For Matthew Hayes, a flying visit to Groundswell 2024, the UK annual festival for regenerative agriculture, provides a brief period off the farm in mid-season, and a moment for reflection. There he visits his son Kristof. As the founder of a young startup offering appropriate technology solutions to nature friendly farming businesses, Kristof is forging his own path in the regen ag space.
In this letter written together, father and son agree on the importance of bringing together big ag and small-scale farmers under one roof. Notwithstanding the complex push and pull factors of farming for the next generation, it’s a solid grounding in shared values that led Kristof to give agriculture another go – on his own terms.
By Kristof and Matthew Hayes
Kristof:
Groundswell has been going for over a decade – started as a gathering by farmers to share knowledge and experience on techniques that promote farming closer to nature. It has since grown to attract crowds who join talks and debates in packed tents, stands of exhibitors meeting with farming businesses who are regenerating soils and an overall elated festival atmosphere – where generations, ideas and fashion choices cross-pollinate. This year it even caught the attention of the royal family, with senior members rumoured to be in attendance.
Matthew:
This was my first visit to Groundswell, and I was mightily impressed. Of course, the line up of mega-horsepowered tractors sporting multiple direct (no-till) seed drills are impressive in themselves. But I wasn’t there to take in the ‘Big Ag’ transformation (welcome as it is – though it is a little disconcerting to see the number of large investors strutting their stuff, alluring farmers with promises of carbon credits). Rather, I was there to visit my son, Kristof.
As a long-time new peasant, hoping to transform the agricultural and food landscape from the ground up, I could hardly be expected to just pass by what was on offer at Groundswell. ‘Regen’ sometimes gets a bit of a hammering in deep green circles (and sometimes in the mainstream press). If it is not being poo-poohed by the fertiliser industry, or the more conservative scientific community, it gets regular bashings from the grassroots for being way too open to greenwashing. No doubt the ‘greenwashing’ tag sometimes sticks, but my experience at Groundswell 2024 was wholly positive. Aside from the fact that my favourite regen guru, John Kempf, was fully represented in the festival’s Sessions programme (if you are not familiar with his work and Regenerative Agriculture podcast, I suggest you immediately plug into your preferred podcast platform), and the eclectic mix of businesses, civil organisations, research institutes, alongside the odd snakeoil trader, there was a wonderfully pleasant atmosphere which prevailed.
Kristof:
As the founder of listt.io, Groundswell is also an opportunity to extend my network: farmers who have a long-term, multi-generational view of safeguarding landscapes while running resilient food production operations, patient investors who are looking for stable, safe returns and policymakers who want to learn more about growing food in harmony with nature – and the myriad of benefits that come with it.
On a personal level it was a reflection of how far a pre-revenue startup can come when supported by the right partners. Working with farming families who are dedicated to challenging the status quo is evidence that even if things seem uncertain, it’s worth giving things a go if the motivations are sound. I couldn’t hope for a better customer-base, but then again I am somewhat biased.
Matthew:
It seems to me the real magic of the two days was the mingling without borders between two camps (I slightly stereotype here): the moleskin-clad representatives of big ag.com, and the more bearded, more hairy, always intensely critical representatives of small-scale grassroots farming (my tribe). There was plenty on offer for both camps, and also plenty of opportunity to rub shoulders with each other – and perhaps even occasionally share insights.
I found the festival sessions which I attended (set up in a variety of sizes of tents, to provide shade from the climate changed solar rays) very well planned and curated. If listening to improving lectures didn’t inspire, then there were numerous exhibitors to visit, or at worst, soak up some regen beer from the beer tent, or binge from the array of real food catering wagons.
In my world this mingling between the industrial scale and the micro scale is very rare, though very welcome when it happens. With no slight intended against the organic movement, one thing regenerative farming seems to have managed is to speak an accessible language to many shades of farmers; like it or not, over the years the organic movement has often been off-putting to many ‘normal’ farmers, by perhaps all too frequently inhabiting the ‘holier-than-thou’ high ground.
Groundup succession
Matthew:
Which brings me onto the future of farming, and our own family. We are not exactly the classic family farm, looking to pass on to the next generation. I come from non-farming stock, and though, through a good deal of old-fashioned farming pig-headedness, I decided to dedicate my working life to farming, we don’t really run the standard family farm. Zsámboki Biokert is more of a collective of committed dreamers and doers (we hesitate to use the term “cooperative”, as this has unfortunate connotations in Hungary), but we do concern ourselves with the question of generational succession.
I am now 62, and though not looking to get out of farming anytime soon, what I can see, like many other farmers and growers, is the question of, “What legacy have I left?” I don’t mean this primarily in terms of “What have I left for the kids to inherit?”, but rather: “What have I devoted my time to these last 40 years, which may be attractive to my offspring, or other younger inheritors of the earth?”
The hard fact is often an unattractive display of self-imposed slavery, uninvested time with the family, and not too much in the bank (maybe a little harsh, but not far off the mark). With this inheritance, it is maybe not surprising that all of my three older children scattered far and wide, away from my farming enterprises, as soon as they had the chance. Interestingly, however, Kristof might have gotten a little bitten…
Kristof:
As Matthew says, my own working life started with a ‘great escape’ from the intense, manual work that is organic vegetable production. It influenced my choice in moving towards automation and robotics – first in an industrial context working for large corporates, then increasingly towards startups where the freedom to operate is coupled with pressures of resource scarcity and general cluelessness. This attitude of striving for success against the odds is something I detect in farmers. Not farming is not an option. Constantly innovating is a necessity.
As I move closer toward the farming community, my own interest in growing food closer to nature is stimulated. My interests are different to my father’s. I like the sound of introducing livestock onto arable operations. But what I’ve inherited is the value system: to respect diversity and complexity in nature, to develop community, to strive for resilience over fragile growth. If I can square new tools, technologies, management practices and economic models with this frame of reference, I am in a good place to call myself a farmer’s son.
As a wider reflection on succession, if farming families are able to pass on their core values – which in the majority of cases include safeguarding land, and producing good quality food at fair prices – as opposed to their outdated and sometimes damaging operational methods, we will see truly significant transformations in our food systems.
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