I am a Managing Director at Proterra Investment Partners, an alternative investment firm based in the Twin Cities focused on the natural resource sectors of agriculture, food, and metals and mining. My firm spun out of Black River Asset Management (formerly a subsidiary of Cargill) in 2016 and we’ve got over 60 employees in 7 different offices around the world. I am one of the leaders of our credit strategy at Proterra - a private debt strategy that offers financing to middle-market agribusiness customers in North America. We finance firms throughout the ag value chain including first-stage and value-add processors, integrated producers and other companies seeking to meet the evolving needs of today’s consumer. We generally invest between $10 million and $50 million in junior capital per credit and our loan proceeds are being used for acquisitions, plant expansions, recapitalizations and even greenfield development. While the private debt space has seen significant inflows of capital over the past decade, our strategy is a niche one – our investment professionals are experts in the sector and our focus on food and agribusiness is a narrow one. We look to work with both sponsored (private-equity owned) and non-sponsored (e.g.