Does regenerative agriculture have a place in the marketplace?

In this episode of Farming Focus™, host Peter Green is joined by Mark Brooking, Sustainability Director at First Milk, and Dorset dairy farmer Sophie Gregory to explore whether regenerative farming should remain a farmer-led movement or become something consumers actively support through their purchasing decisions.

Regeneration starts with practical change

For Mark, regenerative farming is not something entirely new. He explains many dairy farmers were already adopting regenerative principles before the term became widely used.

“We found that they were already doing an awful lot of regenerative practices,” he says.

At First Milk, encouraging farmers to learn from each other has been central to the journey. Through discussion groups, workshops and peer-to-peer learning, members have been able to share ideas and build confidence in adapting their systems.

On her dairy farm, straddling the borders of Dorset, Devon and Somerset, Sophie has taken a similar approach. After discovering some soil indicators were deteriorating despite farming organically, she began reviewing how the business operated. Changes included moving away from ploughing, introducing more diverse herbal leys, developing a hedgerow management plan and integrating livestock into previously arable land.

“We stopped using the plough. We're sort of min tilling now,” she explains.

The result has been improved diversity, healthier soils and a system better equipped to cope with changing conditions.

Can regenerative farming command a premium?

While regenerative agriculture continues to attract attention, both guests believe its value extends beyond a simple label.

First Milk launched its Golden Hooves brand to communicate the benefits of regenerative dairy farming to consumers, who appear to have a growing interest in how food is produced, although the language around regenerative farming can be difficult to explain.

So, Mark suggests the industry should focus on demonstrating positive outcomes rather than debating definitions. Farm visits, biodiversity activities and opportunities for consumers to connect with farming are all helping bridge the gap.

Sophie agrees regenerative agriculture means different things to different farms and systems. Rather than creating rigid standards, she feels the focus should remain on encouraging farmers to assess what improvements suit their own businesses.

Building resilience for the future

Resilience is also a recurring theme, with regenerative agriculture viewed as a process rather than a destination. For Mark, it means helping farmers make generational decisions, improving their ability to cope with extreme weather, market pressures and future uncertainty, while Sophie advises farmers start by controlling what can be controlled, planning for challenges and being willing to adapt.

“The biggest thing with resilience [for us] is we're part of a discussion group,” she says, highlighting the value of learning from other farmers facing similar challenges.

Regenerative agriculture is less of a rulebook and more a toolkit. Farmers do not need to transform everything overnight. Instead, small changes, practical experimentation and sharing experiences with others can all contribute to a more resilient future for farming.

Episode showstoppers

1.      Farmers starting to adopt regenerative practices can have confidence in what they’re doing. The broad principles on which regenerative farming are based create healthy soil leading to healthy animals producing healthy food

2.      The benefits to farmers are not just financial. It’s not as simple as putting a label on a product and charging a premium; the benefits are wide-raging and often intangible but lead to greater resilience.

3.      There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ so focus on what works for you and review the changes, controlling what you can and planning for the variables.

Listen to the full episode below - also available via Spotify and Apple podcasts.

About our guests

Mark Brooking was Sustainability Director then Chief Impact Officer at First Milk, retiring in April 2026. He was instrumental in the British dairy co-operative becoming a leader in dairy sustainability, championing how farmers can be successful food producers while protecting and enhancing nature. Mark was with First Milk at the time of recording. You can read more about his views on farming with nature in Regenerative farming is the future. 

Sophie Gregory runs a dairy farm with her husband Tom, milking 600 cows in a split-block system, alongside beef cattle and some arable. She is a strong advocate of promoting farming to consumers, supporting initiatives such as Open Farm Sunday. Sophie is a Nuffield Scholar and on the Arla Board of Representatives.

This episode was published in September 2023