INVESTMENT in sustainable agriculture looks to be on the rise as WA Super recently launched the WA Impact Fund, which will use impact investing in different spaces, with one being agriculture.
The fund is anchored by $20 million from WA Super and will invest in only Western Australian assets with the intention of driving social and environmental benefit - a strategy known as impact investing.
Agriculture is just one of the areas that the fund will look at for investing, along with social or affordable housing, green property, cleaner energy solutions and social finance (social enterprise for-profits and not-for-profits).
In regards to agriculture, the focus will be on regenerative agriculture and will look at food systems that use sustainable methods, produce positive outcomes for the climate and promote an inclusive community.
Goals for these investments will include increasing biodiversity, enriching soils, sequestering carbon, improving water management and community resilience.
The fund hopes this will lead to more agricultural land being utilised for productive, sustainable agriculture and provide local employment.
Impact Investment Group (IIG) has been appointed to manage the fund.
"Overall, the WA Impact Fund will be first and foremost pursuing investors' financial interests," said an IIG spokesperson.
"That's normal for investments held by superannuation funds.
"The WA Impact Fund's added element is that we're also targeting positive environmental and social impact.
"The best research shows that there are lots of investments where you don't need to make trade offs."
The fund will work through partnerships with various companies who specialise in the different areas of investment it intends to look into, with Tiverton Rothwell Agriculture being its partner for the agriculture investments.
"We've known Nigel Sharp and his team at Tiverton Rothwell Agriculture for a while and really admire the work they do," the IIG spokesperson said.
"Taking a regenerative approach to food production can produce a higher quality crop, and doing as much as possible so that our land, air and water can support a flourishing ecosystem for generations into the future."
WA Super chief investment officer Chris West said partnering with specialist companies such as Tiverton gave the fund better scope and expertise in particular areas.
"Agriculture has been one of the hardest investment types for institutional investors to get set up in because often what happens is, the way investment structures work in agriculture, they don't actually maximise the benefit from a long-term perspective," Mr West said.
"We would like our broader portfolio to have some exposure to agriculture, but we are also interested in how we can help transition to new and innovative ways of doing agriculture.
"Whether that is from new or existing operators, we are interested in that space on whether we can deliver joint outcomes alongside good returns."
Mr West believed impact investing has increased in popularity among investors and also in the corporate sector, as social and environmental responsibility is becoming more apparent and a greater concern to the public.