Rob Moniak, Managing Director, Food4Impact Fund

When I first started working with agricultural financing, I was surprised not only by the differences between countries, but also by how differently financial infrastructure can adapt to the realities of agribusiness. Agriculture is characterized by seasonality, weather risks, market volatility, logistical constraints, and slow production cycles. In our experience, the most effective economic systems do not attempt to eliminate agricultural risks, but rather manage and distribute them through guarantee mechanisms, co-financing structures, and public-private partnerships that allow private capital to participate in financing agribusiness on a large scale.

It was with this logic in mind that Food4Impact (F4i) was created at the end of 2025—a €158 million investment project that provides long-term and flexible financing to Ukrainian agribusinesses and food companies with the support of the European Commission. Its goal is not to replace the banking sector, but to complement the financial ecosystem by working with risks and investment horizons that often fall outside the scope of traditional lending.

The European model: from subsidies to a financial ecosystem

In the European Union, agricultural financing has been shaped as an integrated ecosystem for decades. The EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget for 2021-2027 is €387 billion.

These funds are not limited to subsidies and direct payments to farmers – financing combines direct support with investment programs, guarantees, and long-term capital for modernization.

In turn, the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF), which operates within the EU CAP budget, not only performs a stabilizing function in terms of ongoing support for farmers, but also creates incentives for the introduction of more sustainable and competitive practices. At the same time, institutions such as the European Investment Bank play an important role in financing small and medium-sized enterprises, developing processing, green investments, and initiatives to improve climate resilience.

The risk-sharing mechanisms embedded in European agricultural financing principles help create a more predictable environment in which banks and private investors are more willing to invest in agribusiness.

Lessons from the US – how credit guarantees expand markets

A similar logic can be observed in the US. State-supported credit guarantee programs, particularly those administered by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), are designed not to replace commercial banks, but to expand their capacity and willingness to finance agricultural production and exports. One example is the GSM-102 program. Its goal is not to replace commercial banks, but to create conditions under which they are willing to lend more actively to the agricultural sector in order to expand their presence in third-country markets.

By assuming part of the risk, such programs contribute to the deepening of capital markets and the mobilization of private investment, which without this mechanism might not be fully realized. Elements of this model are increasingly influencing European and international support mechanisms relevant to Ukraine.

Ukraine – accelerated transition to investment logic

Despite extremely difficult conditions, Ukraine is currently moving towards a more investment-oriented financing model. Although the agricultural sector is already deeply integrated into European markets in terms of trade and standards, financial integration is also gaining momentum.

The central mechanism is the Ukraine Investment Framework within the Ukraine Facility program, which uses guarantees and blended finance instruments to mobilize private capital.

For agribusiness, this means a gradual transition from grants and soft loans as the main instruments to portfolio guarantees, co-financing, and partnerships with banks and specialized funds.

In 2024, the EU and the World Bank launched a partial credit guarantee program for small farmers within the EU4Business initiative, linked to the State Agrarian Register. This is a typical European approach — not to replace financial institutions, but to help them scale up lending to the agricultural sector.

At the same time, a sustainable agri-finance ecosystem cannot rely solely on bank lending. Specialized investment platforms play a complementary role by taking on longer risk horizons, using flexible capital structures, and supporting projects that do not always fit traditional lending models.

The aforementioned Food4Impact fund operates within this logic, focusing on small and medium-sized agri-food companies, especially in regions where investments create a significant multiplier effect through the development of processing, local value chains, and employment.

Attracting financing – speaking the language of agriculture

In summary, the EU and the US are offering Ukraine not individual financial recipes, but a model in which agricultural financing works as an infrastructure for economic development. It is a combination of private capital, state guarantees, international financial institutions, and specialized investment instruments.

Ultimately, agriculture attracts stable financing when “finance speaks the language of agriculture” — understanding production cycles, volatility, working capital dynamics, and supply chain realities. The EU and the US have been developing such systems for decades. Ukraine is creating its own architecture at an unprecedented pace, despite the conditions of wartime.

If this trend continues, it could become not only a tool for recovery, but also a solid foundation for long-term competitiveness and a stable inflow of private capital into Ukraine's agri-food sector.