Koen

Laura Ortiz Montemayor – Ecology without social justice is just gardening

10th December 2024 koenvanseijen Regenerative Agriculture, Transition finance 0 Comments

A conversation with Laura Ortiz Montemayor, Chief Purpose Officer and co-founder of SVX Mexico, and managing partner at Regenera Ventures Fund, covering the global nature of regeneration exploring what has been happening in Mexico and the rest of the Spanish-speaking countries in LATAM. They hold the key to many of our biodiversity challenges, and many tropical or subtropical commodities are farmed there. What has Laura learnt since the last time we spoke three years ago? Why did she decide to start a $20 million fund focused on rural Mexico and the regenerative transition?

Inspired by thinkers like John Fullerton and Carol Sanford, Laura champions soil health and living systems thinking, reframing biodiversity as a critical asset rather than a charity case and critiques profit-driven economic models that overlook natural and social resources, advocating for a shift towards valuing ecosystems’ inherent richness. Highlighting Latin America’s role in climate resilience, we discuss indigenous wisdom, regional nuances, and innovative finance strategies blending social justice with ecology. As plans emerge for a second fund in Mexico and Colombia, Laura calls for bold investment in nature-based solutions to rejuvenate food systems and biodiversity.

Philipp Stangl – Why an award winning hybrid blended regen meat company decided to exit before becoming a ‘unicorn’

6th December 2024 koenvanseijen Diet Change, Nutrient Dense Food, Regenerative Agriculture, Role of corporations 0 Comments

A check-in conversation with Philipp Stangl, co-founder of Rebel Meat (now Rebel Kids), a company we featured earlier working on hybrid blended meat. The story isn’t over, but definitely didn’t develop as we discussed more than 3 years ago.

Let’s all talk much more about changed plans and pivots and companies not being overnight unicorn successes. The founders of companies, in general, have to be very optimistic and visionary people. They need to convince people to join their crazy ideas and people to partner with them and invest in their vision. But things don’t always go as planned; actually, usually they don’t go as planned. But we hardly talk about that. We as society mostly cover the beginning of a story where everything still seems possible or the end where exits or big successes happen.

Ian McSweeney and Kristina Villa – You can’t address food security, soil carbon sequestration or climate change without first tackling the crisis of land access

3rd December 2024 koenvanseijen Ownership, Regenerative Agriculture 0 Comments

Why land tenure and security are key to the future of food. We’ve touched on the massive issues of land tenure, access, and security on the podcast before, but never enough. In many regions, land prices have been rising steadily for the past 50–100 years, becoming entirely disconnected from the land’s productive value—especially for those wanting to farm using regenerative agroecology. This has made land increasingly inaccessible for the next generation of farmers.

Exacerbating the problem is the aging farmer population. In the U.S., the average age of farmers is 62, which means most are nearing retirement. What happens next?

With Ian McSweeney and Kristina Villa, co-founders of The Farmers Land Trust , we focus on first-generation pioneering organic and biodynamic farmers who plan to retire soon. Many have spent their lives building successful small businesses, running community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs, hosting events, providing education, and feeding countless people. Then there’s the next generation—capable farmers who’ve trained extensively, spent years working on others’ farms, and now dream of having their own land. Yet, they can’t afford the inflated market prices.

Marco Carbonara – Using 10 species of animals to profitably regenerate 100 hectares of forgotten Italian land between Rome and Florence

26th November 2024 koenvanseijen Nutrients to Soil, Regenerative Agriculture, Role of Animals, Short Food Webs 0 Comments

A conversation with Marco Carbonara, cofounder, owner and farmer at Pulicaro Farm, in Lazio, Italy. A special early morning walk through permanent pasture surrounded by multispecies graziers, donkeys, cows, sheep, goats, chickens and, of course, some guard dogs, which means a lot of pleasant and present background sounds. We are in the hills between Rome and Florence and have the great pleasure to visit the farm of Marco and Chiara. Marco takes us on the morning walk to feel, smell, and see regeneration of permanent pastures in a Mediterranean landscape. Definitely not easy, but definitely possible, and yes, also profitable.

