Great question! To be honest we are getting a bit sick of the word as it gets bandied about so much, oftentimes without any substantial on the ground actions to back it up. We take our responsibility to improve our landscape very seriously so below is what we mean when we say regenerative. Not everyone is the same though so it’s always best to ask!

• We let all things grow – the more the better in our books as multiple layers of green leaf cover harnesses the most solar energy which feeds the soil and contributes to complex, dynamic ecosystems. It also gives variety to our animals in their diet. A chomp of a weed can provide medicinal benefits. We don’t want to eat one thing day in and day out, and neither do our animals.
• We maintain living roots in the soil all the time and do not bare the soil. Soil needs plants just as plants need the soil. Bared soil with nothing growing results in decreasing fertility, ecosystem collapse and susceptibility to explosions in undesirable ‘pioneer’ plants and opportunistic pests.
• We seek to engage with natural landscape function – letting plants filter and slow water flow; managing animals to move through the landscape as a herd with appropriate recovery periods to allow plants to regrow without continual animal pressure. This cycle mirrors what occurs in healthy grassland ecosystems. We are also revegetating our farms with purposeful tree plantings to create more levels of green leaf cover, wildlife habitat, soil stability and heat and wind protection.
• Animals are essential to ecosystems. Plants and animals evolved together and need each other to survive and thrive. Animals cycle and contribute to the nutrition of plants just as healthy plants sustain animals. Animals are never the problem – the way humans manage them is what determines if a landscape degrades or builds.
• Biodiversity, Biodiversity, Biodiversity. We want complex, dynamic ecosystems that don’t need our intervention to exist. The more syntropy that exists the more resilient and healthy the ecosystem. Grasses, forbs, shrubs, trees, weeds, animals, reptiles, insects – the more the better.
• Regenerative farms should be good for the animal, the landscape, the farmer and the community. Farms are meant to be resilient, self supporting ecosystems with no waste and increasing fertility and abundance. Farming underpins our entire civilisation (without farmers we are all hunter gatherers with no time for anything else) so thriving, healthy farms are essential to thriving, healthy communities that can enjoy the beauty of human expression in art, architecture, music etc. When farmers outsource their farm fertility and health to multi-national, synthetic soil and animal amendments, insipid decline follows, small towns disappear, health deteriorates and humanity becomes impoverished.
• There is no place for poison in the food chain. Not all ‘regen’ farmers agree but we believe a truly regenerative approach means focussing on life not on control and death. Nature doesn’t have waste – an explosion in the population of something (pests, weeds etc) will over time encourage species that feed on that exploded population. This is evolution at work and the constant jostling of species create dynamic, resilient ecosystems. Working with nature, rather than in spite of her, is a slower approach and takes trust and patience. With sensitive management we can fast track the changes but there are no silver bullets!