FREE WEBINAR with Tera Johnson and Ryan Anderson
Monday, August 10, 1-2PM Central
Zoom Webinar
Learn how project financing can support food and agriculture infrastructure projects, including RFSI-funded opportunities, and how you can get help with complex capital-raising strategies.
Join FFI for a free webinar exploring project finance, a specialized financing approach designed for asset-heavy projects and particularly relevant to food and agriculture businesses pursuing opportunities such as USDA Regional Food System Infrastructure (RFSI) grants.
In this conversation, Ryan Anderson, Chief Operating Officer at Steward, and Tera Johnson, FFI’s Innovative Finance Expert, will discuss how project finance differs from traditional business lending, how it is used to fund supply chain infrastructure projects, and what consultants should know when advising clients on complex capital stacks.
This webinar will help food and farm consultants better understand the opportunities and challenges of financing large-scale projects and supporting clients through capital-raising efforts.
This webinar is free and open to food and farm consultants, technical assistance providers, lenders, and food system professionals.
About Our Speakers
Ryan Anderson is the Chief Operating Officer at Steward, a private lender providing regenerative farmers and food system businesses the capital they need to grow. From 2011-2018 he owned and operated ACRE, an urban farm in Detroit, where he also founded the Corktown Farmers’ Market to exclusively feature local producers.
Ryan has previously held senior roles in progressive politics and government. A former Chief of Staff in the U.S. House of Representatives, he consulted on Congressional, State and National political campaigns and represented national grassroots organizations on the Hill advocating for a more progressive foreign policy. A native of Kansas, Ryan graduate from The George Washington University and currently lives in San Francisco, CA with his husband Nic.
Tera Johnson is a serial entrepreneur and innovator focused on building the next generation of environmentally and economically resilient food and farming businesses. As the founder of teraswhey®, the Food Finance Institute, and the Edible-Alpha® podcast, she brings firsthand experience in starting, scaling, and exiting a nationally recognized food brand and translating those lessons into tools and insights for other entrepreneurs.
Tera founded Wisconsin Specialty Protein and launched the teraswhey® brand, growing it into a leading national natural foods product line. She raised $14 million in capital prior to generating revenue, built a complex and diversified capital stack, and ultimately sold her company to a publicly traded firm. Her experience navigating early-stage financing, rapid growth, and exit strategy informs her work supporting entrepreneurs across the food and agriculture sectors.
Through the Food Finance Institute, Tera has developed frameworks, tools, and educational programming that help food and farm businesses understand financial strategy, align capital with growth, and make informed decisions. Her work focuses on demystifying business growth and capital access by translating financial complexity into practical, actionable guidance grounded in real-world experience.