Mobs, mulch and microbes: the regenerative agriculture movement could change the way our food is produced for the better – but what’s it all about? Read Ashleigh Arnott’s guide to this big hope for the UK’s food future, then turn the page for recipes from chefs whose down-on-the-farm restaurants are part of the regen revolution
FOOD PHOTOGRAPHS: INDIA WHILEY-MORTON. BACKGROUNDS: POLLYANNA COUPLAND. FOOD STYLING: EMILY GUSSIN
Because farming shouldn’t
Sustainable is the buzzword in every industry from clothing to restaurants to carmaking, and in 2021 the UK government launched a long-term plan to transform the country’s food production system, calling it The Path to Sustainable Farming. It has many admirable objectives but there’s a new groundswell of opinion that being sustainable isn’t enough – the current farming system has been run into the ground and needs to be radically improved rather than maintained and sustained.
Since World War II, farmers have relied on heavy machinery and chemicals to increase their yields. It worked, of course, but the soil paid the price – its nutrients were depleted, the shrubs and trees that protected it from erosion were cleared and the friendly microbes, fungi and minibeasts were driven out. In the UK the costs of topsoil erosion are thought to be £1.2 billion per year.
Many farmers are now faced with flavourless crops and huge bills for fertilisers, making their livelihood a loss-making pursuit. They’re looking for another way – which is where regenerative agriculture comes in. There’s no official definition, but if a farmer is growing/producing food – plants or animals – with a view to conserving and rehabilitating the land (and in particular the soil), they’re practising regenerative farming.
WHAT COULD REGENERATE A FARM?
Erin Bunting and Jo Facer run a smallholding just south of Belfast using regenerative farming practices (see p74). “We aim to create a resilient, diverse, balanced ecosystem that we and the food we grow can thrive in,” explains Jo. “Rather than using pesticides, we rely on creating ecological balance and healthy happy soil to produce healthy plants. Rather than herbicides we weed by hand or use light exclusion (sheets of black plastic or a layer of mulch) to control weeds. We practise no-till or no-dig growing, with the aim of minimising soil disturbance, protecting and feeding our ecosystem of soil organisms, who in turn look after our plants.”
As well as wonderful produce, they have grown a local community of people who subscribe to their veg boxes and also help out
