At Senus, formerly known as FARMEYE, we’ve had a busy few weeks in the UK market, exhibiting at both Down to Earth and Groundswell for the first time. These events very much represent the diverse spectrum of those on the regenerative agriculture journey.
Groundswell: A Festival of Regenerative Agriculture and Innovation
Groundswell stands out as the leading UK regenerative event, drawing a sold-out crowd of 8000 attendees to Lannock Manor farm. It’s not your typical agricultural event; instead, it resembles a vibrant festival where practitioners of regenerative agriculture converge to hear from leading industry voices like John Kempf, Joel Williams, and Odette Ménard, and meet with the extended regen community. The event spans over two days with more than 300 speakers across ten stages, covering a breadth of topics crucial to regen ag.
The atmosphere across the event is electric and like nothing I’ve experienced at any show across the UK. Attendees, many of whom chose to camp onsite, are committed to the regenerative movement, eagerly participating in knowledge-sharing sessions focused on key aspects such as soil health, cover cropping and agroforestry (often over a pint of Wildfarmed beer).
For our team at Senus, it was a brilliant opportunity to engage with and learn from both potential new users and existing customers of our platform. These people are at the forefront of innovation in this space and are deeply immersed in the regenerative agriculture community. Through these interactions, we not only shared insights into our technology but also gained invaluable feedback and perspectives that ultimately guide us in enhancing our platform to better serve their needs.
Down to Earth: Empowering Livestock Farmers with Regenerative Practices
A week later, we travelled north to Grosvenor Farm in Chester for Down to Earth, an event tailored specifically for livestock farmers eager to embrace regenerative farming principles and transition towards more environmentally sustainable practices.
In contrast to the vibrant festival of Groundswell, Down to Earth caters primarily to livestock farmers who are newer to regenerative practices. The event is to serve as an educational platform, helping traditional livestock farmers understand and implement regenerative and sustainable practices on farm.
Similarly, contrasted with Groundswell, Grosvenor Farm is a large-scale livestock farm with 2,500 cows across the impressive Grosvenor estate. The content from the main stage featured a mix of key stakeholders from across the supply chain, such as Tesco, Muller and Kite Consulting, discussing sustainability in livestock. Discussions at our stand focused more on the understanding of natural capital and how to begin that journey, as opposed to the more developed discussions had at Groundswell.
Bridging the Regenerative Journey: Supporting All Farmers with Accessible Technology
For UK agriculture, these events represent the two ends of the regenerative journey, both of which need to be served by the sector and by technology like ours to facilitate wider adoption of the practices they champion.
There is a risk at building the barriers to entry for newer regen-curious farmers by serving only the leaders in this space. Similarly, we may dismay those innovators by not growing with them. For our technology specifically, this is a consideration we must integrate into our work across natural capital, allowing for easy-to-interpret insights on soil health, carbon, and biodiversity, while also providing the depth of analysis that some may seek.
All in all, it has been a great experience for our team to speak with and learn from users and contacts as we look ahead to growing our platform in the second half of the year and beyond.
Kevin Fennelly
UK Country Manager at Senus
