Financing agricultural innovation: Challenges and alternatives to venture capital in the AgTech sector

IF 6 1区经济学 Q1 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS & POLICY

Food Policy Pub Date : 2025-09-23 DOI:10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102967

Jorge Fernandez-Vidal , Silverio Alarcon

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Agricultural innovation is crucial for enhancing productivity, sustainability, and global food security. However, traditional venture capital (VC) models, designed for fast-scaling, high-liquidity sectors, often clash with the biological and regional realities of agriculture. This study examines financing frictions in AgTech by drawing on 71 semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs, investors, farmers, and policymakers across five continents. We identify three primary tensions: (1) a misalignment between VC time horizons and agricultural innovation cycles; (2) the critical role of alternative patient capital (e.g., government grants, corporate strategic investments) in supporting AgTech venture survival and addressing some of the shortcomings of VC; and (3) significant regional heterogeneity that complicates global scaling. Our findings extend theories of entrepreneurial finance by illustrating how sector-specific characteristics disrupt standard investment models. We provide actionable insights for investors, entrepreneurs, agricultural policymakers, and development agencies seeking to foster innovation ecosystems that align with the slower pace of biological and environmental systems. The study highlights the importance of designing financing structures that respect, rather than attempt to override, the natural rhythms of agricultural development.

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农业创新融资：农业科技领域风险资本的挑战和替代方案

农业创新对提高生产力、可持续性和全球粮食安全至关重要。然而，传统的风险资本（VC）模式是为快速扩张、高流动性的行业设计的，往往与农业的生物和区域现实相冲突。本研究通过对五大洲的企业家、投资者、农民和政策制定者进行71次半结构化访谈，考察了农业科技领域的融资摩擦。我们确定了三个主要的紧张关系：(1)风险投资的时间范围与农业创新周期之间的不一致；(2)另类耐心资本（如政府拨款、企业战略投资）在支持农业科技创业生存和解决风险投资的一些缺点方面的关键作用；(3)显著的区域异质性使全球尺度复杂化。我们的研究结果通过说明行业特定特征如何扰乱标准投资模型，扩展了创业融资理论。我们为投资者、企业家、农业政策制定者和发展机构提供可操作的见解，以寻求培育与生物和环境系统的缓慢步伐相一致的创新生态系统。这项研究强调了设计尊重而不是试图推翻农业发展自然规律的融资结构的重要性。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Food Policy 管理科学-农业经济与政策

CiteScore

11.40

自引率

4.60%

发文量

128

审稿时长

62 days

期刊介绍： Food Policy is a multidisciplinary journal publishing original research and novel evidence on issues in the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of policies for the food sector in developing, transition, and advanced economies. Our main focus is on the economic and social aspect of food policy, and we prioritize empirical studies informing international food policy debates. Provided that articles make a clear and explicit contribution to food policy debates of international interest, we consider papers from any of the social sciences. Papers from other disciplines (e.g., law) will be considered only if they provide a key policy contribution, and are written in a style which is accessible to a social science readership.