Tag: farmers

Angus McIntosh – Walking the talk on Farmer Angus’ land in South Africa

21st January 2025 koenvanseijen Nutrient Dense Food, Regenerative Agriculture, Short Food Webs 0 Comments

An afternoon stroll through the land of Angus McIntosh, also known as Farmer Angus, where we talk about brands, wine and get interrupted by dogs and, believe it or not, a grazing tortoise.  From his South African farm, Angus guides us through his groundbreaking practices, producing everything from grass-fed beef to carbon-negative wine. With every product, he redefines conscious consumption, making a compelling case for how our food choices can drive positive environmental change.

In a landscape where consumer demand for sustainability is rising, the potential for transformation in South African agriculture is immense. Beyond agriculture, we explore the challenges and triumphs of digital marketing in this field, highlighting the power of storytelling amidst social media setbacks.

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 1 Comment

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.

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.

Franco Fubini – Delivering unmatched flavour to 2000 of the world’s top restaurant and unlocking consumer demand

1st October 2024 koenvanseijen Diet Change, Nutrient Dense Food, Regenerative Agriculture, Short Food Webs 0 Comments

A conversation with Franco Fubini, co-founder of Natoora and author of In Search of the Perfect Peach, about flavour as the key to unlocking consumer demand. We talked about what leads to great flavour, which is of course soil health, but first, we need amazing seeds. How do we make sure farmers get paid accordingly when they grow the most amazing pumpkin or peaches? We tackled creating demand for flavour and lots of it starting with the world’s leading restaurants, and chefs who are relentlessly looking for the best flavours on their plates.

Chuck de Liedekerke – Paying 1600 farmers to change their practices and just raised €15M

10th September 2024 koenvanseijen Ecosystem Services Payments, Regenerative Agriculture 0 Comments

A check-in with Chuck de Liedekerke, CEO and co-founder of Soil Capital and one of the veterans of the regen space, whom we interviewed almost 6 years ago! We talk about paying farmers for ecosystem services and why they seem to have hit an inflection point in the last two years. Working with over 1600 farmers to get them paid for carbon and more through corporations that buy from them. Corporates in the food space finally start to wake up to the opportunity and necessity of investing in their supply sheds. And to top it off, we talk about water cycles and landscape-scale regeneration!

Last week Soil Capital has completed its €15M Series B funding round.

Maarten van Dam – How to fund the transition of the first pioneers in regenerative agriculture

16th July 2024 koenvanseijen Regenerative Agriculture, Transition finance 0 Comments

A conversation with Maarten van Dam, founder of Schevichoven Regenerative farm, about numbers when transitioning from conventional to regenerative agriculture and keeping records on inputs, prices, and machinery. Maarten is changing that and keeping a lot of records of their pioneering farm transitioning from a mono dairy farm to a diverse agroforestry system.

Remember the Dutch farming protests? What do we miss when we talk about the transition of conventional? We miss numbers numbers numbers. Many of the pioneers- rightfully so- didn’t keep good records, on inputs, prices, machinery and, of course, hours. Nobody tracks hours in agriculture. What does it cost per hectare, and what off-take do you need? With a minimum of 50K euro per hectare in the Netherlands, you can transition in about 7 years to a diverse perennial agroforestry system, only counting wholesale prices, counting all your hours, and paying a fair wage. Of course, at Schevichoven they are only in year 4, so all of that has to be proven. But what does it mean for the rest of the 50.000 farmers in the Netherlands? What are the types of regen systems they can apply? We need about 150 billion to transition them. It sounds like a lot, but is doable.

Emiliano Mroue – Raising $7.5 million to scale from working with 20.000 to 100.000 farmers

12th April 2024 koenvanseijen Farmers First Tech, Regenerative Agriculture, Short Food Webs 0 Comments

A conversation with Emiliano Mroue, founder of WARC, about their recent funding round, being close to the farmers and why he left a corporate job in Germany to start a farmer focussed anti poverty company in Sierra Leone which turned into a company serving today over 20.000 farmers, mostly in Ghana, in the transition to more regenerative practices. What is their secret to be close to the farmers always, not quite often but always?

Smallholder maize farmers at the edge of the Sahara, brutal circumstances in the Sahel mean most farmers are growing to eat and to survive and, with climate change and current farming practices burn and deep tilling, their survival is literally on the line. These soils can be depleted in a decade or less, not like in the global North where we might have 50 to 60 harvests left. So how do you go about behaviour change with farmers that are in poverty, you want to help them to change, but don’t want to risk their fragile livelihood? How do you find the recipes that work in the local context?

In March 2024, the Ghana-based agricultural service provider Warc Africa has successfully closed its Series B round, securing $7.5 million. The fresh capital raised aims to boost Warc Africa’s reach to serve over 100,000 farmers in Ghana, increase their incomes, and protect the soils.

Adrien Pelletier – Why all farmers or most farmers need to become seed breeders again

26th March 2024 koenvanseijen Diet Change, Regenerative Agriculture 0 Comments

A conversation with Adrien Pelletier, farmer, breeder, and baker, about wheat, seeds, no till organic farming, why all farmers or most farmers need to become seed breeders again, and why it is really difficult to bake sourdough with traditional organic wheat seeds that are not breed for high productive farms.

Why Adrien want to start changing the world in the most difficult place, at home, which is a large industrial, mostly extractive, commodity wheat-growing region in France? Picture a sea of wheat, large relatively flat fields and no trees. He argues we are in the prehistoric area of organic farming, and there is so much to discover, especially around population wheats. We also learn about no till organic farming is the way to go (and super difficult).

Sebastiaan Huisman – Farmers die slowly

8th March 2024 koenvanseijen Farmers First Tech, Regenerative Agriculture, Short Food Webs 0 Comments

A conversation with Sebastiaan Huisman, large-scale organic farmer and advisor, about consulting on many large farm transitions, including the British royal family and working with Wildfarmed. Why is he so optimistic about biodynamic, holistic, and regenerative farming, and why does it all start with children?

Picking apples on an biodynamic farm at age 12 led to setting up one of the largest biodynamic farms in Europe, almost 2000 hectares in Poland, on very very poor soil, Sebastian had an incredible journey from that Dutch farm to the creation of one of Europe’s largest biodynamic farms. As he shares his story, we’ll uncover the transformative impact of regenerative agriculture, not just on the soil but also on the very heart of the community.