农村基础设施机会基金提供资本赏金

Each year the U.S. Department of Agriculture shells out tens of billions of dollars in farming subsidies. So a new, $10 billion pool of capital, a White House initiative named the U.S. Rural Infrastructure Opportunity Fund, might seem like more riches for the rich.

But taxpayer dollars are not on the hook. Rather, the anchor investor of the new fund is CoBank, a national cooperative bank based in Greenwood Village, Colorado, which committed $10 billion to get the fund off the ground. CoBank is a member of the Farm Credit System, created by the U.S. Congress nearly a century ago to provide agriculture-related, infrastructure and general-purpose business loans in rural areas. The fund will be managed by Capitol Peak Asset Management, a Denver- and Washington, D.C.–based firm, which will work to bring private investors to the fund.

USDA officials have been quick to point out that the new fund is acting simply as a facilitator. “It is about creating a platform that channels capital to important projects that will benefit rural communities and our country at large for years to come,” says Leo Tilman, executive chairman of Capitol Peak Asset Management. He sees the new pool as transformative capital: money that will seed big ideas that otherinvestorsmight consider too risky or too expensive. Many investors are familiar with transportation infrastructure projects and agricultural land investments yet may be less familiar with critical infrastructure investments, which include rural community facilities, water and wastewater systems, rural energy and broadband projects. By parsing the risk in each investment, the new fund can connect the appropriate project with the right investor — working effectively as a matchmaking service for rural infrastructure development.

“我们的目标是创建一个连接机构投资者世界的可持续发展平台 -亚博赞助欧冠pensions,endowments, foundations, family offices and主权财富基金— with critical infrastructure projects across rural America,” says Tilman, who, in addition to his role at Capitol Peak, is also the president and CEO of Tilman & Co., a global strategic advisory firm.

U.S. agricultural investment goes beyond farms and farmers. Innovation on the rural front encompasses everything from housing and transportation to new, genetically modified organisms and agricultural technology. And, according to Tilman, from the get-go, many of these projects are perceived as too risky, as entrepreneurs venture out of the cozy confines of Grandpa’s farm — figuratively and literally.

最近耕作风险投资的农业业务是Glendale，科罗拉多州总部的Nutrinsic Corp.，正在开发一种从农业副产品加工中提取营养素的技术。该系统不仅有助于产生低成本的蛋白质，而且还急剧降低加工废物的成本。Leo Gingras，Nutrinsic的总裁兼首席执行官：“我们将成为我们技术潜在主机网站的许多食物厂位于农村地区。当我们员工我们的植物时，我们当然会增加当地就业。“硅谷venture capital firm Artiman Ventures led the $12.7 million funding round, which closed last month.

In 2006 two former Google employees, David Friedberg and Siraj Khaliq, launched WeatherBill, a company that sold insurance to cover disruptions by bad weather. At first, the policies covered a wide range of events, from weddings and movie shoots to concerts and sporting events. But the two quickly realized that the real market was agriculture. And they soon assembled an army of programmers, mathematicians, engineers and agricultural specialists to focus on the market. In 2011 the company changed its name to the Climate Corp. Last year Monsanto purchased the company for $930 million (see also “气候变化和危险投资的多年”).

Projects assisted by the U.S. Rural Infrastructure Opportunity Fund might receive money completely from private sources; others might get a combination of private and public financing, including government grants and loans. Ultimately, the success of the fund will be judged by its ability to attract new capital and new types ofinvestorsand its overall impact on a rural economy that is in need of revitalization.