Good morning,
If you are anything like me, your inbox will be bursting with emails about Earth Week, the virtual climate summit and how we could be doing better this week.
Instead of more finger wagging, we’d like to invite you to put the kettle on and indulge in a little regenerative agriculture conversation.
One of the big problems agriculture faces when thinking about its impact on climate change is that conventional farming promotes tillage because it is a wonderful way to quickly improve the soil structure for growing things.
Unfortunately, tillage giveth with one hand and tillage taketh with the other - by cutting up and turning over the soil, microbial and insect life is damaged and locked-up carbon in organic matter is released into the atmosphere -contributing to climate change in a pretty devastating way.
As organic matter diminishes, soil life and soil structure deteriorate resulting in
lower yields and greater risk of erosion. And the vicious cycle means farmers rely even more on the very thing that has caused the problem.
At the current rate of loss, some predict we are only 30-40 years away from being able to grow much food at all.
Thankfully, many farmers are already evolving their approach and
regenerative agriculture - farming to revive, restore and replenish - is
finally moving mainstream. The good news is regenerative agriculture can
actually take carbon out of the atmosphere and put it back in our soil.
It also appears to produce more nutritious and delicious food, whilst increasing biodiversity, giving us something to celebrate.
For those wanting to learn more, I have compiled some things to
enjoy below. We always welcome conversation on the farm - call us, email us
or come and say hello at our weekly farm produce collections.
Things to watch…
Kiss the Ground, documentary on Netflix
What is regenerative agriculture - YouTube video outlining the 5 key principles
Gabe Brown’s TED talk
Richard Perkins on how regenerative agriculture works
George the Poet - Seeds of Hope
Things to read…
Can regenerative agriculture help save the planet? A Farmdrop blog post
Gabe Brown’s Dirt To Soil book
How To Be A Conscious Eater, by Sophie Egan
Sitopia: How Food Can Save the World, by Carolyn Steel
Things to do…
Greening Steyning’s next book club - What We Need To Do Now by Chris Goodall
Plant trees with Ecologi
Listen to a podcast on recylcing and how it actually works
Things to eat…
Hodmedods - British Grown Grain
28 Well Hung - South London regenerative restaurant
Duchess Farm - oils and grains
Cull Yaw from Matt Chatfield
Shrub Provisions, who source local, seasonal and regenerative veg for their veg boxes
Riverford for their organic veg and compostable packaging
