Groundswell Insights: The untapped potential in regenerative agriculture
MDS Trainee Georgie attended the regenerative agriculture conference, Groundswell to delve deeper into topics surrounding sustainable farming practices.
Harnessing agronomic practices and regenerative potential
The two-day regenerative agriculture conference kicked off with a highly informative presentation from one of the few ‘gurus’ of the regen world, John Kempf. He explored the fundamentals of the untapped potential in regenerative agriculture alongside the management of agronomic practices during the regenerative transition period and how these can produce outstanding crop responses. Kempf was fascinating in how he described the need for a systematic approach to the soil microbial function and nutrition, explaining that the only difference between the ‘regen’ and ‘degen’ cycle is YOU, stating that both cycles are simply self-perpetuating.
Delving a little further into the regenerative approach, I went to an interesting panel conversation regarding embedding regenerative principles into global supply chains. Various stakeholders, including Tom Gee, Dorothy Shaver, Marija Rompani, Elizabeth Stockdale, and Alastair Cooper, shared remarkable views. They discussed both the opportunities and challenges of these partnerships in accelerating the regenerative transition. Multiple intriguing premises cropped up, highlighting whether standards could potentially drive regen in the wrong direction, or, with no standardised way of measuring carbon footprint could we end up in a wild west of a situation?
Soil health & biostimulants
Kings Crops Plot tours in the demo field followed on next with a walk-and-talk tour of their hugely diverse cover crop plots. The tour emphasised the importance of species diversity to deliver an integrated approach to improve soil health. Companion cropping, living mulch, winter bird food, autumn and spring sown catch were just some of the possibilities on display to enhance regen practices.
So, biostimulants, what’s the fuss about? Joel Williams gave a brilliant whistle-stop tour on understanding and defining biostimulants, outlining some of the potential benefits they create within the soil. With the Hutchinsons stand also showcasing the Johnson-Su Composting Bioreactor, one such biostimulant that provides nutrients and encourages the soil to be microbially diverse and rich.
Regenerative research priorities
An interesting discussion on regen research priorities was led by Prof Tom MacMillan and joined by Dr Julia Cooper and Elizabeth Stockdale. This was quickly followed by a panel from Pete Richardson, Chris Molyneux and Dr Jennifer Rowntree, reviewing what’s happening below the surface to drive change, and soil health in horticultural strip tillage systems. They explored the fundamentals of utilising strip tillage techniques highlighting the practical benefits for the grower while discussing what is driving change below the surface.
Managing nutrition for insect resistance
John Kempf was discussing managing nutrition for insect resistance. His description of the specific stress signals given off by plants and how they attract insects was certainly intriguing. Kempf explained the signals are often due to (among others), soil, temperature or weather extremes, however most commonly due to nutritional imbalances. He described how to manage nutrition to produce plants that are not only high yielding but resistant to insects across all stages of plant growth.
Among the seminars, conversations, demos, presentations, and panel events, at the heart of the festival was the Earthworm Arms and the many, many food stalls, all in support of the festival. From Thai street food to a good old hog roast, the food court had it all!
This is just a small glimpse of what went on at Groundswell 2024. A huge thank you to all the guest speakers, farmers, and growers who attended making it such a fantastic few days. Regenerative farming is one of the main challenges that our generation faces today in agriculture. Groundswell festival is a regenerative agriculture conference that helps drive this progressive change, bringing together expert researchers, growers, and farmers from across the world to share their knowledge. It educates anyone who wants to understand a farmers core asset, soil, through regeneration, and make more informed agronomic decisions.