Deep Seed

Farm land has become way too expensive and young farmers are left stuck at the gate 🥺 As a result, the number of farmers has been brutally declining everywhere. In the EU: 5 million farms disappeared in the last 15 years and only 11% of farmers are under 40 years old 📉 But here's a light of hope! Lenteland has created a model that flips this broken system on its head. Here’s how it works: 1️⃣ Lenteland provides a loan to a local farm cooperative, so they can buy a farm and protect it for 200 years, ensuring it’s used for regenerative farming. 2️⃣ The farm becomes community-owned as local citizens buy certificates to become co-owners. 3️⃣ Farmers manage the farm as “creative owners”, developing business plans and running operations without the burden of land debt. 4️⃣ Farmers receive financial support and business advice, including a base income in the early years, allowing them to focus on soil health and sustainable food production without financial pressure. -> The money raised from selling the certificates is then used by Lenteland to provide a loan to another another local farm cooperative, and start that process all over again. In just a few years they have already started 7 farms using this model and so far, it's proving a huge success! ⎯ 🎧 Listen to my conversation with Eline Veninga in the latest Deep Seed episode to learn more. To better understand this from the perspective of farmers, I also recommend revisiting my conversation with Anne van Leeuwen, one of the Lenteland farmers ✨ With love, Raphael Esterhazy

Can a business be truly regenerative AND financially successful? Wilder Land is proving it can be done! 👇 🪲 First, they learned that native plants have amazing ecological benefits! They're amazing for soil, for biodiversity, pollinators, you name it... 🐞 Then they realised they can make delicious products from them - such as tea, kombucha, pasta, miso, or granola! 🦋 So they went ahead and created a truly regenerative business, working with local farmers to grow 'weeds' for their products. -> Every cup of Wilder Land tea you drink makes the world a better place, with more biodiversity, soil health and where farmers get to be more regenerative while making a profit! How amazing is that? 😍 Listen to my conversation with Matthijs Westerwoudt on the latest Deep Seed episode ❤️ (available on your favorite streaming platform) 🎧 Link in the comments below

"Farmers learn from other farmers, let's minimise external advice..." Everyone has an opinion about what farmers should do. Biologists, economists, ecologists, agronomists, and even people like me who knew nothing about farming 5 minutes ago. Whatever your profession is, just imagine how you would feel if people who have never practice your job came along to tell you how to do your it better 😑 That's why I love this approach: 1. Listening, listening, listening 2. Facilitate farmer to farmer knowledge sharing 3. Provide support ⎯ Listen to our latest #rewind episode, where I revisit my conversation with Willemijn Helwig from Commonland ❤️ Available everywhere online!

Today, we revisit our conversation with Willemijn Helwig from Commonland ❤️ I selected for you some of my favourite passages from the episode! Listen to this #REWIND episode, available now on all streaming platforms. With care, Raphael

🌍 “He who feeds you, controls you.” – Thomas Sankara Between 1983 and 1987, Thomas Sankara led one of the most radical agricultural and ecological transformations in post-colonial Africa. In just four years, he launched a nationwide reforestation campaign that planted over 10 million trees to combat desertification. He dismantled the traditional feudal land system, redistributing land directly to farming communities and rural cooperatives. Sankara also rejected food aid as a long-term solution, warning that dependency undermined sovereignty. His administration focused instead on building local food systems, promoting agroecological methods, and mobilising communities through mass participation and political education. The result? Burkina Faso, one of the poorest nations in the world at the time, achieved near self-sufficiency in staple crops like millet, sorghum and maize, without relying on tractors, fertilisers, or imported inputs. ⎯ In the latest episode of the Deep Seed podcast, Simon Kraemer from EARA | European Alliance for Regenerative Agriculture advocates for a worldwide farmer-led revolution. To bring peace, health and liberation. We also pick apart their latest report, where they compared data from European regenerative farmers to their conventional neighbours. Some of the numbers are truly astonishing: ✅ only -2% yields ✅ With 61% less fertiliser ✅ 75% less pesticides ✅ 20% higher gross margin per hectare Listen to the full episode to find out more 🎧

💶 What if farming subsidies were linked to: More photosynthesis More biodiversity More carbon in the soil More community resilience …instead of prescribed tools and practices that inhibit the farmers' creativity, and ultimately their ability to achieve these regenerative outcomes? In today's episode, a fascinating conversation with Simon Kraemer from the EARA | European Alliance for Regenerative Agriculture. We talk about: - why we need a new farming revolution - why regenerative beats conventional in every possible way - why this movement needs to be farmer-led - how the CAP works and how to change it “European regenerative farmers have demonstrated in the last 3 years that they can produce as much yields as their conventional neighbours, but with much less inputs” — Simon Kraemer ⎯ Listen to this episode now 🎧 available on all streaming platforms & Youtube This episode was made in partnership with Soil Capital ❤️

Why including PASTURES & GRAZING ANIMALS in a farming rotation is a total game-changer… read on for detailed and scientific explanations 👇 🌱 Build organic matter and boost soil life Temporary pastures with grasses and legumes feed the soil both above and below ground. The root systems exude carbon compounds that feed microbes and fungi, while decaying roots and surface biomass increase organic matter content. This leads to better nutrient cycling, stronger soil structure, and more water retention. After just a couple of seasons, you’ll often see looser, more aerated soils with far more biological activity and better resilience under stress. 🦠 Break disease and weed cycles Pastures introduce plant species that don’t host the same pests or diseases as common cash crops. This interrupts the lifecycle of pathogens and gives the microbial community time to rebalance. At the same time, the dense ground cover smothers weeds before they get established and prevents the weed seed bank from being constantly replenished. This natural break reduces the need for herbicides and gives following crops a healthier starting point. 💧 Reduce the need for inputs Legumes like clover fix nitrogen from the atmosphere and enrich the soil in a form plants can use. Grass roots help open up compacted layers, improving water infiltration and holding capacity. The increased soil cover from pasture species also reduces erosion and nutrient leaching. When you reintroduce crops into that system, they can access more nutrients and water without requiring the same level of external inputs, cutting both costs and chemical dependency. ♻️ Regenerate degraded fields that are “dead tired” from intensive cropping Pastures act as a recovery phase for soils that have been pushed too hard. Years of continuous cultivation, tillage and synthetic inputs often leave soils depleted, compacted and biologically inactive. A few seasons of pasture gives the soil a chance to rebuild its structure, replenish microbial life, and restore its basic functions. This can be the most effective way to bring struggling fields back into full production without chasing diminishing returns with more inputs. 💰 Improve overall farm profitability Pastures cut input needs by improving fertility and reducing weed pressure, which means less money spent on fertilisers, herbicides, and mechanical interventions. If livestock is integrated, those pastures become an income source instead of a cost centre. Plus, when you follow pasture with a cash crop, yields often increase because the soil is in better condition. The result is a more stable, resilient and profitable system over the full rotation, not just season by season. – Check out the latest Deep Seed episode, a 77 min conversation with Thomas Lecomte from Soil Capital Farming where we get deep into #regenerativeagriculture and agronomy topics! Link in the comments 👇