Beta Farm Purchase
In 2020, DGA Executive Director Joseph Tomandl, III and his wife Christy brought on a 160 acre row-crop farm requiring upgrades to existing 150 cow facilities and development of managed grazing infrastructure as part of a 3-farm development campus sized to northern tier grazing. The property was was purchased in affiliation with Regenerative Dairy Development, LLC, which provided following services:
- Brokered an ecosystem service sale with a conventional bank for the conversion of the farm from row crops to managed grazing permanent ground cover.
- Secured a loan from a mission related foundation for the farm based on the ecosystem outcomes of the conversion from row crops to permanent ground cover managed grazing.
- Secured a Value Added Producer Grant to do a feasibility study, business and marketing plan for value added consumer products from managed grazing dairy.
Goal
Demonstration and proof of New Dairy Concept and the role of investment financing in scaling regenerative dairy within a business structure that creates an opportunity for independent ownership and has access to favorable finance, return on investment per acre, and consumer markets. All of these could be driven by the environmental services that managed grazing provides.
Outcome
Create an instrument for regenerative farm startup and expansion and investment opportunities for capital seeking a secure investment with a modest return that builds the regenerative dairy industry, protects soil, water, and biodiversity resources, and reinvigorates rural communities.
Ecosystem services score card that shows the potential for climate mitigation from managed grazing systems versus commodity row crops as well as cover crops and allocates both as social and a market value to these environmental services: Beta Farm ESG Infographic
A scalable model of regenerative land and facilities investment: Dairy Farm Model 2020 160