Farmers are the foundation of a regenerative food system, yet they still face massive barriers when it comes to implementing regenerative practices in the field.
A panel of farmers discussed some of these challenges at this week’s Regenerative Food Systems Investment (RFSI) Europe event in Brussels, and while the issues on the table were legion, a few stood out.
Access to land is a major challenge for farmers throughout Europe — particularly those just starting out.
“In the beginning we were kind of afraid to dream big because to buy a farm in the Netherlands was almost impossible,” explained panelist Iris Claessens, who has run 15-hectare Sierveld Farm for just a little over one year.
For Claessens, renting land quickly became a non-option as well. “As a farmer, you want to do a long-term investment, so if someone only promised you one year, it’s not enough,” she said. This is especially true for regenerative farming, where it takes years to restore soils and ecosystems. At one point, Claessens and her partners even considered relocating to France.
Despite these initial setbacks the team was eventually able to secure the farm thanks to Lenteland, a foundation that sets up small 10-25 hectares regenerative farms throughout the Netherlands. Its farms all sell their produce to local consumers on a community-supported agriculture (CSA) model and function as cooperatives, where ownership is shared among multiple farmers who also live on the land.
“In this way, we share the ownership, but we also kind of carry together the responsibility of this piece of land, and we take care of it together,” said Claessens. “This connection between the farm, the land, and the consumers is very important.”
Luke Hassell, CEO of The Story Farms in the UK, echoed this concern and suggested it ties directly to another major issue in agriculture in many countries: an aging farmer population.
“The biggest obstacle in the UK is probably the average age of the farmer [around 59],” he said during the panel. “Where are the youth? I feel really passionate about trying to enable that to happen, but we need these small farms [to do that].”
The Story Farms offers opportunities for such people to “allow people to become farmers that can’t afford to buy land,” he said. Younger farmers, “probably feel like they can’t achieve [the dream of farming] because they don’t own the field.”
Investors ‘don’t understand the language of nature’
Given the backdrop of the discussion was an investment conference, the topic soon came up.
“Do you understand where you can get access to capital?” an audience member asked of the panelists.
Panelist João Valente, a second-generation owner of Monte Silveira Farm in Portugal, explained to the audience how he had to “leave his comfort zone” to learn more about “complicated, corporate language” in order to attract more — and different — capital to his operation.
“I’ve talked with so many investors and impact investors, family offices, etc, etc. And unfortunately, no one seeks to understand the path of the farm. People want results fast . . . and they don’t understand that nature takes time.”
Hassell said Story Farms has so far only dabbled in crowdfunding, which it would do again if needed. “It does definitely help with the community you rely on to buy your produce and do the jobs you love. Borrowing money from the banks is something I’m trying to steer away from.”
“We don’t want any more debt,” added Valente.
As to non-traditional forms of capital for farmers, one audience participant asked, “What are investors waiting for?”
“I think the biggest obstacle is that they don’t understand the language of nature,” said Valente (a point immediately followed by a round of applause from the audience).
“They look at a farm from the financial perspective as an asset that’s going to have some revenue. That’s the mindset of investors.”
The fix? “Spend some time on the farms,” he said.
From romanticism to a viable form of farming
Most panels during the event have featured discussions on data and measurement as an important tool for scaling regenerative food systems and on the farmer panel, all the farmers highlighted the importance of collecting data and working with universities and research institutes to demonstrate the viability of regenerative agriculture to industry and investors.
Hasell said that data was crucial to move beyond the “romanticism” of regenerative agriculture and show other farmers that it can be profitable as an alternative to conventional farming.
Claessens talked about their need for more data before making decisions on the farm such as expansion.
Valente is taking matters into his own hands and has created what he calls Impact Hub to undertake research focused on soil health and ecosystem resilience, in collaboration with national and international researchers and scientific institutions.
“So I decided to create an Impact Hub with the tools that I have. I didn’t have a lot of money, but I had land, I had some houses, I had a lot of knowledge… We’ve been farming organic, no-till, for 20 years. We are, I think probably now, the ninth organic-certified farm in Europe and the only large-scale farm as regenerative, organic certified. So we’ve been on growth for a long time, and we can provide that knowledge [to show to others.]”
