COP28: Patrick Holden

"The SMI has created these new introductions between sectors that never normally work together. New relationships have been formed and the relationship between nature and climate has been explored."

Patrick Holden, Founder & CEO of the Sustainable Food Trust, is part of the Sustainable Markets Initiative's Agribusiness Task Force, and has seen first-hand the benefits of collaboration across industries and between the public and private sector.

As an organic dairy farmer, he is keenly aware of the relationship between agriculture and nature, and has been at the forefront of campaigns to make regenerative agriculture the focus of our efforts to restore degraded ecosystems. For many years, farmers have been incentivised to adopt an extractive relationship with nature. Now policy-makers have the chance to encourage farmers to pursue more nature-friendly practices, while businesses can work with their suppliers and competitors to create a nature-friendly global food system.