Event Information

We are pleased to announce that the next Cracking the Nut conference will take place in June 2023, in Washington DC.

Cracking the Nut 2023: Reducing Risk in Rural and Agricultural Investment is a two-day learning event and two-day Anti-Fragile Market Systems training on June 12-13 and June 14-15, respectively. The conference will explore the opportunities for finance to drive supply chains and trade, the needs of informal enterprises and an enabling business advisory ecosystem. The 2023 conference will focus on three tracks:

1. Reducing risks associated with rural and agricultural investments
2. Using subsidies and blending commercial capital to achieve development impacts
3. Integrating underserved populations into commercial markets

Cracking the Nut 2023 will provide a demand‐driven, collaborative learning space where participants share experiences and best practices on innovative approaches to reducing risks and supporting rural and agricultural development, while stimulating and incentivizing private sector investment.

Recently, it has become increasingly obvious that there is too much risk involved in financing rural and agricultural development to attract sufficient commercial investment and that development assistance is needed to facilitate finance, especially to agribusinesses, in developing countries. Without investing in farmers, the world will continue to experience food shortages, price hikes and food insecurity. This learning event will discuss what are appropriate ways to support rural and agricultural development in developing countries without damaging commercial markets. We will explore the opportunities for finance to drive supply chains and trade, the needs of informal enterprises (i.e. the hidden middle) and an enabling business advisory ecosystem, as well as how green finance and informal financial institutions can support farmers to be effective stewards of climate change.

Connexus Corporation is working with ISF Advisors to organize a two-day conference, which will review the recommendations put forward in their 2022 CASA1 publication, “The state of the agri-SME sector; Bridging the Finance Gap” and begin to fill in the knowledge gaps needed to ensure these approaches are viable and will stimulate natural market mechanisms. This topic is particularly important given the negative impacts of climate change in countries and assumes all agricultural development efforts must be climate smart. By addressing this important topic, this event will convene leading experts in rural enterprise development, sustainable agriculture, finance, and investment, including representatives from the private sector, governments, donors, and development implementers. As always, the conference has engaged an Advisory Committee, including agents of change in rural and agricultural development, finance and investment, who are helping us to identify interesting speakers and participate in a competitive selection of presenters for break‐out sessions.