Editor’s View: Government needs ‘quiet regenners’ to succeed
© AdobeStock Are you one of farming’s “quiet regenners”?
These secretive types dabble in the dark arts of regenerative agriculture without noisily broadcasting it to the world – something they slightly resent the early adopters for doing.
A quiet regenner wants to change the minimum amount possible to see the benefits to soil health and the bottom line, but cling onto as much as possible of what they enjoy about their routine conventional farming.
See also: Opinion: Regen farming only works for those who own land
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Ever-increasing market volatility and subsidy turmoil have some farm advisers saying this furtive group is a growing segment of the farming population. But what do they actually look like?
Well, they still own their plough, at least for show, even if the mouldboards are getting increasingly rusty. They are having a go at reducing their bagged nitrogen use, but will still moan loudly in a WhatsApp group about how they bought their last load at the wrong time.
They may even attend Groundswell, the annual festival of regen that took place again in Hertfordshire this week, but assure their even-more-sceptical friends that they spent most of their time gossiping in the Earthworm Arms bar or scoffing at the composting enthusiasts.
They are the ones who put their hand up at a meeting and say: “I don’t like the term regenerative, because it’s divisive. Isn’t it actually what we’ve been doing all along?”
But if you get a chance to have a furtive look at their bookshelves, you might just find Gabe Brown’s Dirt to Soil lurking in there with a freshly cracked spine next to something much jollier, such as Cleo Watson’s Downing Street bonkbuster Whips or the latest money-spinner from Richard Osman.
In short, quiet regenners don’t particularly care if the UK hits its targets to mitigate the impact of climate change, but are pragmatic enough to go with the flow if there is a good enough payment for an action, particularly if they’re doing it already.
Why should we care about them?
Why should we care about them? Because the government and the environmental lobby see them as an essential part of their plans. It’s not possible to be a regen ag early adopter now.
That club is closed to new entrants as it’s been a part of the farming discourse for too long. But what is still up for grabs is how big a part of the mainstream it will occupy – and policymakers and green groups need it to be big.
At Groundswell this week, a report compiled by an independent economist for the RSPB, the National Trust and the Wildlife Trusts revealed that it would cost £4.4bn/year (roughly £1bn more than now) for the taxpayer to pay farmers to deliver all of the natural and environmental targets it needs from them.
As well as more cash, it will also require the vast majority of farmers to participate – something that is challenging because folk are unconvinced by the new schemes, but also because regen agriculture has a slight image problem.
Full-on doubters and quiet regenners are, as mentioned, a little irritated by the holier-than-thou aura that they would say surrounds some of the most vocal proponents as it hints that non-regenners are at the root of some of farming’s perceived problems.
For regenerative agriculture to continue to march towards being regarded as mainstream normality, it will require as many folk as possible to embrace it incrementally. Quiet regenners, your time has come.