Low-income people in the U.S. and abroad face similar challenges: access to credit, housing, jobs, and critical services including health and education. Today, those who work on international economic development and community development hardly know each other. Agricultural businesses in developing countries offer an opportunity for market-based economic development that creates benefits throughout global value chains. Supporting the stability and growth of such businesses fosters economic prosperity and job creation in places where poverty is endemic. Further, it addresses key economic and social issues that affect the everyday lives of people in the United States, including immigration, drug production, post-conflict reconstruction, and supply chain stability. Seventy-five percent of the world’s poor live in rural areas and depend on agriculture as their primary source of income. Given the World Bank’s estimate that economic growth in the agricultural sector is twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth in other sectors of the economy, strengthening agricultural value chains may be among the most effective ways to address global poverty. Agricultural cooperatives and private enterprises represent farmer suppliers at the base of many global value chains. A growing number of these enterprises produce and process high-value crops such as premium coffee and cocoa, vegetables, and nuts that have a growing market in North America and Europe. However, despite having quality products with established markets, most of these enterprises lack the financing to invest in inputs such as seeds and fertilizer, purchase raw material, and build processing facilities, warehouses, or other value-adding infrastructure. In the United States, a variety of government programs, many of which are driven by legislation such as the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), addresses gaps in rural and other underserved financial markets directly or indirectly through private sector engagement. The U.S. farm credit system provided $152 billion in financing to agricultural small businesses in 2009.3 Since the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund’s inception in 1994, it has provided more than $1 billion to community development organizations and financial institutions, while more than 1,000 CDFIs lend billions of dollars to underserved markets in the United States. The investment and stewardship landscape has changed significantly over the last decade and this change has only accelerated in recent years, for instance with the rise of ‘ESG investing’ and significant changes in capital allocation away from listed equities. At the same time, we have seen an increased focus on the roles and responsibilities of investors as stewards. As broader societal trends, such as digitisation, have connected savers with their investments; the role of the investor has become subject to more visible public scrutiny. We have seen deeper scrutiny of stewardship responsibilities in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and in response to a number of high-profile corporate failures. Regulators and other stakeholders have recognised the important role that stewardship can play in promoting well-functioning markets and in turn increased their expectations of investors living up to their stewardship responsibilities.

Investors have continued to evolve their approach to stewardship in response to new challenges, such as the coronavirus pandemic and the risks posed by climate change; but there is increasing recognition that they could go further and that a wider range of market participants need to recognise their role in stewardship. Investors need to make the most of their rights and responsibilities to promote long-term value across the economy. The United States is structured by class and racism but now it is time to invest in ourselves and our futures by demanding MOOR.

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