Hamish Bielski from Rehoboth Farm has been implementing regenerative agriculture for the last few years. 

He’s put in diverse pasture species to create diverse root systems.

“The more I started understanding about the water cycle, the nutrient cycle, the energy cycle and biodiversity, the more I understood that growing crops goes against all of those things. Cropping is probably one of the most un-natural things you can do in a natural environment.

“You give off soil carbon, you start to destroy soil structure, destroy microorganisms and your water runoff is increased.” 

Hamish says the farm has reduced synthetic fertiliser per hectare from up to 1000 litres down to 5. The litres of diesel per hectare has been decreased from around 200 litres per hectare down to 20.

At the same time, profits have doubled.