Soil Capital

Belgian start-up facilitating farmers’ transition to regenerative agriculture and issuing carbon certificates to large food corporates.

At a glance

Year of investment: 2024
Sector: Agriculture
Headquarters: Louvain-la-Neuve / Brussels
CEO: Chuck de Liedekerke
Trill Impact board representatives: Alexander Domin, Chloe Fu (Board Observer)

Website

Business description

Soil Capital was founded in 2013 with the belief that farmers must be recognized, supported and compensated for their essential contribution to solving environmental challenges and producing healthy, nutritious food. In 2019, the company launched a carbon certificate programme that rewards farmers for transitioning to regenerative agricultural practices, while helping large food corporates reduce their net emissions and improve the sustainability of their supply chains.

Since the carbon programme launch, Soil Capital has expanded its farmer base to over 1,600 farmers covering 350,000 hectares in Belgium, France and the UK, and established relationships with some of the leading players in the agri-food sector including MARS, Royal Canin, Boortmalt and Cefetra, among others1. Its Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) methodology, combined with its hands-on farmer support and large network in the sector, underpin Soil Capital’s potential to capture the growing demand for high-integrity carbon credits.

“During the first six years of Soil Capital's existence, we were directly involved in the agricultural reality and the consequences of climate change as we managed farms ourselves. But that was not enough, and that’s why we launched the Soil Capital programme in 2019. Since then, we have improved and developed this programme with a growing number of farmers and agri-food companies. Today, it is these stakeholders who encourage us to grow and continue our mission so that it can serve other territories.

Trill Impact played an instrumental role throughout our fundraise, leading a smooth process from beginning to end, and bringing onboard co-investors who share our vision. We are happy to have this strong consortium of impact investors join us on our journey ahead. ”

- Chuck de Liedekerke , CEO and Co-Founder of Soil Capital

Soil Capital's solution

Social/Environmental challenge

According to the European Commission and SBTi, 10% of EU GHG emissions come from food production, and these emissions need to be reduced by at least 90% by 2040 in order to reach the Paris Agreement targets.

By focusing on regenerative agriculture, Soil Capital has the potential to help reduce GHG emissions and improve soil health significantly. In doing so, the company also contributes to a more resilient food production system, while supporting farmer’s income threatened by declining ecosystems and extreme weather events.

SDG Contribution

Through its products and services, Soil Capital contributes to several of the SDGs:

SDG #2.4
Ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems.

SDG #13.1
Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters

SDG #13.2
Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning 

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