Interview with Sara Farley, Vice President, Global Food Portfolio, The Rockefeller Foundation

We interview Sara Farley of The Rockefeller Foundation on the challenges and innovations shaping the future of agriculture, jobs, and food systems in a rapidly changing world. 

[Xavier Muller, World Bank] Thank you for joining us today, Sara. What opportunities and challenges do you see in the agriculture and food sector? And are there innovations you’re especially hopeful about that could create more opportunities for smallholder farmers? 

[Sara Farley] We’re facing major challenges in the global food system. Agriculture produces about one-third of global greenhouse gases, and even if other sectors meet their targets, we’d still struggle to meet the Paris 1.5°C goal without transforming food production. The system drives 86% of global species loss, mainly through land conversion and deforestation, and uses roughly 75% of freshwater. Poor diets are now the leading cause of preventable death. 

We need a food system that’s productive and inclusive for the 1.5 billion smallholder farmers — rewarding practices that store carbon, restore biodiversity, conserve water, and build resilience against droughts, floods, and erratic weather. 

Regenerative or agroecological farming builds on traditional ecological knowledge and offers multiple benefits. In India’s Andhra Pradesh, one million farmers practice community-managed natural farming, improving incomes, nutrition, and soil health. In Brazil, school procurement policies support smallholder agroecological farmers, providing reliable market pull. Together, these examples show that it’s possible to align farming with climate goals, restore ecosystems, and strengthen livelihoods at the same time. 

[Xavier Muller, World Bank] Let’s pivot to jobs. At the World Bank, our focus is on creating more and better employment opportunities. How can countries modernize their farming sectors to generate jobs? 

[Sara Farley] There’s a huge opportunity for new kinds of jobs if we shift from business-as-usual, chemical-dependent farming toward agriculture that restores nature and strengthens resilience. That transition requires a major knowledge upgrade — the skills farmers use today aren’t the same ones needed for regenerative agriculture. It’s a more knowledge-intensive system, and where there’s new knowledge, there are new jobs. 

We’re also seeing rapid growth in jobs related to monitoring, reporting, and verification — people who test soils, assess species diversity, and track forest cover. Technology, including AI and satellite imagery, can help, but we’ll still need people on the ground for verification and for ensuring traceability from seed to fork or plate. 

So really, when you zoom out, the story of ecological agriculture is one of more labor-abundant agriculture, at least in the short to medium term — creating meaningful work while regenerating land, water, and livelihoods. 

[Xavier Muller, World Bank] How can philanthropic capital help de-risk investments in agriculture and attract more private and institutional capital? 

[Sara Farley] No single foundation can finance the shift from fossil-fuel-dependent, extractive agriculture to one that restores biodiversity, water security, and soil health. The scale is immense — $250–430 billion a year for a decade, or roughly $4 trillion total. 

To meet that challenge, philanthropy must evolve from funding isolated projects to what we call systemic investing. This means viewing the entire system — policy, infrastructure, inputs, technical assistance, markets — and coordinating across funders so each fills a complementary lane. 

In Kenya and Tanzania, over 30 philanthropies, private investors, and multilateral partners mapped county-level investment needs. In Murang’a County, they identified gaps in policy, infrastructure, research, and farmer support. Each partner is now taking responsibility for a piece — Rockefeller, for example, is investing in systems to verify and reward regenerative production, while others focus on research or financing tools. 

They’re also designing a financial orchestrator to align capital, structure deals, and coordinate complex instruments like guarantees or insurance. This collaborative, systemic, blended approach is the only viable path to transform agriculture at scale. 

[Xavier Muller, World Bank] Could you tell us more about collaborating with the World Bank Group and other partners to advance agriculture and food security? How can we make these partnerships more effective? 

[Sara Farley] We’ve been exploring financing that connects both supply and demand sides of food systems. Investments often focus on either farmer readiness or nutrition, not both. Real transformation requires both. 

We partnered with analytic organizations to explore financing that links regenerative production with market demand, especially through public procurement and school meals. At a Bellagio convening, we worked with World Bank agriculture and social protection teams, plus ministries of finance from Africa and Asia, to develop country roadmaps for Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Indonesia. These outline steps to align philanthropic, multilateral, bilateral, and private capital for systemic investment. 

This collaboration continues, including sessions at the World Bank Annual Meetings. Critical to success is building trust and coordination among funders before engaging governments — ensuring instruments like first-loss guarantees, social impact bonds, or blended finance are understood and actionable. 

What excites me most is that the World Bank engages across multiple areas — agriculture, social protection, and beyond — recognizing that food systems transformation is inherently cross-sectoral. It’s a learning journey for all of us, showing real promise.