First Time in Germany:

Soil Health Academy

The Soil Health Academy was founded by experienced regenerative agriculture practitioners with the goal of helping farmers develop a deep understanding of and successfully apply proven regenerative agriculture practices. With the goal of achieving the regenerative turnaround. To create healthier soil, food, farms and communities for tomorrow. According to the initiative's chairman, David Brandt - who himself has been using regenerative agriculture practices since the early 1970s - this method can only be implemented on a widespread and scalable basis if farmers can put the principles for improving soil health on their land into practice..

Since its establishment in 2017, more than 500 participants from 12 countries have attended the Soil Health Academy's world-renowned and well-respected training courses. This has already resulted in a significant spread of regenerative agriculture methods. The Soil Health Academy has a team of experienced consultants and experts on the road, of whom Gabe Brown may be the best known on the scene. His book "Dirt to Soil" has just been published in German. His partner Dr. Allen Williams runs a well respected scientific blog, Ray Archuleta is a highly sought after panelist and speaker.

Undercropping or cover crops to protect against erosion, fix nitrogen and control weeds. These plants are planted to cover the soil rather than for the purpose of harvesting. This can help control soil erosion while improving soil fertility and soil quality and influencing factors such as water, weeds, pests, diseases, biodiversity and wildlife in an agroecosystem. Cover crops can be a seasonally independent crop that can also grow in winter and are planted after the crop is harvested. In German-speaking countries, little is found about this method.

In the broadest sense, land cultivation without plowing. The seed is placed in the unworked soil covered with the plant residues of the previous crop. Crop residues and catch crops remain on the field. This form of tillage also promotes the earthworm population. Earthworms are of great importance for healthy soil. Among other things, they perform deep loosening and transport crop residues down into the soil. In sum, this method has the effect of increasing the humus content in the soil, improving the structure of the soil, building up the microbiome (the microbial biomass) in the soil, and thus increasing soil fertility overall.

... or bionics is the science that deals with how phenomena in nature can be transferred to technology. A well-known example is the leaf of the lotus plant with its famous lotus effect. In the search for solutions to problems, natural systems are analyzed and applied to technical systems.

This is literally a grass-roots movement. In contrast to permanent grazing, an ingenious rotation system relies on the entire grazing area being divided into plots that are grazed intensively one after the other, while the grass on the other plots is allowed to rest and consequently grow back in its entirety. Not only above ground, but especially in the root zone. The soil thus becomes continuously less liable to soil erosion, it becomes more resistant and better able to respond to changing environmental conditions. There are gradations of intensity in this system, depending on the existing conditions.