Regenerative Farming: Who Gets to Decide?

There seems to be a new farming enterprise springing up.

Deciding who is allowed to be called regenerative.

Apparently regen has no proper standards. Organic does.

Apparently anyone can call themselves regenerative.

Apparently it’s a trend.

And apparently, unless you were regenerative before the word regenerative became fashionable, you don’t really count.

Which is useful.

Presumably if you planted your first hedge last year, the birds should refuse to nest in it.

I can see that some of the criticism is fair.

Regenerative farming doesn’t have one universally agreed definition, which leaves plenty of room for vague claims, greenwashing and the occasional magnificent cover crop photographed from precisely the right angle.

I can see it should be challenged. But surely the answer isn’t to form another farming club and spend our time deciding who is regenerative enough to get through the door.

Maybe regen is partly about practices.

But maybe it’s also about attitude.

For us it means asking better questions.

Can we disturb the soil less? Keep living roots in it longer? Improve biodiversity? Hold more water? Use livestock better? Reduce bought-in inputs? Waste less? Build healthier soil?

And, rather importantly, can we do all that whilst still producing food and paying the bills? Because the bank manager remains pretty unmoved by a really good worm count.

There is proper science behind many of the principles — soil cover, diversity, roots, organic matter and reduced disturbance can all bring benefits.

But farming isn’t a recipe. Different soils, farms, weather and systems need different answers.

Here at Lower Blakemere we are changing how we farm. Direct drilling, cover crops, different grazing, less reliance on synthetic fertiliser, composting, biology, water management and a lot more thinking about what is actually happening beneath our feet.

Some of it works. Some of it takes a while. And occasionally we look at something and think, well, that was educational.

This year we’ve been shortlisted for Regenerative Farmer of the Year in the British Farming Awards.

We are really pleased about it - but do we think we are the best regenerative farmers in Britain?

Absolutely not.

There are so many farmers miles ahead of us.

And yes, sometimes the criticism does bother me.

Not because we don’t want to be challenged. We do.

Ask whether something works. Ask for the evidence. Question the claims. Come and have a look.

But dismissing farmers because they have only recently started changing seems completely bonkers.

Surely we want more farmers changing, not fewer?

And this is where I think trust really matters.

If we say we are farming regeneratively, don’t just take our word for it.

Check out our youtube channel or come and see the farm - or ask us questions in the pub.

We’ll show you the fields, the soil, the worms, the cattle and the experiments. We’ll show you what worked. And we’ll show you the bits where Farmer Phil is standing wondering why we have taken this path…

The good, the bad and the ugly. Then judge us for yourself.

That seems to me much more useful than relying entirely on a logo, a label or somebody else’s definition of whether we qualify.

So challenge regen.

Challenge greenwashing.

Challenge us.

But perhaps don’t waste too much energy deciding who gets to count and who doesn’t.

The soil doesn’t care whether you started in 1985 or last Tuesday.

It cares what you do next.

And so do we.