Maarten presented this during the YLAD seminar and field day on 10-11 October 2012 for their 10th year anniversary.
Maarten talked about the following points:
- Demand for chemical-free, healthy food
- Farming Systems in working ecosystems, complex but resilient
- Systems too complex for single-factor science – holistic approach needed
- Biosensitivity: manage with observation and feelings, not numbers
- Change of paradigm needed in practice & science
- Self-development, learn by doing & participatory learning
- Built knowledge network with locals
- Slow changing climates by carbon sequestration, emission reduction & water retention
- Become sustainable with the triple bottom line: people-finance-resources
Biological Farming or Regenerative Farming is the way to sustainably feed the world in the future with quality food from soils regenerated by and with soil carbon under much reduced needs for synthetic inputs. Maarten describes the process as the 3rd way of farming, a step-by-step transition from Industrial (input-output) to Biologic-Organic (soil health) Farming Systems. The step-by-step approach allows the agro-ecosystem, including the soil, to adjust in natures timing during successive seasons. Keeping the budgets per hectare the same, a workable first step is a 20% of budget change into biologicals.