How did Marco, who had no farming experience 20 years ago, approach regeneration back then, and how does he approach it now? When they take on new lands, what are the first steps, and how much has he learned over the last 20 years? What is the role of animals in regenerating the Mediterranean landscape, and how does he handle the challenging balance between running a company, needing to break even, and wanting to regenerate as quickly as possible?

We also discuss the challenge of feed: is it okay to bring feed for the non-ruminants in your rotation from outside the farm when your soils can’t yet sustain needy plants like wheat, barley, etc.? And if it is, how do you deal with the challenge of potentially competing for human food? We only scratched the surface because it’s impossible to capture 20years of deep regeneration in just one hour, but we tried and we hope you enjoyed listening to it as much as we did recording it.

John Holmyard – Lowest carbon protein aka mussels: it’s food, not a high tech unicorn

22nd November 2024 koenvanseijen Regenerative Aquaculture 0 Comments

A conversation with John Holmyard, founder and managing director of Offshore Shellfish, 21st century mussel farming: guilt-free food that helps regenerate marine biodiversity and captures carbon. We talk about protein. With a growing population, we need more and more of it. So, what is the lowest impact and positive impact protein source we can grow? A deep dive into the largest offshore mussel farm in Europe, where they grow large amounts of mussels by grazing large number of plankton that naturally flows by. And, in case you are wondering, there is so much plankton around because we depleted most of the fish stocks that used to eat a lot of it.

We learn all about how to build the largest mussel farm in the UK and how to deal with regulators who have no idea what shellfish farming even means (they think you hunt mussels in the wild). We explore why mussels are such a potential crop to grow, and they can even restore natural mussel reefs, which used to be present all around the North Sea until we started bottom-trawling. And why are politics fundamental to the business when all of your crop goes fresh to mainland Europe?

Kevin Wolz – Starting an agroforestry industry in the belly of the beast, the soy and corn monoculture heartland of the US Midwest

19th November 2024 koenvanseijen Ecosystem Services Payments, Farmers First Tech, Regenerative Agriculture 0 Comments

A conversation with Kevin Wolz, CEO of Canopy Farm Management and former founder of the Savanna Institute. Canopy provides tree planting and management services to farmers and landowners in the US Midwest. They establish perennial crops, timber plantings, conservation practices, and integrated agroforestry systems.

We have been talking about agroforestry systems and investing before (see link at the bottom of this page!): trees were the answer to whatever your question was. But how do you start an agroforestry industry right in the middle of the belly of the beast, the American Midwest, where corn and soy are everywhere, leases are 1 to 3 years, and there are no trees as far as the eye can see? And especially here, trees are needed, not as magical carbon sequestration tools but as climate adaptation, against erosion, wind breaks, to protect animals and crops, nutrient leaking into streams, and, of course, to produce a lot of food integrated into the fields. What does it take to build an agroforestry industry here? What about finance, equipment, planting, seedlings, tree nursery, harvesting, markets, and much more?

Cindie Christiansen and Analisa Winther – How a first-time non-profit raised almost €1 million to put 50 top regen farmers in the spotlight

12th November 2024 koenvanseijen Farmers First Tech, Regenerative Agriculture 0 Comments

A conversation with Cindie Christiansen and Analisa Winther, founder of Top 50 Farmers, about the narrative around farmers and how it has to change. Less than 12% of farmers in the EU are under 40, and it isn’t seen as “sexy.” The stereotype of a 60-year-old white man on a tractor isn’t helping, and no, driverless tractors are not going to take care of our farming anytime soon. So how do we change that? One way is to put the current trailblazers, the pioneering regenerative farmers, in the spotlight by connecting them with resources and with each other, and yes, even with corporations, to turn this into a real movement and to change the public narrative.

Farming can be at least as sexy— probably more so— as being a chef. Do you remember when chefs weren’t famous and didn’t have book deals or Netflix series? That has drastically changed in the last few decades. We need to do the same with farming and farmers. Great, lofty goals—but how do you go about it? How do you finance something like this? Stay true to yourself and make sure you don’t burn out, which wouldn’t be very regenerative. All things we unpack in this episode.

