A Regen Roadmap

Taking a regenerative approach to farming requires a new paradigm. A new lens for how we see the world and how we see our farming businesses. It is much like choosing a new map to look at. That roadmap that’s shoved down the side of your car seat will be useful if you’re driving somewhere, but useless if you are hiking footpaths. The map they show on the weather report is great for planning when to have a picnic, but it won’t show you any political boundaries (if you stumble into communist territory, the picnic’s a goner).

On a digital map, you can click through these layers at ease; satellite, road, terrain etc. It’s very useful. We can also change our ‘map layers’ in real life. Depending on our goals, we see things through new perspectives. When you’re interested in buying a certain car, you start seeing them on every street. 

Farmers who are putting nature first have, for one reason or another, downloaded a new set of map layers. Perhaps out of curiosity, perhaps out of necessity. But they can now see and monitor new metrics: plant dynamics, energy flow, soil health, water cycles, mineral cycles etc. To start with, these maps will be quite rudimentary, like an old pirates map on stained paper. But that doesn’t matter, it’s the awareness that matters. Over time, through iteration and feedback loops, the eye of the farmer gets trained and the map becomes clearer.