Kiss the Ground launches new regenerative ag educational series

People across the natural and organic products industry encounter the word “regenerative” constantly. They hear about farmers transitioning their fields to regenerative practices. They see brand packaging and social media touting regenerative bona fides.

But relatively few of them possess a strong understanding of what, exactly, makes a farm regenerative, said Kiss the Ground Co-Founder Finian Makepeace. To help bolster fluency in the contours of regenerative agriculture, the nonprofit Kiss the Ground is set to launch a new education series aimed at bringing the industry’s many stakeholders up to speed.

Finian Makepeace

“We are shifting to assisting companies to become more participatory in the regenerative agriculture space,” he said. “They have counted on us for media, but now we can work directly with stakeholders to educate them directly.”

The educational series is borne out of Kiss the Ground’s ambitious Soil Advocacy Training program. The course, which can take as long as two months to complete, involves nine modules and nine hours of content. More than 5,000 people have graduated from the Soil Advocacy Training program, which aims to establish graduates as public-facing champions for the regenerative movement.

That program, which got started about four years ago, will continue. The new educational series will serve as a distillation of that intense deep-dive—nine hours whittled down to 90 minutes.

“Time and time again brands are saying, `We want our team to take this, but we can’t put the whole team in for a nine hour course,’” said Makepeace. “With this course, people might have watched Kiss the Ground [a popular film that introduced regenerative agriculture to many consumers, and inspired many brands] and now they can take the course and pass quizzes. And hopefully by the time many have taken the course, the whole team gets regenerative agriculture. And if some people want the big course, they’re set up.”

Kiss the Ground plans to informally launch the series at New Hope Network's Newtopia Now, taking place in Denver, Colorado August 25-28. All interested companies, Makepeace said, will be eligible for free admission to the series for two employees. Details about how to sign up will be available at Newtopia Now. Otherwise, the series costs $100 per person, but group rates lower the cost per person.

In addition to introducing Newtopia Now guests to the new educational series, Makepeace also is moderating a Newtopia Now panel during the conference called “The Regenerative Future: Brands Who Learn, Lead,” that will explore what leading brands are doing to educate about the style of agriculture.

Regenerative agriculture has developed a reputation for being complex and hard to understand. It’s easy, for example, for consumers and natural and organic products industry stakeholders to use shorthand for organic—it doesn’t involve harmful pesticides and herbicides. But regenerative practices, which can vary quite a bit from farm to farm, lack a simple and uniform summary.

Makepeace said he thinks the critique of regenerative agriculture is ill-informed. In fact, regenerative agriculture is simple to grasp, he said.

“I’m attached to the word regenerative and I push everyone in the movement to sink their teeth into it more. We are so lucky that we have a word, regenerative, that literally means what we are trying to do,” he said. “If something is broken, unhealthy and degenerated, sustaining it won’t work. Organicing? It’s not a word. But regenerating will work. Why? It brings back something to its highest functioning state.”

Newtopia Now, New Hope Network's new trade show, is set for Aug. 25-28 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Colorado. For more information and to register, visit the Newtopia Now website.