Tag: ownership

Thomas Kliemt – A farming incubator with a 75% success rate (that nobody knows about) lands in Germany

A check-in conversation with Thomas Kliemt, a true serial entrepreneur in regenerative farming systems and previously part of Kulturland, always busy with the big topics in agriculture and never afraid to take them on head first. We catch up on what he has been working on: access to land in Germany, how Kulturland- the organization he has been involved with for the last 8 years- has been growing, and why they are suddenly, after 10 years in the making, an overnight success. In the first 6 months of 2025, they accelerated their fundraising by 100%, raising the same €2.5m they raised in all of 2024.

Then we shift to the next piece of the puzzle: once you enable access to land, transition it into the commons as an anti-speculation measure, and remove the huge debt burden new farmers face, who is actually going to farm this land?
That’s what Thomas’ next venture is working to solve, inspired by a highly successful French model. Over the last 20 years, this approach has trained hundreds of farmers in running their businesses through incubator farms: new farmers work their own land for 3 years, run their enterprises, and receive a salary. Afterward, they are ready to take over a farm elsewhere and, remarkably, over 75% of them do. Many of the rest join other farms as employees. This is an incredibly high success rate for any incubator, and the model has already scaled to Belgium, Spain, and Finland. Now Thomas is bringing it to Germany, and the timing seems perfect.

He has already raised several million in government funding, with different regions competing to host these incubator farms. This could become the launchpad for a much stronger regenerative farming movement. We talk about the huge impact successful regenerative farms can have on their regions, the importance of community, and why this mission is so deeply personal for Thomas.

Frederik Lean Hansen – Double-purpose chickens and the regen dating agency matching landowners with land seekers

A barefoot conversation across his Danish farmland with Frederik Lean Hansen, advisor on regenerative farm finance, revealing the efficiency of his pasture-raised chicken operation and Abunda, the revolutionary business he’s building to connect land holders with entrepreneurial farmers.

How many times have you visited a farm or heard a story from a farmer or landowner who wished for more people on the farm? Someone to start a market garden, run a chicken operation, or build an advanced biofertiliser brewery? More stacked enterprises, more diversity, and more hands and eyes on the land- of course, only if it makes financial sense. But let’s assume that’s the case. Where do you find these entrepreneurial people who fit your context, your farm, country, culture, and personality? And once you find them, how do you structure the financial and legal side to create a partnership that lasts?
We probably all agree that we need more well-paid people on the land—so how do we make that happen?

This episode is a conversation where we walk the land (just a few hectares) and check in on the latest developments: pasture-based chickens on Fred’s farm, the earliest steps into agroforestry and, most importantly, Fred’s new venture focused on land matching. That is connecting landowners with those ready to work the land but lacking access, to facilitate lasting land partnerships.

REGENERATIVE MIND – Emma Chow and Laurence Tremblay – How mindset is everything when turning chocolate into a tool for good

A conversation with Laurence Tremblay, co-founder and business manager of Guatemalan social enterprise, Cacao Source and founder of the nonprofit arm, Give Back to the Source. Emma Chow, the host of the Regenerative Minds series, explores with Laurence the regenerative mindset in the chocolate industry, cacao’s potential for regeneration, cacao farming, culture, and community in Guatemala, and much more.

Wouter Veer – Trying to fix private land ownership, the root cause of all our issues

A conversation with Wouter Veer, entrepreneur, impact investor, founder of Lenteland, about inequality, impact investing, land ownership, unsustainability, Charles Eisenstein, and starting and funding a venture and a movement in the Netherlands.

Sarah Mock, Treat Farms Like Businesses

Forget everything you thought you knew about US Agriculture, the family farm myth and “successful” regenerative farmers, and take a deep dive into why should we treat farming as a business and why indigenous people should run them. An interesting conversation with Sarah Mock, Head of Marketing and Communications at Sylvanaqua Farms, freelance farmer, researcher and author of Farm (and Other F Words).

Soil Builders, updates on green bonds in regen ag and the land ownership in the commons in the US

Ian McSweeney of the Agrarian Trust and Fabio Sakamoto of Rizoma Agro are the guests of the new episode of the Soil Builders series.

The role of the crowd in the transition finance for farmers

As part of the Transition Finance for Farmers series, Benedikt Bösel and Koen van Seijen discuss with Thomas Rippel the role of the crowd in transition finance. They talk about the transition from active farmer to retirement and freeing up land for future generations, as well as investing in regenerative transition.

Armin Steuernagel on how to keep a mission driven company independent and raise capital

Armin Steuernagel, entrepreneur in food, co-founder of the Purpose Network and impact investor. The Purpose Network helps companies to stay independent and mission driven for the long term.