Happy New Year!
2018 was another impactful year for Root Capital. We worked with 200+ businesses to reach more than 625,000 farmers, connecting them to markets and services. Over the last 20 years, I’ve been consistently inspired by the tenacity and ingenuity of the agricultural enterprises we support—and last year was no exception. Here are just a few of the stories that made my jaw drop in 2018:
In Mexico, where coffee leaf rust devastated entire communities several years ago, a new disease—fueled by climate change—suddenly hit the coffee trees of our long-time client, CESMACH. But thanks to our collective technical expertise, farmers were able to stop this outbreak in its tracks.
Despite months of violent upheaval in Nicaragua, young leaders of the El Polo cooperative are moving forward with determination on their plans to construct a new soil testing facility that will improve harvests for farmers throughout the area.
And half a world away, amid the slow and uneven recovery from war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the SOPROCOPIV cooperative distributed the first seedlings from its new nursery—vital resources that will help its farmers, many of them women, plant the seeds of peace.
In the face of so many global challenges, these might seem like small victories. But to me, they’re huge. Each one represents another step toward the prosperous, resilient future we believe is possible.
Here’s to more victories, great and small, in 2019.