Gijs Looman
Diego Varona
Main Expertise
- Dairy farm transition
- Operational management & Systems Thinking: defining actionable steps out of bigger visions
Language(s)
- Dutch
- English
- Some German
Based in
The Netherlands
Contact
Main Challenges for farmers transitioning
- For some conventional farms regenerative agriculture is a completely different world that is rather far away from their own narratives
- How to translate the regenerative ambitions to actionable steps, and move away from standardised agricultural “templates”
- There is no blueprint for a farm transition that explains how theory can be applied in practice within a specific context
Success stories
Observing how the training farm dealt with soil compaction, and then returning to my parents’ farm to address the similar challenges through the soil decompaction methods I learned.
One principle you wish more people understood
To read and interpret soil samples in depth, understanding what the numbers represent and what the different indicators actually reveal about soil conditions
“Regenerative agriculture means getting the most from limited resources by working with nature and strengthening its systems so they can thrive and produce at their full potential.”
— What regenerative agriculture means to me
What you would say to future students of the agronomist program
- At the training farm, stay open, get involved in as many activities as possible
- Note down what you learn and experience without thinking too much in the moment about it. But later take the time to reflect these experiences and check how these notes apply in your transition farm or other contexts.
My future ambitions after this training
- Working at my parents farm as a farmer
- Help other farmers as a agronomist
- Doing experiments on the farm land and go beyond the day to day farming operations
Learn Directly from the Experts
Apply for the next Regenerative Agronomy Training.
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