Zero Foodprint Asia (ZFPA) is a global non-profit organization working to raise funds to scale regenerative agriculture in the region. Regenerative agriculture's primary focus is on improving soil health, increasing biodiversity, and supporting farmers to produce more nutritious crops; all the while helping turn bad atmospheric carbon into good soil carbon via photosynthesis.
ZFPA started in a city with the highest number of restaurants per capita in the world, Hong Kong. Since HK relies heavily on the convenience of takeaway and dining out, ZFPA began to catalyze on the existing consumption culture to fund solutions designed to immediately help combat climate change. The organization aims to create a “new normal” by mobilizing restaurants to directly support improvements in the food system through just 1% of each customer’s bill. In its 18 months, ZFPA raised over HKD 2.6 million via 70 restaurant partners and supporters, enabling them to help fund 10 farming and nutrient cycling projects across HK, GBA and Bali.
Since the start of the local projects 6 months ago, all five farms have reported noticing more beneficial living organisms in the soil, less pests, crops becoming more resilient to extreme weather, and most importantly, their flavour has improved!
ZFPA launched “Adopt a Farm” (AAF) to facilitate a mutual exchange of knowledge, promote buying and eating locally as well as improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. As a result of AAF, the “Crops-to-Shops” side program was born. Between December 2021 to May 2022, approximately 1400 kg of local organic produce were delivered direct from 7 farms to over 15 restaurants. The program paved the way for producers, suppliers, logistics personnel and buyers to engage in the food value chain collectively. Farms funded by ZFPA not only garners the financial incentives to adopt regenerative practices, but they also have the opportunity to sell their produce directly to restaurants and retail buyers through this programme.
Local regeneration requires a healthy local consumerism market, equipped with the knowledge to decipher between food that continues to deplete nature, and food grown with our ecosystems health in mind. Through ZFPA’s crowd-funded grants, the organization is working on making renewable farming possible.
 
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