FarmStarter Richard reflects on a year learning about nature-friendly farming and the words of Franklin Roosevelt – ‘A nation that destroys its soil, destroys itself.’

The growing season is slowing down, and the FarmStart students at the Plot are spending less time, sowing, weeding and transplanting, and although there’s still plenty to harvest – there’s more time for learning the theories of sustainability, regenerative enterprise and permaculture, to name a few.

It’s all fascinating stuff and we’re lucky to do much of this at the recently acquired Summer House Farm, where we observe the slow process of developing an organic vegetable and fruit farm from first principles. 

As the rain hammered down in the huge barn, Anna Clayton, from LESS, led us through some of the key concepts of regenerative enterprise. It was sometimes difficult to hear each other speak!

What is regenerative enterprise?

In a nutshell, regenerative approaches encourage organisations to think of themselves as living systems. 

But when it comes to growing food one major consideration is that the process takes care of the soil. That may sound a bit of a weak description until you consider the impact that industrial farming has on this vital resource. It depletes nutrients, destroys the soil’s structure and allows winds to blow the top soil into rivers and the sea.

Improving the quality of soil is vital

Without soil, we know plants cannot grow. So how can we nurture this vital resource? 

• Firstly, minimise soil disturbance, allowing the billions of different micro fauna and flora to do their job effectively. 
• Secondly, keep the soil covered with living plants when crops aren’t in the ground, by using green manure or mulches. 
• Next, maintain living roots in the soil. Roots break up compacted soil, and some bring nutrients up from deep down, making them available for other plants that don’t have deep roots. 
• Grow a large variety of crops. Each one does something different, effectively feeding the soil, much like a variety of foods feeds our microbiome. 
• Finally, reintroduce livestock, which also helps to increase the variety of insects and bacteria below the surface.

Many of these ideas have been practiced by indigenous communities and the Global South for centuries – if not longer. 

Essentially, regenerative enterprise is about growing food as nature intended, the way it should have always been. Big corporations would do well to remember this.

‘A nation that destroys its soil, destroys itself.’ Franklin Roosevelt.