Fall heralds the harvest season, in tune with the equinox. It is special time of the year to celebrate the bounty of the land and culmination of hard work. This double-issue of our news and updates has much to celebrate beginning with The Nest’s investment in Belgomeals in September.
Belgomeals prepares and delivers 18,000 nutritious meals daily to more than 400 childcare centers in Flanders and Brussels. They are committed to healthy, locally sourced ingredients that fuel children's growth and learning. The Nest’s investment and collaboration will expand access to the program to more children and support sustainability and innovation.
“Food is one of the most powerful ways to promote health and well-being,” explains Els Thermote, founder of The Nest. “What children eat today shapes their tomorrow. Belgomeals is a company that truly understands this - and lives it every day.”
Learn more about Belgomeals and this exciting partnership that fits our mission to make nutritious, sustainable food accessible for all.
Els Thermote is speaking at the Belgian Impact Week, on November 5, another moment to celebrate the outcomes of our work and how we can help build a more sustainable and healthy food system.
From the Farm
Renovation has begun at Domaine de Graux, with progress already toward an exciting future. Sadly, we will not be hosting corporate events during the construction. But the team will look forward to welcoming groups with the grand reopening in November 2026. The team will be posting updates on the project on our social media.
The team at Domaine de Graux is busy harvesting fall crops such as lettuce, purslane, watercress, and staples like sweet potatoes, carrots, and beet roots, while also planting winter crops in the greenhouses. For those in Belgium, you can find our produce at retailers including Biofresh, Interbio, and the Coop alimentaire of Tournai. Our orchard crops of apples, pears, and walnuts will be marketed through our partnership with Reinette & Co.
The team is preparing for colder days ahead, of course. This means repairing bird houses and setting up shelters for the Angus cattle. The cattle are also preparing for winter as they graze in the orchard and pastures as part of a managed rotational system that promotes healthy grass. Read updates on the fall season at Domaine de Graux.
Unbreaking the food system
At The Nest, we’ve been thinking a lot about systems. We believe real change in our food system doesn’t come from silver bullets, but from a network of interconnected efforts that together shape something greater than the sum of their parts.
Next week, we are launching Unbreaking The Food System, a five-part series exploring essential themes that shape the future of food: land; knowledge; financing; offtake and processing; and access to market.
Each day next week, we’ll introduce you to one of our portfolio companies or initiatives. On their own, each plays a powerful role in building a better food system. But together, they form the sprouts of a new system - giving us a glimpse of what a more sustainable, regenerative, and equitable food future could look like.
Join us each day as we unveil this story and share your thoughts, questions, or connections in the comments. Help us imagine, and rebuild, what feeds us.
Follow the series on LinkedIn and on our website’s Journal section.
The Nest at RFSI
At the beginning of October, our team member, Hallie Fox, attended RFSI in Minneapolis. There she joined a mix of farmers, entrepreneurs, investors, and other non-profit and policy leaders in the regenerative space. Alongside Ryan Pintado-Vertner of Smoketown, Jay Watson of General Mills, and Laura Ortiz Montemayor of SVX Mexico and Regenera Ventures, Hallie participated in a panel focused on building resiliency into growth. She spoke about the systemic investment approach of The Nest and how this collaborative systems-based approach can build collective resilience across our future food system. The whole team at The Nest is already looking forward to RFSI Europe in March 2026 in Brussels!
Portfolio News
Ardo
Ardo was featured as a participant in The Shift vzw/asbl community of practice for corporate strategies that build a nature-positive future.
Ardo presents “Autumn root vegetables from Ardo” live video cooking tips.
Biotope Group
UDEA
UDEA’s team contributed to PLENTY, a collaboration between education, research, and business to improve consumer access to plant-based proteins. PLENTY was funded by the Taskforce for Applied Research SIA (RAAK MKB), HAS green academy, HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, Bamboo Brands, and practice partners such as LEEV (B corp), Lekker Lupine, and Udea BV.
UDEA’s initiatives in September also included recognizing Organic Action Day by highlighting their grower, Jacco, and sustainable seafood sourcing, such as UDEA’s independently tested fish purchasing policy, developed in collaboration with Good Fish.
Färm
The latest post from Färm celebrates the health benefits and history of fermentation.
Agricarbon
The Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute has appointed Agricarbon as a partner to support their research on farm soil carbon stock assessments in Northern Island. The Soil Nutrient Health Scheme (SNHS) project was funded by Northern Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA). SNHS aims to soil sample every active agricultural field in Northern Ireland. The project will be one of the most comprehensive measurement programs to assess the nutrient status of soils.
