Join the Lighthouse Farm Movement

La Junquera farm is one of the several farms worldwide participating in the WUR Lighthouse Farm Academy that have embarked on a journey towards regenerative agriculture in daring ways, thus providing insights that force us to look and think differently and open our minds. Several of these farms are actually proving many of the current food system paradigms and assumptions to be wrong and limiting the much-needed transformation of farming globally. For instance, the Palopuro farm in Finland, which is showing that energy production from biomass and food production do not necessarily compete. They have, on the contrary, found a way to do both, by turning their cover crops in to biogas and using the highly nutritional residues for precision fertilization, which led them to actually produce more food.

Shades of green: definition or common language? So what is regenerative agriculture? There are many definitions and approaches out there and a growing concern that the concept is being used to greenwash existing practices and that this will hamper the much-needed transformation of agriculture. Based on comparative research of Wageningen University, we had to conclude that providing a definition is virtually impossible. By analyzing five “shades of green” – agroecology, organic, circular, climate smart and regenerative - the researchers tried to come to a classification and a definition, and concluded that rather than trying to come to a definition and end up in endless debates about what can be considered as such and what not, it is more important to establish a common language. A common language based on proven and new frameworks developed from insights and learnings from the Lighthouse Farms.

The four returns: a pathway for successful landscape restoration. The training was built on the proven four returns framework for landscape restoration developed by Commonland, with day one evolving around the return of inspiration, day two around natural returns, day three around social returns and day four around financial returns. The framework guided us in understanding and applying the different returns, which are all equally important factors of success. The impressive story of the Atsbi catchment in drought and war struck Tigray, Ethiopia, where on top the Covid pandemic and a locust plague struck, showed us the importance of community resilience when times get extremely tough. We were lucky to have Tewodros Asresehegn with us, who is dedicating his lifetime career to the restoration of the catchment and with it the livelihoods of the people that depend on it.

Indicators of success. To measure is to know, but what to measure? Many people, through many different platforms, have tried to agree on harmonized minimum data sets for sustainability, but have not succeeded. The context specific differences are just too many… The conclusion of the Lighthouse Farm Academy scientists was that instead of harmonizing the indicators, it might be better to harmonize the process instead. They have developed a process and started testing it with different types of stakeholders, including businesses, who are wanting to contribute to sustainability and who want to be able to measure and show progress from their specific role and activities in the food system, in the specific locations they operate in or impact on.

Measuring soil health. Regenerative agriculture takes soil health as the starting point. It should be possible to measure this, but first agreement must be there on what is meant by soil health. The EU funded Landmark research project, performed from 2014 to 2019 in nineteen different countries, aimed to come to a common understanding, which resulted in a framework outlining five different functions of land: production (in support of the 5 Fs), water regulation and purification, carbon regulation, biodiversity, and nutrient cycling. The next challenge was to from here develop the indicators. This was done through the Soil Health Benchmarks project, which is now being finalized.

The different functions identified were analyzed from both the perspective and interests of the farmer and those of society, at different levels, from farm and local level, to province and watershed, up to the regional and national level. It is clear for instance that, while for society - in view of reducing CO2 emissions - the more carbon is captured in soil organic matter in soils the better, the farmer will strive for functionality through an optimum percentage of soil organic matter in support of an optimal production versus cost level, which in turn differs strongly depending on local situations and conditions.

To balance these sometimes contradicting interests, five indicator categories were developed based on the five soil functions. Consequently, soils can be scored on their contribution to functional objectives and societal objectives per each of the soil functions. For a farm to be called regenerative, it should have no low-level scores for any of the categories, and at least three out of five high level scores at the functional = farm level. These scores in turn have to be adjusted to context, as for instance the already mentioned optimal and feasible soil organic matter levels will differ greatly from one place to another because of soil type and weather conditions. For a landscape to be called regenerative, it should have five out of five high level scores at the regional level. ?

Dealing with the unimaginable: the a, b, c, d of resilience. Based on current, extreme weather events, we can predict that the frequency of these will only increase in the future. In Spain, the extreme rains in Valencia and the devastating mud streams that followed, were unprecedented. For La Junquera, it meant a test of the different dams, swales and ponds they had constructed in the past years to prevent soil erosion. With 40 liters of rain per m2 within eight hours, the rains were very heavy, but not as extreme as in Valencia, where up to around 500 liter per m2 were measured. The constructions they had made passed the test, but some dams were damaged, and it was clear that whatever is being built and done will have to withstand far more extreme weather events than initially taken into account. It also made clear that if the neighbour a bit higher up is not practicing regenerative practices, the water and run-off from there will be bigger and overall damage harder to control. A landscape approach is necessary and the investments needed are considerable.

The example of the Atsbi catchment in Ethiopia shows us how local communities were able to deal with a combination of extreme and unpredictable events of different kinds all coming together, because of resilience. On top of droughts, Covid struck, locusts destroyed their harvests and on top of that, war came and isolated Tigray from the rest of the country and the world. They refer to it as ‘the Special Period’. Together with Wageningen University, Tewodros investigated at ground level how the farmer communities were able to survive. Four main elements were identified, that together make up the abcd of resilience: agency, buffers, community, and diversity. As we know, all these elements have been heavily undermined by our current food system in many agricultural communities worldwide, which, on the contrary, has created unequal dependencies, depleted much needed financial, social and ecological buffers of different kinds, undermined the social tissue of communities and put enormous pressure on biodiversity in various ways.

Resilience is the new efficiency. The most important learning of the La Junquera and Atsbi catchment stories, is that “resilience is the new efficiency”. The current economic agricultural strategies, policies and practices have created far too many seemingly irreversible trade-offs for people and nature, in the form of destroyed, impoverished, and increasingly abandoned agricultural landscapes worldwide. If we are to face the sustainability challenges of today and tomorrow, efficiency should be no more than an element of a far broader strategy aimed at restoring landscapes and creating resilience at the local level. The current profit driven and efficiency-based strategies of the dominant food system actors have in fact never served the interests of farmers nor that of the ecosystems and natural resources they rely on. If we continue business as usual in times of increasingly uncontrollable and unexpected events at a global and a local scale, in the uncountable places where soils, water sources, biodiversity and the communities that rely on them are seriously degraded, farming will soon be a profession of the past.

The strategy of tomorrow must therefore be aimed at transforming the current food system by building resilience in agricultural landscapes, in the most efficient way possible. A strategy that takes a more localized approach and prepares our communities, our food systems and our economies for extreme events of any kind.

Diversification is the new specialization. If resilience is the new efficiency, diversification is the new specialization needed. Our economic and financial systems are built on economic efficiency as the best way to generate short term financial returns at different levels. Efficiency can be gained through specialization and scale. In this model, diversity must be avoided, because it adds complexity. Resilient farms, farmer communities and landscapes however need diversity. To take it one step further: resilience equals diversity. This is a huge dilemma, which we will have to address.

Join the movement. The Lighthouse Farms are exploring new pathways and shed some light on what the future of farming could look like. They also show us how current policies, practices and investments are not supportive to, and even undermine and obstruct their endeavors. They clearly show their needs, while the insights that come from their experience can inspire and guide policy and decision makers, as well as stakeholders of all kinds to act differently. To facilitate this, we will have to reach a common – down to earth – understanding of regenerative agriculture and develop a common language.

These farmers could not do so without the Lighthouse Farm Academy, and the community that is being built from there. I therefore wholeheartedly recommend readers to join the Lighthouse Farm Academy, to learn and to get inspired to contribute and be part of the much-needed change, wherever you are seated.