Regeneration – that was the theme of the event held recently at a farm in Trinity in September, and specifically it was about regenerative food and farming, a concept about which we hear more and more these days.
The event was called Regen Gathering 25, and it was similar to and inspired by the much larger Groundswell Festivalevent in the UK, which has been called ‘the Glastonbury Festival of farming’.
The Regen Gathering in Jersey is now in its third year, and has become an annual festival, focussing on farmers and health and the links that should exist between farming and finance. It is a forum for farmers, and anyone interested in food production or the environment to learn about the theory and practical applications of ‘conservation agriculture’ or regenerative systems.
As always at Regen, there were panel discussions, talks, workshops and technical demonstrations on a wide range of loosely connected subjects, with an over-arching theme of rethinking how to approach changing our food, farming, healthcare systems and market conditions to value the best agroecological farming market conditions.
The Regen Gathering included a very wide of related subjects, but in short, it is where agriculture meets the environment – ‘agroecology’.
In essence, it is all about building a rural community and inspiring hope and optimism and imagination. It’s about getting people excited about reconnecting with the land and the opportunities and potential that might exist. The concept is a vehicle for people who don’t have access to land, for people who are new entrants, and who would like to farm but don’t come from families with farming backgrounds.
All the time, in all the talks and presentations, the unspoken theme is the regrettable atomisation of the rural way of life – in all spheres of life, actually – and what might be done to make the rural community a real and viable community once again. Society and social relations seem to have lost their way. People are meant to live in community and to work together, and that sense of community needs to be … well, regenerated.
The same concepts are embodied in the name of the location (and its story) where the gathering was held – Le Tâcheron Farm, in Trinity.
The name ‘Le Tâcheron’ is an old Jersey word meaning ‘the team’ – the ideal potato harvesting team of three people, each one of them with a specific role. Jersey’s success in agriculture has always been built on teamwork and for the owners of Le Tâcheron Farm, the word symbolises the relationship between the farm and the environment, the farmer and the community, the ploughman and his horse – in other words, ‘the team’.
But it could also just as easily represent symbiotic relationships between the soil and microorganisms, and, in many respects, the synergies encapsulated within the meaning of the word Le Tâcheron: literally, at the very roots of regeneration.
And Le Tâcheron Farm? Well, there’s a lot of regeneration in that, as well. There are not many farms, these days, that one can say ‘are new and are built from scratch’. This one, made principally out of wood, does look already as if it has been around for a long time rather than just over a year.
The three-man team of owners – two brothers and a cousin – hope to support and unite Jersey’s agricultural community. One of the three directors, Charles Le Maistre, told the assembled audience: ‘Our regenerative journey is just beginning. We have lots to learn. We are not focussed purely on holistic land management but on helping to play our part to support and unite Jersey’s rural community, something we consider to be the bedrock not only of this event but of Jersey’s unique cultural identity.
‘We are proud to unite farmers, smallholders, gardeners, fisher people and associated organisations at our farm to learn from each other.’
The concept of regeneration is not out on a limb, the private or idiosyncratic ideas of a small and idealistic minority. The support of government and its farming policies are very supportive — it is incentivising and rewarding the best agroecological farming practices, and it is also supportive of people wanting to try to start smallholdings and small farms.
Presentations and workshops included subjects such as ‘can farming break its Glyphosate dependency?’ How can market gardens make money? Hedge planting opportunities with Jersey Trees for Life, soil health and ecological field walks, equine land use and management…. ‘something for all the family,’ as they say.
A new bakery was launched at Le Tâcheron. The French-trained baker, Lucie Gaignol-Duval, will be operating ‘Lucie’s Boulange’ as Le Tâcheron’s resident baker, using Le Tâcheron’s flours and cereals wherever possible to produce a field to fork bread and patisserie journey of less than a mile — a Jersey first. Lucie gave a baking demonstration in her new kitchen.
A new £20,000 prize aimed at transforming food, farming, and health systems has been launched, with a minimum £5,000 being awarded to an applicant from the Crown Dependencies – Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man.
The ‘Food System Prize’ is all about encouraging innovation and is open to new or existing businesses with great ideas or solutions which reimagine how we grow, distribute and eat food. It’s also open to individuals or startups specialising in anything from soil health to the health of communities.
Regen Gathering Jersey is behind the inaugural prize, and Regen Gathering and HYPHA consulting co-founder Taylor Smythe said the idea was to support farmers and entrepreneurs who are driving real change: ‘Building resilience and diversity into our supply chains is absolutely vital. There’s a huge untapped opportunity to bring imagination and creativity into real community and the farming sector.’
Applications to The Food System Prize will close on 25 October and the winners will be announced on 6 November 2025 at the Jersey Farming Conference.
And there was much more: producers’ stalls, organisations’ stalls, films and discussions.
Regen was blessed with the weather: hot sunshine on both days. With over 1,000 attendees, one might suspect that at least some of them never made it to any of the set events, but enjoyed sitting in the sunshine, meeting friends and having a good goss’… but that is what any rural event is also about, and no bad thing to strengthen community ties.
Regen’s headline sponsors were Alex Picot Trust. Taylor said that the feedback from the visitors had been overwhelmingly positive: ‘it was thought-provoking, fun and illuminating. There is a real sense of a community movement taking shape.
‘This weekend showed us that our Island is both tight-knit and independent. Jersey is a rarity, and people are ready for this conversation. These successes are built on trust, something we can always foster.
‘Whether we grow, buy, or simply eat food, this movement requires all of us to participate to create a better future.’
So, the event was full of hope and optimism. In broad terms, Regen was about economy, ecology and culture. Specifically, it was about farming, community, putting the fun back into farming and farming in harmony with the natural environment.
This event in Jersey is very much part of a growing farming culture worldwide that emphasises small-scale local farm businesses, diversification in farming, the importance of developing local community and providing ‘local food for local people’.
Could this be the way forward for the Island’s agriculture? Well, for one sector of it, certainly. ‘Mainstream’ agriculture – export led potato and dairy farming – are not likely to lose their preeminent place in the agricultural economy any time soon.
But, for supplying local food to local people – that is where Regen will prove to be of the greatest value – and maybe essential.
And it was a good party, as well.
This article was first published in the Jersey Evening Post and reprinted by kind permission.
