2 min read
The regenerative agriculture movement is gathering pace – and there is no better place to witness that than at Groundswell. Held last month under sunny skies in the English countryside, the UK’s annual regenerative farming festival – sometimes called the Glastonbury of farming – is a forum for farmers and anyone interested in food production, to learn about this approach.
The method, which prioritises restoring the health of soils and farming with nature, while moving away from chemical-heavy, industrial farming, is now being cited as a priority by the UK government. Household brands such as Waitrose, Yeo Valley Organic and Unilever are also getting on board, but the concept remains low in the public consciousness. One study by thinktank Demos, for example, found that 70% of the UK public is not familiar with the term. This is despite evidence that suggests that the proportion of farmers integrating it is high: one survey by Barclays, for instance, found that 80% of farmers have adopted or are planning to adopt regenerative farming methods.
So, what is happening behind the scenes to bring regeneratively grown food to more mouths? And what do experts see as key pain points to address as the movement scales?
Here are three things we learned at Groundswell.
