Regenerative farming advocate Lukas Paltanavicius has said that the way we produce food "doesn't make sense" and has led to many of the problems that are experienced in today's food system.

"The food systems we have today [don't] make sense, the way we grow food, the way we eat and the way we treat soil.

"Regenerative farmers are going an extra mile to build new eco systems and build a new world," Paltanavicius said, speaking at COP27 on Saturday 12 November.

As part of his campaign 'Cycle to Farms', Paltanavicius and his partner have cycled over 4,000km to date cycling to different countries to see and learn more about regenerative farming.

Having started in the Netherlands, they are now in Egypt and their next destination is east Africa to Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania.

In total, they plan to cycle over 7,000km and visit over 15 regenerative farms.

Soil health

Regenerative farming, which in short seeks to rehabilitate and enhance the entire ecosystem of the farm by placing a heavy premium on soil health with attention also paid to water management and fertiliser use, is environmentally, socially and economically better than conventional farming.

In Jordan, Paltanavicius said, farmers there are already facing climate change consequences such as drought, desertification, water scarcity and biodiversity loss.

However, these "resilient farmers" are growing food in the desert despite there being quite difficult growing conditions.

Challenges

There are challenges that come with this type of farming Paltanavicius said, adding that more young people need to switch back to looking at agriculture as a career. And that's all kinds of agriculture.

"Regenerative agriculture is a lot of hard work, you need more people and especially young people," he said.

These farmers, he said, should be respected and supported, as they are taking "risky" and "courageous" moves to build this new world of agriculture.