Publication database

This report analyses the value chain of the vanilla industry and highlights the challenges and proposed solutions to increase farmer incomes. These include the recommendations at the local, national, supply chain and consumer levels.

This paper introduces the IB Scan, a method to reveal crucial insights on the inclusion of smallholders in agricultural value chains complementing conventional data collection methods. The IB Scan offers companies, producer organisations, NGOs, and service providers a fast and efficient monitoring tool to measure the inclusivity of a particular business model as it is perceived by smallholder farmers.

The paper highlights critical pathways for developing a radical mind set that aligns sustainability with profit and transforms business and markets. It is a practical guide for those who recognise that the challenge is no longer how to build the business case for action, but how to evolve and deploy the business models needed to create new forms of financial and extra-financial value.

This study provides an evaluation of the impact of the Connected Farmer mobile agriculture (mAgri) solution and documentation of the lessons learned during its implementation. The Connected Farmer solution addresses the value chain management inefficiencies and increases productivity of both the agribusiness and the smallholder farmers who supply them.

This report assesses the extent to which inclusive business models promote women's economic empowerment in Asia and Latin America. It looks at Inclusive businesses that involve women in their value chain and provide specific services that help low-income women.

This annual survey provides the latest insight into investor perceptions and a number of key market variables such as types of investors, the number and size of investments made, target returns, and impact measurement practices. This “State of the Market” analysis explores how investments continue to be made across different geographies, a range of sectors, and multiple asset classes, signalling continued market growth and an increasing interest in impact investing opportunities.

This report looks at how food and agriculture businesses can grow by pursuing sustainable and inclusive business models aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The research shows that meeting the challenges of the food and agriculture sectors sustainably could unlock 14 major business opportunities worth US$2.3 trillion annually by 2030.

This paper presents an aligned yet customizable framework of indicators for measuring farm-level sustainability in smallholder agricultural supply chains. The ideas presented in the paper are drawn from recent fieldwork of food and beverage companies, standards organizations, NGOs, and development agencies, and were synthesized as part of a community of practice led and facilitated by the Sustainable Food Lab.

This report explains the relevance of measuring and evaluating socio-economic progress of smallholder farmers. It also provides a number of methods which are used by agribusinesses to measure impact.

In 2014, Echoing Green, a non-profit irganisation, piloted an impact investing “inflection cohort” of ten alumni of their Fellowship programme, each leading for-profit and hybrid social enterprises. This white paper looks at the inflection cohort pilot’s performance in supporting emerging social entrepreneurs.