Carl Jensen

Good Nature Agro

Big Idea: 

Why we chose Carl as a Fellow

Carl is a farmer. By getting his hands dirty with farmers around the globe -- from his family's wheat farm in Idaho to the small-scale maize fields of Zambia and many countries in between -- Carl saw that farmers everywhere are asking for the same things: inputs, training, finance, new technologies, and access to fair and transparent markets. After spending time as a teacher in Cambodia, and later with D-Labs of MIT and UC Davis, Carl came to believe that growing human capital is the key to translating short-term change into lasting impact.

In Zambia, small-scale farmers are producing one-fifth as much per hectare as their commercial farmer neighbors. With limited access to training and technologies, farmers lose 20% of their yields post-harvest. Good Nature Agro turns farmers into entrepreneurial agents delivering training, technology, loans, and markets to their fellow farmers. Good Nature Agro helps these smallholder farmers generate lasting income through a focus on education and access to goods and markets, leading them to triple their yields.

Rainer Arnhold Fellows