About the episode
Regenerative agriculture, a set of farming practices that build the fertility of soils, holds great promise for mitigating climate change, improving crop yields, and increasing profits for farmers.
But in Europe and other industrial areas, farmers practice industrial agriculture, which depletes soils, reduces production, and causes loss of biodiversity.
Philippe Birker, co-founder Climate Farmers, works with regenerative farmers to establish nature-based farming at scale in Europe.
In Episode 6 of Climate Levers, you’ll learn how Climate Farmers helps overcome the three biggest obstacles to wider adoption of regenerative farming:
*Young people in Europe have mostly lost interest in farming as a way of life, and many older farmers are unwilling to change their established habits.
*Farmers lack access to useful, convenient information about regenerative farming.
*It often takes three to five years to make regenerative farming profitable. To make the switch, farmers need financing to help them through the transition period.
Mentioned in the episode:
*Climate Farmers: https://www.climatefarmers.org/
*Philippe Birker: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philippe-birker-94960014/
*Climate Farmers Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/climatefarmers/
*Kiss The Ground: https://kisstheground.com/
*Gabe Brown: http://brownsranch.us/
*John Kempf: https://www.advancingecoag.com/john
*Richard Perkins: https://www.richardperkins.co/
*EIT Foods: https://www.eitfood.eu/
*Cem Özdemir: https://europeangreens.eu/content/some-background-info-cem-%C3%B6zdemir
*Christian Holzleitner: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-holzleitner-51b7155/?originalSubdomain=be
*European Regenerative Agriculture Manifesto: https://www.climatefarmers.org/european-regenerative-agriculture-manifesto/
*Rudolf Buehler: https://regenerativeskills.com/allan-savory-ana-digon-and-rudolf-buehler-on-building-community-in-agriculture/
*Book All about Love: New Visions by Bell Hooks: https://bookshop.org/books/all-about-love-new-visions/9780060959470
*The Overstory by Richard Powers: https://bookshop.org/books/the-overstory-0b6e2046-f62f-40aa-8589-97b751cbcfc8/9780393356687
*Christian Kroll: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-53922786
About the guest
Philippe Birker grew up in the countryside in Germany. That’s where he learned about the challenges of industrial agriculture.
In early adulthood, Philippe moved to the city and worked for several startups. As he made friends in Amsterdam and elsewhere, he felt the urge to introduce them to the pleasures of country life.
He and some friends bought an abandoned village in Portugal in 2017 and started rebuilding the village as a “fun project.” As their work progressed, Philippe became interested in permaculture. That’s a set of methods that make agricultural ecosystems sustainable and self-sufficient.
Philippe’s interest in permaculture led to his discovery of regenerative agriculture. Impressed by the many benefits of regenerative farming, he began looking for ways to spread its adoption.
He connected with about 60 regenerative farmers in Portugal. They told him about three main obstacles they faced in scaling their operations. So Philippe co-founded Climate Farmers in 2019 to make it easier for industrial farmers to switch to regenerative practices.
