Farmers First Tech – Page 2 – Investing in regenerative agriculture

Sarah Hellebek – Training Denmark’s next farmers with practitioners, not professors

2nd September 2025 koenvanseijen 0 Comments

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 Bye bye outdated text books.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.

Cindie Christiansen – Top 50 Farmers update and the simple tweak to raise millions for regeneration

19th August 2025 koenvanseijen 0 Comments

A check in conversation with Cindie Christiansen, founder of Foodprint Nordic and Top 50 Farmers (no, it’s not a ranking, so nobody “won”). We spoke just six months ago, but this time we met in person to talk about the progress of turning farmers into the next superheroes of climate, water, health, and more.

We unpack her vision for systems change in food and agriculture. Directly from one of the world’s leading culinary scenes, Copenhagen, we ask: why hasn’t a strong farm-to-table, local cuisine movement led to real change in the agrifood system yet? And more importantly, what can we do about it?

We dive into her work with Foodprint Nordic and how they’re about to expand it to the rest of Europe. Very simply, but of course, it’s not that simple, the idea is to access a whole new pool of money not yet active in this space: the money of us eaters, and funnel it as quickly and with as few strings attached as possible to farmers ready to expand regenerative practices, planting trees, buying compost equipment, and more.

And even more importantly, how this approach could serve as a blueprint for real regional, and potentially national, action, helping shape government policy that truly supports regenerative farmers on the ground.

Darren Doherty – 35 years in regeneration training farmers and the role of tech and AI

12th August 2025 koenvanseijen 0 Comments

A conversation with Darren J Doherty, co-founder of Regrarians, in the space of regeneration and regenerating for over 35 years, about the role of technology, AI, and large language models in training farmers and agronomists. We touch on how expensive and too-short workshops are hurting everyone, and why a hybrid model, grounded on the land and in person, combined with much longer online engagement, might be one way to move forward.

We also explore what it means to reinvent yourself after spending years deeply immersed in a project, only to resurface and realise the regenerative world has shifted. Suddenly, you need to work harder to get attention, to find work, and to fill your courses. And yet, there’s so much value in being able to draw on decades of experience and the thousands upon thousands of farmers and land stewards you’ve worked with through times of transition.

We ask why larger corporations haven’t reached out to tap into this expertise: why aren’t they calling about training their farmers or agronomists? It seems we may be exiting the phase of dogmatic pioneers, the era when it had to be permaculture, or holistic management, or keyline design, and entering something more pragmatic. A moment where the focus is shifting toward whatever actually works: on your land, in your human context, and within your market.

Sheila Darmos – Why Greece is leading the regenerative agriculture movement and what the world can learn

29th July 2025 koenvanseijen 0 Comments

A conversation with Sheila Darmos, co-founder of the Southern Lights, based in the southern Peloponnese, Greece with the mission is to spread knowledge, techniques, and the mindset for regenerative practices across all domains of human activity. Sheila is also a co-founding farmer of the European Alliance for Regenerative Agriculture (EARA) and serves as an EU Soil Mission Ambassador.

A question we get very often is: which place or country is leading the regenerative movement? It’s obviously a very complex question to answer, but after talking to Sheila, our answer might be Greece. Having battled numerous economic and non- economic crises, it seems that those who have stayed don’t have much to lose. There is a strong back-to-the-land movement, well-organized local organizations helping farmers and land stewards’ transition, and people who want to return to the land more easily.

Perhaps the fact that 10% of the workforce is still active in agriculture helps, along with Greece’s long history of farming without fully going down the super-mechanized, industrial, extractive path. The rural-urban divide is very real and it’s not easy at all, but maybe farming and food are the way to break down those barriers.

Birker, Bösel, Mazzola – The Regenerative Agronomy Gap: who do farmers call?

