As global temperatures rise and weather patterns shift, extreme droughts and floods pose significant material risks for agricultural production and the many Small-Scale Producers (SSPs) who steward food systems, especially in places like Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Agricultural adaptation investments are efforts to modify farming practices and infrastructure to better cope with these changing conditions. When properly implemented, adaptation solutions can yield significant benefits, including risk reduction, greater productivity and increased or stabilized income.

Despite the potential impact and financial benefits of adaptation investments, they are severely underfunded, particularly by the private sector.

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) developed Quantifying the Value of Investment in Adaptation for Small-Scale Agriculture: A Guidebook for Investors to help the private sector identify, evaluate and integrate adaptation strategies that support Small-Scale Producers (SSPs) into portfolios. TNC authors Jacob Davis, senior director, Financial Advisory, NatureVest, and Kari Vigerstol, director of water security science & innovation, developed this guidebook. It is based on extensive interviews with “direct investors”—including fund managers, lending institutions and corporations—to address the main challenges they encounter when investing in agriculture adaptation.

The comprehensive investor guidebook offers a conceptual framework for assessing climate risks and measuring ROI of adaptation strategies, highlights concrete examples of adaptation strategies and provides guidance on how to integrate adaptation strategies that support SSPs into investment portfolios.