Taking action

What we learned at Groundswell

Buyer Victoria Mason MW reports back on a visit to a regenerative agriculture festival in Hertfordshire.

Victoria Mason MW

Victoria Mason MW

Groundswell

Dubbed the ‘Glastonbury of farming’ (for very good reason, when you factor in the late-night live music and the camping), Groundswell is a regenerative agriculture festival which started as a conference for farmers by farmers. The eighth annual Groundswell took place at Lannock Manor Farm in Hertfordshire in June this year. Being practically on our doorstep, we thought it a good idea for some of us to go along and find out more.

Proving true to its name, Groundswell has gained momentum at an incredible pace, this year attracting around 8,000 visitors, including but not limited to gardeners, chefs, food and drinks retailers, writers, students, policy makers, and, of course, all types of farmers. The dazzling programme featured more than 300 speakers – discussing everything from biodiversity monitoring to restoring water cycles, from the beneficial role of trees on sheep farms to mindset change – as well as field ‘safaris’ and myriad live demonstrations.

I attended the first day of the event along with Dom de Ville, our director of sustainability, and Simon Mason, our head of wine sustainability, and between the three of us we covered as much ground as possible (forgive the pun!). It was actually the second year that The Wine Society team were present at Groundswell, enabling us to actively engage in the conversation about how regenerative agricultural principles can be applied to wine grape growing to achieve a viticulture which is truly sustainable, in all senses of the word – environmentally, economically, and socially.

Viticulture is a relative newcomer to Groundswell, with this year marking the first time that the Regenerative Viticulture Foundation (RVF) had their own stand, but so much of the programme resonates with the challenges our wine producers are facing and the questions they are asking themselves about how best to farm their unique piece of land in the changing climatic conditions. There is a lot to be said for the exchange of knowledge across different farming disciplines and here I outline my top takeaways for viticulture from this year’s festival.

Top takeaways for viticulture

  1. Don’t ‘go cold turkey’ and remove synthetic inputs in one season. The headline act at Groundswell 2024 was John Kempf, founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture and host of the Regenerative Agriculture podcast. His opening session explored ‘untapped potential in regenerative ag’ and one of his key messages was that growers ‘need to earn the right’ to eradicate synthetic inputs (pesticides, herbicides, and fertilisers), a message which was echoed in various sessions. First, natural resilience needs to be built up, before synthetic applications can be reduced, gradually, over time. In other words, the soil needs to be healthy and alive – and functioning as an ecosystem – to support plants in fighting pests and diseases and to supply nutrition. Kempf explained that crucial to building a healthy soil microbiome, capable of carrying out these services, is a plant population from many different family groups. In the monoculture of a vineyard, one first step towards improving soil health is introducing diverse cover crops between the vines.
  2. Organic isn’t the holy grail. Sometimes the terms ‘organic’ and ‘regenerative’ are conflated but many speakers at Groundswell took the view that farming regeneratively does not require an organic (zero use of synthetics) starting point, and that selective and precise applications of synthetic inputs can – in some environments – be more beneficial overall for the farm, than none at all. This is one of the more contentious areas of the regenerative movement, and the subject of much debate. While there can be a tendency to take the position that all synthetics are detrimental to soil health, the range of sessions at Groundswell made it clear that the practical reality is much more nuanced. For example, from a viticultural perspective, a very targeted, low-dose herbicide application under the vine area may negate the need to plough the soil to remove weeds, a mechanical action which is potentially more destructive of soil life.
  3. At the core of regenerative farming is continuous improvement. The growers who presented at Groundswell showed that regenerative farming requires a curious and open mind and a trial-and-error mentality. The Samuel Beckett quote, ‘Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better’ springs to mind here! John Cherry, custodian of Lannock Manor Farm and driving force behind Groundswell says: ‘As I constantly point out, we are still learning and I don’t want to give anyone the idea that we run a model farm here…’ This theme of ‘we are still learning’ emerged in so many of the sessions, with farmers who are leading regenerative practitioners emphasising that they are on a journey and will continue to review and revise their practices indefinitely. This highlighted why it is so important that wine producers have a forum for exchanging viticultural learnings and sharing both problems and solutions (one of the RVF’s objectives).
  4. While regenerative principles are universal, regenerative practices are context dependent. Groundswell really re-emphasised for me that regenerative farming demands agility and adaptation for the specific site – defined as it is by its (changing) climate, topography, and soil. This is as true for viticulture as for all types of agriculture and it was conveyed so strongly at this year’s Groundswell that there is no one recipe. As such, the practices associated with regenerative are often referred to as a ‘toolkit’, to be deployed as appropriate.

My 24-hour stint at Groundswell was hugely informative and thought provoking, as well as brilliantly uplifting. As suggested by John Kempf, it feels as though the paradigm is shifting, away from the dominant and default position of perceiving agriculture as inherently extractive, to a new – and yet old – understanding of agriculture as having the potential and the power to restore and regenerate.

Groundswell

Having recently launched our Climate and Nature Programme, which seeks to enable our producers to implement regenerative practices and projects in their vineyards through targeted funding, you can expect to hear a lot more from us on this topic in the coming weeks and months.

>> Read more about regenerative viticulture

>> The differences between organic, biodynamic and regenerative practices explained

Victoria Mason MW

Wine Buyer

Victoria Mason MW

Victoria joined The Society in May 2024 to cover Sarah Knowles MW’s maternity leave, buying Italy, Champagne, and the USA. She has just become a Master of Wine with her research paper investigating the enablers and barriers to regenerative viticulture in Stellenbosch.

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