Jelmer van de Mortel

Jelmer van de Mortel is the Head of Acorn, an innovative program at Rabobank that focuses on carbon storage and trading to benefit smallholder farmers in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.12 He leads this initiative with the goal of improving the quality of life for these farmers through sustainable farming practices and new revenue models.1

Prior to his role at Rabobank, van de Mortel worked for the World Food Programme in Tanzania, where he developed an affinity for farmers in developing countries.1 He then worked as a strategy consultant, primarily focusing on financial services and innovation.1 His last assignment before joining Rabobank was writing the bank's International Innovation Strategy.1

Van de Mortel joined Rabobank in early 2020 to coordinate and accelerate several innovation projects, with Project Acorn being one of them.1 He holds a Master of Science in International Business Finance from Maastricht University, which he completed with distinction between 2005 and 2010.3

Under van de Mortel's leadership, Project Acorn aims to work with 20 million smallholder farmers by 2030, focusing on those who cultivate less than 10 hectares of land in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.1 The project involves collaboration with various partners, including Microsoft, to build a platform for registering biomass measurements and calculating stored carbon.1