Regenerative Agriculture

Regenerative Farming is rapidly becoming a management option of interest for British agriculture. It covers all the challenges that farmers are currently facing, such as lower resource inputs whilst holding onto maximum efficiencies and yields, minimising negative environmental impacts such as biodiversity and soil organic matter, and adapting to climate change.

As an alternative farming approach, it already covers some on-farm methods that farmers are using and so will be familiar to many and is especially relevant now that the Sustainable Farming Incentive has been rolled out nationally. But the real potential benefit of Regenerative Farming is its joined-up thinking, which focuses on complete farms and enhanced rural livelihoods across agri-food chains.

Course Overview
This short course will provide participants with an understanding of Regenerative Farming and how it can help develop future opportunities (such as local food provision) whilst navigating potential threats (for example, irregular and unpredictable weather).  It is suitable for a wide range of participants – from farmers to other land managers and informed lay people and will provide an in depth understanding of future management options.  During the course we will consider a range of farm types and look for common factors and methods that can be useful for the future. Participants will leave with a better understanding of Regenerative Farming and most importantly, how aspects of it might be applied to their own enterprises.

Course Facilitator
Dr Howard Lee has been teaching and researching aspects of sustainable agriculture for about 40 years. He has taught in universities and county Colleges and is committed to national food security and farmer livelihoods. He has worked with growers and other land managers during this time and is familiar with running interactive workshops that deliver practical value.

During the course you will learn: 

• What Regenerative Farming is (and is not);
• How to think about the useful aspects of Regenerative Farming across a range of farm types;
• Strategies to apply aspects of Regenerative Farming to you own farming enterprise.

Course content and structure 

Morning session: 

• Interactive presentation about Regenerative Farming with case studies: 
  • Apart from obvious factors such as yield and profitability, how farmer livelihoods are linked to resource use efficiency;
  • The value of biodiversity and soil health;
  • How livestock can integrate effectively within Regenerative Farming
  • The importance of understanding wider environmental issues, especially climate change.

Afternoon session:

• Assessing the future viability (sustainability) of farm systems by looking for and assessing key indicators: https://inspia-europe.eu/index.php/sustainability-indicators
• Discussion: pulling everything together - how Regenerative Farming covers wider issues such as agri-food chains and local food provision and how you can apply these ideas to your farm

Facilities

Teaching methods 

• Face to face presentation 
• Demonstration in a workshop setting with farmer presentations 
• Audience discussion 

Resources 

• Copies of key documents
• Farmer case studies and engagement