Ethical investment is always a bit of a dilemma. Everyone wants to do it - if it doesn't cost too much.
Sometimes ethical entrepreneurs are more idealistic than competent, sometimes the product is unavoidably more expensive, and it just doesn't fly.
But sometimes you just have to be patient and hang in there.
That, in hindsight, is what the Punter should have done with his shares in the WA start up, Wide Open Agriculture (ASX code WOA).
When he sold them at 10c each last October he had lost half his investment and his holding was in danger of becoming too small to sell. Selling made sense at the time.
The shares have risen since the company said it is getting into the hemp business, the industrial variety, which produces fibre for clothing and edible, high-protein seeds and oil. They are a long way from selling any.
In fact sales revenue in the latest three months across all their products was zero. Nil. Zilch.
They tried to raise $176,000 by selling options to their shareholders at 1c each, but only pulled in $56,000.
That doesn't inspire quick-buck boyos like the Punter, but he has now bought 15,000 WOA at 15c each, for two reasons.
First, WOA will start selling its organic fresh and shelf-stable food under its own brand next month, and market testing has apparently been positive.
Secondly, it teamed up late last year with Blackwood Valley Beef and is looking at larger scale rotational grazing, improving soil health, and developing organic beef and lamb products.
In the long term, it is looking to build a portfolio of owned or managed farms, with an emphasis on soil carbon, promoting biodiversity and careful use of water.
Meanwhile the Punter's shares in infant formula company Bubs (BUB) have doubled, and he has sold half.
- The Punter has no financial qualifications and no links to the financial services industry. He owns shares in a number of companies featured in this column.