Russ Carrington, manager of Knepp Regenerative Farms, shares how and why one of the most well-known rewilding examples in the world has recently started a regenerative farming enterprise.
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Russ Carrington believes that regenerative farming is greater than the sum of its parts and the approach can not only heal previous ecological damage, but also increase the land’s overall fertility and productivity. Together, we deep dive into the regenerative farming side of the business in Knepp Regenerative Farms.
Connecting Rewilding and Regenerative Agriculture
Physical infrastructure in the landscape prevents estates to become a part of the rewilding. Knepp Regenerative Farms links together rewilding and regenerative agriculture through managing their food producing lands to create nature corridors that will connect the space between wildlife creatures to natural environments.
“What we are doing at Knepp is showing how neighboring parcels of land under very different management regimes can relate to one another for nature recovery on a landscape scale.” – Russ Carrington
Moving into Regenerative Agriculture
Knepp Regenerative Farms decided to transition into regenerative agriculture. The discussions heightened as more people have been inspired to rewild. Rewilding needs to be balanced with food production and how it can be managed to feed people.
“I am privileged to be able to help bring this together in a suitable way. There is a bigger conversation around the role that rewilding plays in the landscape, in farming, and food production.” – Russ Carrington
Involving Brexit
Farmers have been a part of their conversations and they are becoming more receptive to the idea of rewilding and making space for nature in their farms. With Brexit, the direction of travel in farming is around how land managers are able to provide ecosystem and public goods for society. Knepp Regenerative Farms aligns themselves to work towards this direction so that as the new policy is released, they will be ready for the changes the future may bring.
“This is also the direction in which future agriculture policy in the UK is moving. With leaving the European union, we are moving on to the common agricultural policy, developing our own domestic agriculture policy.” – Russ Carrington
The Key for Landscape Regeneration
According to Russ, farmers are the best people to lead the change for landscape regeneration and we should invest in equipping farmers with knowledge that can also be shared with their co-farmers. If farmers are better connected, farms can then better deliver through production benefits to nature and also profitability for the businesses.
“It’s crucial to help farmers and key land managers to learn how be better at leading their businesses, then society will benefit from that investment. That’s where that return will come. I would like to see more investment in farmer knowledge and assistance with mindset and mindset change. That is where the real solutions lie, I believe.” – Russ Carrington
Other Important Points Discussed
Koen and Russ discussed these points in this episode:
- What Russ would do if she were in charge of a one billion dollar investment portfolio tomorrow morning?
- What Russ would do if he was given a magic wand that could change one thing overnight in the agriculture and food space
- What Russ believes to be true about regenerative agriculture that others don’t believe to be true? Inspired by John Kempf
To know more about Russ Carrington and Knepp Regenerative Farms, download and listen to this episode.
Bio:
Previous General Manager of the Pasture-Fed Livestock Association, Russ Carrington has been working with regenerative livestock farmers for the past 10 years. Russ brings a wealth of knowledge and experience on transitioning to regenerative agriculture and is connected with a vast network of like-minded farmers and contacts from around the world. Russ grew up on his family’s farm in Herefordshire and studies Civil Engineering at Cardiff University.
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The above references an opinion and is for information and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.
Nicely done.
Thank you Carrie!