Communications Barriers in Impact Investing: A perspective from Mission Markets issuer member T. Wright Dickinson

The topic of sustainable and impact investing often brings together an unlikely crowd, from tree-huggers to philanthropists to Wall Street veterans. While it can be a fascinating and productive combination, there are clear challenges in communicating between these groups that can impede progress in accomplishing our overarching goal—to create positive social and environmental value through investment strategies.

T. Wright Dickinson, a fourth-generation rancher of Vermillion Ranch and issuer member on Mission Markets, shared with me some interesting perspectives based on his experiences on the farm and at conferences.

“My work as a cattle rancher is informed first and foremost by an appreciation and love for natural resources and stewardship of the environment that we are entrusted with,” says T. Wright, when asked what gets him out of bed every morning. “I was raised with an ethic that we want to leave the land better than we found it. Along with our traditional livestock production, I see our ability to provide environmental services like clean air, clean water, and species preservation, as a sustainable business model for my family’s operation.”

After attending and speaking at a number of industry conferences and attempting to obtain funding for his operation, T. Wright brings up some important challenges that are applicable not only to the U.S. agricultural markets, but across the impact investing spectrum.

In certain sectors, it is challenging for companies and organizations to provide the profit margins and rates of return that many investors are expecting while at the same time maximizing social and environmental impact. There are, however, innovative ways of generating additional revenue. T. Wright shares with us his experience in this area:

“The challenge in agriculture is that land prices and other input costs are so high that rates of return end up being fairly low, creating a real challenge for us to create a sustainable business. We have tried to broaden our business model by monetizing the environmental benefits that we create as a part of our normal business practice. We believe environment and economics cannot be separated.”

Another issue is a simple “language barrier” between investors and sustainable businesses. We need to work harder to understand one another across industries and sectors because the larger problems that we are ambitiously trying to tackle are in need of an interdisciplinary, cross-sector approach. In other words, investors who may be more than three generations removed from any farming activity need to be talking with farmers whose families have been working the land for generations.

“What really jumped out at me at a recent workshop on ecosystem development was the communications gap between investors and farmers and ranchers,” says T. Wright, “If I expect people to talk my language, which I do, then I need to be willing to do the same for investors, on their turf, and in a language they understand. I came away from that workshop with a renewed commitment to talk to the investment community more effectively. I was drawn to Mission Markets and your vision because your platform is an efficient way for me to start that dialogue.”

Recently entering the 126th year of their family operation, Vermillion Ranch has big plans ahead. T. Wright speaks passionately of his vision for his own niece and nephew to continue the sixth generation of sustainable business.

“As a part of our community industry and our environment, there is a role for us in raising beef in a sustainable manner and also a role for us in providing valuable environmental services,” T. Wright explains, “We hope to connect with investors that would like to become part of such an endeavor and who understand the value of our operation and wish to help us grow and to capitalize on some of these benefits.”

We at Mission Markets are thrilled to see a movement developing around these important issues and hope to cultivate the development of sustainable agriculture as an important sector within the broader community using our marketplace. If you are an accredited investor with an interest in the work of T. Wright and others doing great work in the space, you can register for free in order to learn more about the opportunities available. We hope that you will join our movement to bring transparency and efficiency to these markets by becoming a member of our online community.

-Sonali Mehta-Rao, Mission Markets Associate, Business Development/Communications

Vermillion Ranch Limited Partnership is a fifth generation family-owned and operated open range livestock production business. Since 1885, Vermillion Ranch has continuously been in the business, clearly reflecting the sustainability (both economically and environmentally) of the operation. Throughout all of the economic fluctuations of these years, the Ranch has produced food for our society from rangelands that retain the healthy native plant communities that evolved on these lands. T. Wright is a founding board member of Partners for Western Conservation national non-profit seeking to play the role of implementing ecosystem services and facilitating them between landowners who can provide those services and those who need to offset their impact-the oil and gas industry, homebuilders, and large corporations.