ADVERTISEMENT:
Hai, para pencinta slots Pernah denger istilah “slot gaco”? Kalau belum, siap-siap jatuh hati sama program ini. slot gacor merupakan mesin slot yang selalu memberi kemenangan. Ya, mesin-mesin ini bisa disebut sebagai jagoannya buat membawa pulang hasil. any way, gimana sih caranya jumpain slot gaco yang benar? Santuy Bro and Sis, kita beri santai saja di sini
Gaming terpercaya saat ini satu-satunya berada Indonesia hanya di yang menyediakan imbal hasil tertinggi
Daftar dengan di :
Informasi mengenai KING SLOT, Segera Daftar Bersama king selot terbaik dan terpercaya no satu di Indonesia. Boleh mendaftar melalui sini king slot serta memberikan hasil kembali yang paling tinggi saat sekarang ini hanyalah KING SLOT atau Raja slot paling gacor, gilak dan gaco saat sekarang di Indonesia melalui program return tinggi di kingselot serta pg king slot
slot demo gacor
slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
akun demo slot gacor
akun demo slot gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
akun slot demo gacor
akun slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
akun demo slot pragmatic
akun demo slot pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
akun slot demo pragmatic
akun slot demo pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
akun slot demo
akun slot demo permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
akun demo slot
akun demo slot permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
slot demo gacor
slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
akun demo slot gacor
akun demo slot gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
akun slot demo gacor
akun slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
akun demo slot pragmatic
akun demo slot pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
akun slot demo pragmatic
akun slot demo pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
akun slot demo
akun slot demo permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
akun demo slot
akun demo slot permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
slot demo gacor
slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
akun demo slot gacor
akun demo slot gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
akun slot demo gacor
akun slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
akun demo slot pragmatic
akun demo slot pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
akun slot demo pragmatic
akun slot demo pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
akun slot demo
akun slot demo permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
akun demo slot
akun demo slot permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
slot demo gacor
slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
akun demo slot gacor
akun demo slot gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
akun slot demo gacor
akun slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
akun demo slot pragmatic
akun demo slot pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
akun slot demo pragmatic
akun slot demo pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
akun slot demo
akun slot demo permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
akun demo slot
akun demo slot permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
situs slot terbaru
situs slot terbaru permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
slot terbaru
slot terbaru permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
soda96 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama soda96.com
sparta88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama sparta88.biz
sugesbola88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama sugesbola88.org
tektok7777 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama tektok7777.com
tektok88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama tektok88.biz
toinktoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama toinktoto88.com
tokek888slot permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama tokek888slot.com
topslot888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama topslot888.biz
tuanslot888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama tuanslot888.club
uang88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama uang88.biz
uang8888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama uang8888.com
userslot88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama userslot88.info
uus88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama uus88.biz
waslot88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama waslot88.asia
wayantogel88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama wayantogel88.com
zona666 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama zona666.biz
zona88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama zona88.biz
slot96 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama slot96.biz
arjuna69 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama arjuna69.com
hqtoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama hqtoto88.com
bangshun88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama bangshun88.com
btc999 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama btc999.org
supraslot888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama supraslot888.net
sortoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama sortoto88.net
logamtoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama logamtoto88.net
goslot777 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama goslot777.info
gebyar88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama gebyar88.biz
botak88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama botak88.biz
ibis88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama ibis88.asia
autobot777slot permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama autobot777slot.com
jwmarriott88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jwmarriott88.com
reddoorz88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama reddoorz88.com
hotelharris88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama hotelharris88.com
novotel88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama novotel88.com
orientalplay88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama orientalplay88.com
oyo88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama oyo88.live
agoda88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama agoda88.asia
tiket88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama tiket88.asia
santika88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama santika88.org
grandaston88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama grandaston88.com
booking88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama booking88.org
grandmercure88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama grandmercure88.com
tripadvisor88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama tripadvisor88.com
hotelmulia88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama hotelmulia88.com
aryaduta88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama aryaduta88.com
shangrila88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama shangrila88.com
holidayinn88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama holidayinn88.com
antam88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama antam88.info
