A walking the land episode with Sarah Hellebek, deputy head at Krogerup Højskole, who spent years at the heart of Denmark’s climate activist movement. By most measures, she was successful, climate made it onto the political agenda, though never strongly enough. But the fight came with a cost: it also made her pretty depressed, she was in our own words mostly shouting in front of the Parliament.
Until a tour visiting progressive Danish farmers exposed her to the world of regeneration and she dove right into it. After spending a lot of time on different farms she noticed the need to train the next generation, as the current ag school system in Denmark (and everywhere else for that matter) doesn’t prepare you to run farms and embrace complexity. So she started her own school, outside the free super subsidied Danish school system and it took off.
We talk about why the next generation of farmers has to be trained by practitioners not teachers and why your holistic context is so important and pretty scary to dive into that in week 1 of your education; and why the students need to work full time on regenerative farms throughout the country and bring that knowledge back into the lessons classroom (which of course is on a farm). Like this, the teaching is done with real case studies of the top regenerative farms through out Denmark. Bye bye outdated text books. This is cutting edge.
She felt she had to get some dirt under her nails and set up a market garden which hosts a lot of activities. We end with some very concrete calls to action and, of course, a mini deep dive into our role as positive key stone species.
TRANSITION FROM CLIMATE ACTIVISM TO REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE
Sarah explains her shift from protesting at parliament to working with regenerative farming after witnessing the life and humility in agricultural ecosystems.
“I’ve spent a lot of years screaming in front of the parliament in Denmark. And then when I got out to the countryside and people started talking about plants and the living soil and animals in harmony and the circles of life out here, I had to shut up.” Sarah Hellebek
STARTING A SCHOOL OUTSIDE THE FORMAL EDUCATION SYSTEM
Frustrated by conventional agricultural education’s failure to prepare students for regenerative farming’s complexity, Sarah took radical action. She co-founded the Regenerative Farming School outside Denmark’s subsidized educational system, creating a revolutionary model where students split their time between hands-on farm work and collaborative learning sessions.
“We founded the regenerative farming school. So, a new school or educational initiative is established outside the school system. And in Denmark, that’s quite radical actually… because we wanted to have as many young people as possible to attend the school… who really want to enter farming but who don’t see the formal education system as a way for them.” Sarah Hellebek
FARMERS TRAINED BY PRACTITIONERS, NOT TEACHERS
Sarah emphasises the necessity of farmers teaching students to ensure relevant, real-world knowledge sharing: a practitioner-led school is needed to address gaps in conventional agricultural education and empower new farmers. The school’s secret? Every teacher is a practicing farmer, bringing cutting-edge techniques directly from field to classroom.
“What is also characteristic for the school is that it’s only practitioners who are teaching at the school… they can always bring the new knowledge, so they are actually doing a lot more interesting research than what they conduct at the universities.” Sarah Hellebek
INTEGRATING FARM WORK WITH CLASSROOM LEARNING
Students begin with holistic management framework, confronting their values and purpose before diving into production methods. This challenging but transformative approach helps them navigate complexity while defining success on their own terms. With 16-18 students annually and growing demand, the school demonstrates hunger for this practical, values-based education.
Sarah explains the school model where students gain hands-on experience on farms and bring practical insights back to collaborative learning sessions.
“The students… are going back to the school to get some theoretical, new inspiration, but also to share their practices from the farm with the other students. […] this is where you are doing the knowledge sharing from the most progressive farms across Denmark.” Sarah Hellebek
Sarah’s journey led her to co-found a market garden serving as both productive farm and community hub. Here, she puts regenerative principles into practice while hosting dinners and educational events that reconnect people with their food. Through these experiences, Sarah challenges the notion that humanity is inherently destructive, believing instead that we can become a positive keystone species by redefining our relationship with ecosystems.
OTHER POINTS DISCUSSED
Koen and Sarah also talked about:
- What she would do with 1b
- Why the inner regen journey is so important
- Why she makes the students of the farming school work on their holistic context in the first week
- Why we need to take our role as key stone species seriously
LINKS:
LINKED INTERVIEWS:
- Thomas Hogenhaven – A regenerative investment fund for the most disruptive entrepreneurs
- Anthony James – Learning from the legends how to become a positive keystone species
- Frederik Lean Hansen – Double-purpose chickens and the regen dating agency matching landowners with land seekers
- Eduard Müller – Regenerative education is the answer, whatever the question was
- Birker, Bösel, Mazzola – The Regenerative Agronomy Gap: who do farmers call?
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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.