15th July 2025 koenvanseijen 0 Comments

A conversation with farmer Benedikt Bösel, farmer and regen agronomist Matteo Mazzola and Philippe Birker, co-founder of Climate Farmers. We need regenerative agronomists. Because let’s face it — most farmers trust their agronomist, and the chances that their agronomist is trained in regen are pretty small. We’re moving from the first group of super ambitious, entrepreneurial, and slightly rebellious farmers who have made the transition, to a larger group who want to transition but can take less risk and will need support. So, who do they call when they want to start their transition? Current agriculture schools for agronomists are still very much focused on extractive, highly input- driven agriculture. Farmers often want a checklist and a protocol to “go regen” — but it might be more about asking uncomfortable questions.
So how do we go about changing that? This is three-part conversation today with Philippe Birker, who is setting up the Regen Agronomist Training in Europe, a 6-months intensive training program designed to equip agronomists with practical and theoretical knowledge in regenerative agriculture, with the first pilot happening this year; Benedikt Bösel, farmer at Gut&Bösel, whose farm will serve as a training farm, while sharing his experience with getting help taking his first steps into regen; and Matteo Mazzola, regenerative farmer at Iside, who also works with many others supporting their transition.

Anand Ethirajalu – Harvesting the clouds: how to transition over 10,000 farmers a year, reducing input costs and increasing profits

1st July 2025 koenvanseijen 0 Comments

A conversation with Anand Ethirajalu, farmer-turned-ecologist and project director for the Save Soil movement, on groundwork.

We don’t talk about it much, but we should: a remarkable transition has been unfolding on the Indian subcontinent over the past few decades. Hundreds of thousands- if not millions- of farmers have been trained in regenerative practices and have successfully made the switch. Yes, with higher yields and greater profits, largely due to significantly lower production costs.

In the conversation, we focus on one region where the Save Soil movement, led by Sadhguru (yes, the same man who rode his motorcycle around the world to raise awareness about the importance of soil), has been training farmers. More than 10,000 farmers per year have participated in these programs for decades.

There are countless lessons to be learned. Soil can recover quickly, but shifting farmers’ mindsets often takes much longer. One key strategy: don’t risk the whole farm. Start with just 10%, and show immediate financial results—higher profits. Provide crucial support in the early years, especially during the first growing season.

Farmers are now connected through WhatsApp groups, where they can receive expert advice for pest or disease issues within 24 to 48 hours—always with solutions they can prepare themselves, without relying on expensive toxic inputs.

More and more farmers are also joining programs to plant permanent crops like timber and fruit trees, both as a form of insurance and with the broader goal of planting enough trees (currently over 12 million a year) to begin “harvesting the clouds”. Yes, this is part of restoring the small water cycle.

We also take a look at the political landscape, as the Indian government has made natural farming a national goal for the coming decades. This is likely a global first. While it will require a tremendous amount of work to implement effectively, and while there will be pushback from the agri-input industry and, of course, government policy will never be perfect, this is still a massive milestone worth celebrating.

Anthony James – Learning from the legends how to become a positive keystone species

27th May 2025 koenvanseijen 0 Comments

A conversation with Anthony James, host of The RegenNarration podcast, a Prime Ministerial award winner for service to the international community and Honorary Research Fellow at UWA. He has had many legends at his microphone and joins us to share what he’s learned, what he sees, and what he thinks is coming next in regenerative food and agriculture.

The pioneers who spent decades developing innovative approaches to land stewardship won’t be around forever, but they’re actively passing their hard-earned wisdom to a new generation eager to accelerate positive change. Anthony shares how his own journey from business student to regeneration advocate parallels the transformative experiences many have when connecting deeply with the land.

We dive deep in issues of land access and ownership, how health concerns provide a universal entry point for engagement with regenerative principles, as people experience the immediate benefits of nutrient-dense food grown in living soil. Finally, we explore how finding ways to bring communities together, resolve conflicts, and see each other’s humanity may be the essential ingredient in catalyzing the regenerative transformation our world urgently needs.