Agricarbon also provided soil sampling and analysis to establish baseline carbon stocks for the Europe-based AgreenaCarbon project, a large-scale arable agriculture project registered under Verra voluntary carbon standard.
Agricarbon’s CEO and co-founder Annie Leeson participated in a workshop at Climate Week NY, along with Indigo Ag. The session focused on breaking down barriers about regen ag as a climate solution. She was also featured Mike Miles's latest Milestone Leadership Profile.
Delphine de Brogniez, PhD, of Agricarbon, hosted a panel on building the next generation of soil carbon programs at the Regenerative Agriculture Series summit in Amsterdam. Panelists included Alan Strong of Agricarbon and representatives from SustainCERT and Unilever.
Agricarbon will be hosting a RegenAg Community Happy Hour in Madrid, 5 November. Learn about the event and register here.
Antler Bio
Antler Bio’s Maria Jensen was a guest on two podcasts inSeptember, the Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food’s episode, “MariaJensen – Giving cows a voice through epigenetics while drastically improving animal welfare,” and the Chew in the Cud Podcast episode, “BeyondBreeding: The Epigenetic Revolution.”
Atomo Coffee
Atomo Coffee launched their newest product, Atomo Upgrades The Daily, a nutritional boost for brewing coffee with animal-free collagen, lion’s mane, green teacaffeine, and prebiotic fiber.
Clear Frontier
Justin Bruch, cofounder of Clear Frontier and a fifth-generation Iowa farmer, joined the Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food Podcast. In this episode, Bruch emphasizes that organic farming in the U.S. Midwest is more profitable than conventional farming. The interview also looked at the financial and investment models needed to unlock the organic transition at scale.
Edacious
Edacious and the Regenerative Organic Alliance (ROA) announced a four-year partnership to identify and test more than 200 Regenerative Organic Certified® (ROC™) food products to assess both the nutritional quality and toxicity of ROC™ crops in comparison to those produced through conventional, organic, and regenerative non-organic methods. The announcement was also covered by Food Navigator, AgFunder, and The Organic Insider.
Edacious also announced a partnership with Advancing Eco Agriculture (AEA). AEA’s agronomy expertise combined with Edacious’s lab and data platform will enable growers to connect their regenerative practices to nutritional outcomes.
Monarch Tractor
Monarch CEO Praveen Penmetsa was named to the prestigious Forbes Sustainability Leaders List 2025.
In September, Monarch also reached milestone of 150% increase in customer use of autonomous feed pushing for dairies, a new level of comfort with Monarch’s self-driving capabilities.
Quick Organics
Organic certifier QCS took a moment away from Rodale’s Field Day to share some appreciation for their partnership with Quick Organics.
Connie Karr, formerly a certifier with 30 years of experience, shared her perspective on the value of Quick Organics’ solution and Why the Common OSP Strengthens Organic Certification.
Steward
Steward’s most recent successful funding supported AEA. The $950,000 in funding will support AEA’s growth by lowering their cost of capital. AEA scales regenerative farming through consulting, organic-compliant plant nutrition, and tools that help farmers build resilient soils and reduce or eliminate reliance on pesticides and synthetic fertilizers.
Zymofix
Zymofix was a featured startup during the 23 September, Biologicals,Genetics & Sustainable Inputs for Resilience session at the WorldAgri-Tech Innovation Summit in London. The startup was also featured as one of the impact stories in the HTGF |High-Tech Gründerfonds ESG Report.
Portfolio Funds
AgFunder
The latest posts from AgFunder include:
- Agtonomy bags $18m to bring more AI to ‘the next frontier of automation’: agricultural equipment
- Guest article: When rebuilding the bridge, founders and funders can’t afford the ‘slow maybe’
- Guest article: AI in agriculture, five strategic signals for investors and industry
Aqua-Spark
In September, Aqua-Spark welcomed a new lead for Aqua-Spark Africa, Ben Gimson. Co-Founder Amy Novogratz, was recently featured in IntraFish’s roundup of women shaping the future of seafood.
Astanor
In October, Astanor welcomed Akson Robotics to their portfolio. Akson Robotics is a Danish agtech innovator using AI to identify weeds and crops for precision spraying, helping farmers reduce chemical use, lower costs, and increase yields, all while protecting the environment.
