6.3.1 Value Return

To provide a single-bottom-line return on capital invested is the primary driving force behind investors operating under the Value Return paradigm. In comparison to “getting more back than I put in,” ideally 10-1000 times more, the means of acquiring this return and the impacts that are produced, the way the return is gained, are insignificant.

A similar motivation is frequently the monetary enrichment of a person, business, or entity (including governments). Food companies or agribusinesses are frequently attractive investment opportunities for Value Return paradigm-based investors who aren’t even keen on food or agriculture per se because of the high financial returns on capital that can be realized by capturing the value of land, laborers, and life forms.

Investors and funds who engage in value return strategies frequently concentrate on a specific stage of the greater value-adding stream that generates, processes, productsizes, packages, and distributes food. Agricultural land with foreseeable high-yielding crops is purchased by farmland funds. Investors in the natural products sector search for new food categories, exceptional flavors, and chances for quick scale-up and acquisition. Assuming that stronger market forces will resolve these issues, entities that draw their thinking from this paradigm frequently overlook worries about the negative effects of their investments in favor of concentrating on their own financial benefit rather than the associated externalities.