Managing Risk in a Time of Uncertainty

Managing Risk in a Time of Uncertainty brings together two nationally recognized leaders in food and farm business strategy—Tera Johnson and Eric DeLuca—for a timely conversation on how today’s geopolitical and economic landscape is impacting the food and agriculture sector. Participants will come away with strategies being used by food and farm businesses to address challenges.

From global conflicts and supply chain disruptions to inflation, tariffs, and shifting policy environments, food and farm businesses are facing unprecedented layers of uncertainty. In an informal conversation, Tera and Eric will explore how these pressures are impacting the food and farm ecosystem, and what organizations are doing to adapt.

Tera Johnson, Founder and Innovative Finance Expert at FFI, is a serial entrepreneur whose mission is to create the next generation of environmentally and economically resilient food and farming businesses. The founder of teraswhey^®, the Food Finance Institute, and the Edible-Alpha® podcast, Tera has personal experience in being an entrepreneur, raising money, launching a national brand and selling a company. Tera personally raised $14M before her company had any sales, built a diverse capital stack, and ultimately sold her business to a public company. In her work with food and farm entrepreneurs, she focuses on demystifying business growth by offering practical guidance and expert-driven insights. Recipient of the UW-Extension Chancellor’s 2017 Wisconsin Idea Award, Tera is a frequent speaker, teacher and financial consultant to sustainable food and farming businesses, communities and economic development organizations, as well as social venture funds and investors. She holds an MS in Applied Economics from UW-Madison.

Eric DeLuca, Food Systems Expert-in-Residence at FFI, has engaged in over $10 million in funding decisions benefiting working lands enterprises since 2010 and serves on the national Food Systems Finance Advisory Council of the Council of Development Finance Agencies. He serves on the Board of Hanover Consumer Cooperative Society, DBA Co-op Food Stores.He curates the Financing for Farmland Access Priority Strategy Team in the VT Farm to Plate Network. From 2016-2021, he served as vice-chair of the Vermont Working Lands Enterprise Board. For three years he led the Slow Money VT network catalyzing impact investment in the food system asset class. He co-founded the University of Vermont Food Hub Management Professional Certificate program, the first of its kind in the country. Eric managed the U.S. Program for the UN-declared International Year of Cooperatives. He guided the development of the Neighboring Food Co-op Association—now a network of over 35 food co-ops in New England and NY State with $90 million sales of local products annually.