Country Life

Is this the new rock and roll?

THIS summer, two very British festivals took place. Both saw crowds of people in Wellingtons and denim cut-offs gathering in fields to camp, drink beer and dance a summer’s evening away. Those attending Somerset’s Glastonbury Festival had come for the music. Those at Groundswell in Hertfordshire, however, were there to share ideas about something being described as ‘the new rock and roll’: regenerative farming.

In 2017, brothers John and Paul Cherry hosted the first Groundswell festival in a shed on their farm, when 450 farmers came together to discuss techniques such as direct drilling and cover cropping. Six years on, that number has swelled to 5,000.

Regenerative farming seems to have captured the imagination of both government and big business—George Eustice, Secretary of State for Defra, chose Groundswell to launch the Government’s new Sustainable Farming Incentive and the fast-food chain McDonald’s is trialling regenerative-grazing methods. However, with no agreed definition or regulation, what does regenerative agriculture actually mean?

Regenerative farming seems to have captured the imagination of both government and big business

The answer

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