Farmer || Sustainability Investor || Food advocate
Raised on one of Italy’s first organic farm in Friuli Venezia Giulia, I have lived in Paris for seven years and created the responsible investment and sustainability strategy of one of the biggest European investment firm. In 2018 I took over my family’s organic farm to transform it in a real-sized sandbox for regenerative agriculture, entrepreneurship and impact, and I became Investment Partner of an Impact Investment funds focused on sustainable agri-food companies.
One of my greatest passions is food. Having spent my childhood in an organic farm, I ate - and cooked - fresh fruits and vegetables directly from the ground. I learned about biodiversity and that soil is an ecosystem, our most precious gift, and that it requires a tremendous amount of respect.
My family’s farm is the source of my personal inspiration and investment, not only food-wise, but more broadly, in favor of Nature and Sustainability. I believe that "eating is an agricultural act," It goes beyond the simple ingredients and transcends through the scales of sustainability. Food is also deeply linked to power, from a micro to a global scale impact, by the simple choice of purchasing a product from the shelf of a supermarket to a locavore app.
In 2017 I decided to quit my job in Paris and to found Fork Power (www.forkpower.org), with the mission of raising awareness on how to redesign the food system in a more sustainable way. Fork Power is the ecosystem of those who lead by example to change the food sector: they are pioneers amongst chefs, entrepreneurs, investors, food critics, influencers, farmers, food-tech companies, etc. Fork Power then became also a consultancy firm focused on helping investors, entrepreneurs, chefs to build innovative projects and rethink strategies around sustainable food, impact investing and sustainability.
Then, i decided to walk the talk and put the Fork Power into practice.
In 2018, I took over my family’s organic farm in Italy, L’Orto Felice, where it all began, to make it a real size sandbox for sustainable food production, regenerative agriculture, social impact and entrepreneurship. Because storytelling is powerful, but doing things for real enables to create replicable models and spreadable methodologies!
To bridge sustainable food and positive investments has always been on top of my agenda since the creation of Fork Power: in 2018 I joined the Milan-based Garnell SGR as Investment Partner. Garnell Agrifood One is an impact investment funds that focuses on sustainable agrifood companies in Italy, in partnership with the Slow Food organization.
Finally, at the end of 2018 I joined the Investment Committee of the Paris-based Weinberg Capital Partners’ first Impact Investment funds.
I am deeply convinced that food is THE essential issue to work on in our era. The momentum is here: the challenge of a growing population, environmental impacts, resource scarcity, consumers’ activism, biodiversity, social bonds, tradition and innovation, art of living and flavour. There is no other theme capable of grasping such a huge variety of fields.