The Royal Bath & West of England Society announced a new prize fund offering two farmers or farm advisers in South West England £2,500 each towards a two-year regenerative farming programme called Roots to Regeneration (R2R). The prize fund, sponsored by the Worshipful Company of Grocers, aims to stimulate innovation in farm business models in response to climate change, biodiversity loss, soil health, animal welfare, and support farmer wellbeing. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

A new DEFRA-funded study, highlighted at LandAlive by its author Merrick Denton-Thomson, former president of The Landscape Institute, looked at the impact of farming on a single English county (Hampshire), and concluded that the cost of ‘clearing up’ after conventional farming - particularly excessive nitrogen use – is greater than the value of the food produced in the county. The conclusion: conventional farming is a drain on the local economy and public purse, in ways that regenerative farming would not be.​​​​​​​​

Sue Pritchard of the Food Farming & Countryside Commission highlighted recent research showing that poor food costs the country £268 billion every year in health, social care, welfare and productivity impacts. In 'The False Economy of Big Food' the FFCC suggests that establishing a new food economy based on more nourishing, regeneratively farmed food, would cost tax payers, Treasury and UK businesses much less, with huge benefits to health, productivity, quality of life and local economies. What's more, the FFCC's 'Food Conversations' with citizens across the UK suggest there's a huge appetite for such change.​​

Professor Andy Neal, Rothamsted soil scientist, FarmEd’s Ian Wilkinson and veteran regen farm Tim Parton took on the ‘Spraying versus tilling’ debate in light of a new understanding of the impact of each on soil and wider biodiversity, asking: 'How can we kick our Glyphosate habit?'  Tim Parton said he believes we are leaving ‘the chemical century’ behind: at the start of a new era of more restorative and profitable biological farming instead​

Regenerative agriculture investor Paul McMahon of SLM Partners, Simon Crichton from Triodos Bank, cotswold farmer cluster director Tim Coates and Alex Godfrey of Octopus Investments discussed new funding models for farms (which have traditionally relied on debt) such as equity investment, with farms increasingly seen as ‘stacked enterprises’ with income coming from environmental outcomes alongside food production, processing and distribution, energy generation, environmental tourism, etc.​​

Vet-turned-nutritionist Lucy Williamson pointed to evidence that intensive farming has caused a steady loss of nutrition levels in common food crops since the 1950s, but regenerative farming offers to reverse this because its inherent focus on soil health and biodiversity means more nutrients are formed within soils, producing more nutrient-dense crops (300 times more Omega 3s in 100% grass/pasture fed organic beef than grainfed for example). “Perhaps Regen could be the saviour of our creaking NHS?” she suggests.​

The LandAlive conference was conceived as an opportunity for farmers to get up-to-speed on the huge changes going on in farming in the context of the whole food system, said LandAlive programme director Graham Harvey. 'Paying attention to soil quality, rebuilding biodiversity and reducing dependence on chemical inputs is very much in the mainstream now,' he said. 'Given the bottom-line cost of inputs, and rising consumer demand for planet-friendly, gut-friendly food, it’s simply good business sense to look at more nature-based solutions.'​​

With dairy and cattle for beef accounting for over 40% of total output from farming in the South West, regenerative approaches to herd and pasture management were a key focus, drawing on evidence that grazing animals play an essential role in restoring soil fertility and biodiversity. A related theme was how to ‘weatherproof’ farms going forward, with farm advisor Niels Corfield leading a session on this with farmer Silas Hedley-Lawrence identifying poor soil and pasture health as a cause of systemic weaknesses in grazing operations, leading to lost productivity and unnecessary costs - but easily remediated once identified.​

Carol Paris, Chief Executive of the Royal Bath & West of England Society (co-hosts of the event) said: 'Our aim was to represent the whole food system, not just farming, but because farmers are busy people, we really wanted to make the experience as worthwhile and enjoyable as we could, and we knew that peer-to-peer learning would be critical to that. Getting so many pioneers of the regen movement - actual practitioners - in the room for farmers to interact with and challenge, really seemed to work. I think it’s been inspirational.”​

Tom Tolputt of Terrafarmer made the case for baselining and mapping improvements to soil health and biodiversity on farm, especially for dairy, backed up by Lucy Noad, a Wiltshire-based vet and dairy farmer, as well as Francis Clarke, director of Trewithen Dairy, who described their regenerative journeys and the critical role of data informing them. Lucy Noad said her focus on improving soil health had come with 'a massive boost of job satisfaction' as well as a 'regen premium'.​​​​​​​

Martin Lines, CEO of the Nature Friendly Farming Network and farming consultant Tim Williams (Earth Farmer) showed how biodiversity and profitable farming fit together, with Tim looking at ways to increase productivity on regeneratively managed farms. Meanwhile, Nikki Yoxall, grazier and Head of Research at Pasture For Life, joined Ian Wilkinson of FarmEd to talk about ‘the magic of diverse pastures’: good for animal health, soil health and water infiltration.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​