Austin Unruh – Silvopasture, planting trees on millions of acres of grassland, is the most scalable and profitable regen solution

20th May 2025 koenvanseijen 0 Comments

A conversation with Austin Unruh, founder of Trees for Graziers, about the investment case for silvopasture. What if we could plant hundreds of millions of trees on degraded, low-value pasture land and make money from it? What if we planted trees that are beneficial for livestock—ruminants, pigs, and poultry? The market for meat and animal products is fairly stable (unless we get a massive breakthrough in precision fermentation soon, but that’s hard to predict). Trees can dramatically lower costs and increase production.
Austin argues that this is the best entry point to get many more trees into the landscape. When chosen well, these trees provide shade (a basic need), but more importantly, they offer feed during the most difficult periods of the year—like high summer, or specific fruits that drop in the autumn, full of sugar and energy, just as cows prepare for the colder winter months. Especially with pasture-raised pigs and poultry, you can save massively on expensive (organic) feed, which is mostly grain. And as a bonus, pastures grow better with partial shade.
So, when in doubt, plant more trees on pasture. Of course, this isn’t always easy. You need to make sure pigs—who are notorious diggers— don’t destroy the young trees. You need to ensure the trees survive the first few years. You’ll need financing to bridge those early, non-fruit-bearing years. But all of that is fixable. And you’ll need a massive tree nursery to supply quality trees—preferably large ones—at scale and at an affordable price. Finally, we discuss why the beauty of a savannah-like landscape is so important.

Ethan Soloviev – AI, good food at Davos, food as medicine and regen taking off

8th April 2025 koenvanseijen 0 Comments

A check- in conversation with Ethan Soloviev, Chief Innovation Officer at HowGood, about how regenerative agriculture is truly taking off, its position within large food and agriculture companies, and whether we risk watering it down or falling into greenwashing (Spoiler: Surprisingly, we’re doing a lot about it!). We also get an update on HowGood—they’re doing well and focusing more on nutrient density-, plus, we talk about Regen House, which is revolutionizing the way good food fosters meaningful conversations at major events like COPs, climate summits, and Davos, t bringing farmers, indigenous community members, and global executives together around regenerative food experiences. By centering conversations on actual good food rather than panels and PowerPoints, these gatherings forge authentic connections that move regeneration forward.

And, of course, no conversation with Ethan would be complete without diving into AI—what currently does and what it could do for regeneration—not just through efficiency gains, but through innovative applications like predicting deforestation before it happens. The real breakthrough will come when we develop “large ecological models” trained on nature’s patterns rather than just human texts, enabling truly regenerative landscape design.

As Chief Innovation Officer at HowGood, Ethan offers a glimpse into how sustainability data is transforming food systems. Their database tracks environmental and social impacts for 33,000 ingredients and nearly 4 million products globally, enabling everything from carbon footprinting to supplier engagement. What’s particularly encouraging is how this data influences consumer behavior—when sustainability information is presented clearly at the point of purchase, sales of sustainable products consistently increase across diverse markets.

Louis De Jaeger – Eat More Trees: a Masterclass with thé storyteller of the Regen Space

1st April 2025 koenvanseijen 0 Comments

A conversation with Louis De Jaeger, international keynote speaker, author, award-winning filmmaker, and landscape designer, about dreams, action, and storytelling—how to reach and touch people. We discuss why storytelling is highly underrated and underfunded, and why he is organizing a festival—not the next Burning Man, but a regeneration festival.
He shares his excitement about small water cycle restoration, the biotic pump, and much more. And in the end, it all boils down to one simple message: Eat More Trees.

During his 5-year sabbatical that turned into a lifelong mission to regenerate landscapes, Louis’ revelation came during world travels where he witnessed environmental degradation firsthand—monoculture landscapes so depressing “you want to drive against a tree, but there are no trees.” This observation sparked his mission to regenerate 550 million hectares of land globally, potentially cooling our planet by two degrees Celsius.

Beyond the environmental benefits, Louis paints a compelling vision of a regenerative future characterized by abundance rather than sacrifice. “We’re going to have an even more luxurious lifestyle, we’re going to have better food that tastes fantastic” he assures us. His approach isn’t about shaming people into environmentalism but showing how regenerative practices create healthier, more desirable lives.

Category: Farmers First Tech