.”

In this episode of our ongoing series, "10 ideas to make the world less hungry,” we tackle the complicated issue of financing food, and the ideas that are making it possible.

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