Astanor had two additional announcements, first, their investment in La Fourche, the French pioneer of subscription-based online grocery. The retailer serves 150,000 households with more affordable and organic and responsible products. Second, CrowdFarming acquired La Ruche qui dit Oui ! Astanor remains a shareholder, supporting their joint ambition to scale the direct-to-consumer movement across Europe.
Biotope by VIB
Applications for biotope by VIB’s next incubator closed on October 17. The selected cohort will join a focused 3-week program (Dec 2–19, 2025) where they sharpen their venture and pitch to an Investment Committee.
Three startups from biotope’s recent basecamp, Typcal, BugBiome, and B-COS, were welcomed into the biotope portfolio! The accelerator is investing €350k in the growth of each of these startups and will work with them over the next 18 months, strengthening their fundamentals, sharpening their go-to-market strategy, and integrating them into the biotope ecosystem of scientists, mentors, and partners.
Learn more about Typcal in biotope’s post, “Typcal is brewing the future of pragmatic protein.” Typcal’s mycelium-based protein is designed to reduce (not replace) meat consumption and provide a new protein ingredient to boost nutrition in foods.
The accelerator program was recognized by EU-Startups as among Europe’s leading accelerator programs, “From seed to success: 35+ accelerator programmes transforming Europe’s startups.”
Biotope and their portfolio had a strong showing at World Agri-Tech. View the images and recap of B-COS, Zymofix, Elaniti, BugBiome, Landman.Bio, Biovia participating in the event with the biotope team.
In October, biotope also posted “The Fundraising Mirage,” their latest insights on what founders and investors can do differently.
Blume Equity
Jenny Keisu, former partner and CEO of Summa Equity, joined Blume Equity as a strategic advisor based in Stockholm.
Buoyant Ventures
Buoyant Ventures’ latest insight, “Climate Risk Intelligence for Insurance: From Transfer to Reduction” takes a deeper look into acute climate risk and the role of insurance.
Pymwymic
Pymwymic shared a brief case study on how they helped portfolio company Weenat develop a Theory of Change with tangible impact, applicable to their everyday decisions.
Synthesis Capital
The latest insight from Synthesis, “Not All Ultra-Processed Foods Are Created Equal” takes a closer look at the Nova Framework for UPFs and the role of plant-based meat in healthier, more sustainable diets.
Walden Mutual
Walden Mutual shared their latest partner story, Klocke Estate. Walden helped Klocke build their legacy with a brandy distilled from the apple and grape harvests of the Hudson Valley.
Food as Medicine Foundation
Marifish
After just 22 months, the Marifish.Inc INCubator in Ostend has selected and now coaches 11 start-ups: Aqua development, Greentide, Heirbaut aLgriculture, Mycofence (CITRIBEL), Navitools, OceanBites.eu, Three-Sixty Aquaculture Limited, Vision3F, ZENI, and ZYGO. The startup founders recently gathered for a knowledge exchange and opportunity to explore synergies.
“It’s clear that the Marifish.Inc incubator community has grown rapidly — and it already creates real added value for our company. The combination of business coaching and connection to the right partners that Marifish.Inc offers is spot on for our growth,” Eric V., ZYGO.
Top 50 Farmers
Top 50 Farmers highlighted members of their 2025 cohort like Mateusz Ciasnocha, who works to unite regenerative farming and European climate policy; António Coelho who transformed 3 hectares of Portugal’s degraded land into a thriving food forest; and Núria Villanueva Barceló, who along with four partners, took over a 60-hectare industrial livestock farm in Sant Pau de Segúries to build a regenerative community.
Applications for the next cohort of farmers begin November 4. Learn more and apply here.
What We Are Reading
- Applying a Systems Lens to Impact Investing to Save It
- What climate change means for agriculture: Less food, more emissions | Grist
- The Impact Measurement Trap: When Good Metrics Go Bad | Tenacious Ventures
- Impact Investing: Systemic Investing for Social Change
Opportunities
In Network
Ardo is hiring for 49 job openings, including Engineering and Demand and Inventory Planner.
AgFunder’s portfolio opportunities include roles for scientists and a Chief Commercial Officer.
Agricarbon is hiring for an Ecosystem Modeling Software Engineer.
Astanor’s network has 78 open jobs, including roles for scientists, researchers, and engineers.
Buoyant Ventures portfolio has 29 job openings including roles for climate and meteorology data scientists.
Omnivore posted 211 job openings for their portfolio companies, many in sales and development roles.
Farm for Good is hiring an agronomist for fall.