Andres Jara – Walking the land of market garden De Stadsgroenteboer with a regenerative farmer

5th November 2024 koenvanseijen Nutrient Dense Food, Regenerative Agriculture, Short Food Webs, Walking the Land with a Regenerative Farmer 0 Comments

A new episode of the Walking the Land with a Regenerative Farmer to explore the journey of Andres Jara, a regenerative farmer who has turned a mere 0.4-hectare plot outside Amsterdam into a vibrant market garden De Stadsgroenteboer. Andres shares his innovative farming practices that support an 650 people weekly and how the farm not only thrives on biodiversity, but also champions a unique trust-based market stand model, overcoming challenges like sourcing organic materials from abroad. De Stadsgroenteboer market garden is really pushing the boundaries of what success means financially, quality of life, quality of products, and of course the health of the soil.

Jesús Areso Salinas – Building towers to trigger rain, to help nature sweat and cool

29th October 2024 koenvanseijen Regenerative Agriculture, Water Cycles 0 Comments

A conversation with Jesús Areso Salinas, retired from work as patent examiner at the European Patent Office and now active with his project to fight climate change combining water, katabatic tower and moisture. Another record-breaking summer in the global north, where temperature records were shattered repeatedly, prompts us to ask: is there a sustainable future for places like the Mediterranean? Jesús wondered how does nature cool? and, crucially, could we help nature kickstart the cooling of ambient air?”

Imagine cooling our surroundings during a heatwave—cooling town squares, vegetable gardens, or farms on a small scale. What if, over time, this approach spreads, with more people cooling their surroundings, allowing plants and trees to continue growing through the summer and helping to cool the air? Could this restoration of local cooling contribute to rebalancing water cycles, bringing back summer rains, and even creating a lasting cooling effect? These are big, almost magical questions, and they are exactly why we tackle them here with Jesús, an engineer turned permaculture expert, who is now building towers to help nature “sweat” and cool.

Sure, we could retreat to air-conditioned spaces, but air conditioners only worsen the problem by using energy to move heat from inside to outside without solving anything at its core. And what about plants, trees, and animals? They need a humid, comfortable environment to thrive, yet during hot, dry summers, they’re focused on survival rather than growth—or the cooling process essential to their function. Mediterranean farmers, in particular, take note: during the peak of summer, your plants and trees often stop growing because it’s too hot and dry.

So, how does nature cool itself? Through transpiration, plants and trees release moisture, which cools the surrounding air. However, as heatwaves become stronger, it’s often too hot for them to function, meaning they can neither grow nor cool the air. This lack of cooling is a problem farmers and investors need to understand—especially those in warmer climates, where plants and trees may be unable to photosynthesize or grow for weeks on end. Cooling ambient air is essential, and air conditioning isn’t the answer.

Aaron Huang – How ranching (and eating) of millions of zombie sea urchins could restore the massive kelp forests of the U.S. Pacific West Coast

25th October 2024 koenvanseijen Regenerative Aquaculture 0 Comments

A conversation with Aaron Huang, founder of OoNee Sea Urchin Ranch, to dive into the world of sea urchin ranching and its connections to high-end fish restaurants, many of which fly their sea urchins in from Japan. Over the past decade, a warm water blob off the U.S. West Coast has caused sea urchins to overgraze the kelp forests, leading to a massive population boom of urchins, the collapse of kelp ecosystems, and the rise of countless “zombie” sea urchins—urchins that prevent the kelp from regrowing without dying themselves.

Why should we care? Because this phenomenon is happening everywhere—whether it’s invasive species or extreme weather events, ecosystems are collapsing, and without smart intervention, they won’t recover. In this case, the solution is to harvest the sea urchins threatening the remaining kelp, fatten them up, and sell them to the growing market for high-end seafood. What can we learn from this approach and apply to other ecosystems that are out of balance?