People, Purpose and Passion: Reflections on Groundswell’s 10th Year

As the dust settles on another inspiring Groundswell, one theme stood out above the noise: getting the basics right, in your soil and in your business.

This year marked Groundswell‘s 10th anniversary: a decade on from a gathering of a few farmers in a barn, it’s grown into a national event attracting thousands of visitors and nearly 500 speakers.

Groundswell is the UK’s regenerative agriculture festival, held each summer in Hertfordshire, bringing together farmers and growers, advisers and businesses working on soil health and nature-friendly farming. For the Terrafarmer team, it’s one of the highlights of the year, and this year was no exception.

A meeting of minds

Back down to reality after another inspiring Groundswell festival. It’s nearly impossible to capture the essence of the event unless you’ve attended. The show has grown and developed hugely over 10 years, but the core feeling has always remained.

So many great conversations were had over the two to three days: several “I’ve only ever seen you on a Teams call”, “it’s great to put a face to a name”, and “you’re taller than you look on a screen!”

This captures what Groundswell is about: bringing people together with a common goal, putting farmers back in control of their farming businesses.

If you spoke with any of the Terrafarmer team, we’ll be in contact shortly to discuss how we can best support your business. If you need any more info, take a wander around our website or use our contact page to get in touch directly. Let’s keep the momentum from Groundswell going and work together, turning the conversations we had into action on the ground.

Collaboration over competition

One of the main themes I always come away with at Groundswell was one of collaboration. At Terrafarmer, we collaborated with our neighbouring tents and like-minded business partners to offer our mutual services. We’re all there to support farmers on their regenerative journey and enable farmers to do what they do best: farm, innovate and experiment.

In the same vein, it was also good to see a shift in this year’s Groundswell programme, moving the conversation on from focusing on individual pioneering case studies towards what can enable change at scale across the whole system: farmers, landscapes and society, not just isolated success stories. That same instinct, looking past the single compelling story to the underlying fundamentals, is what we saw in the questions farmers were bringing to soil health.

Back to Basics: Physics, Chemistry, Biology

A wide range of farmers and growers came to our stall, all asking the same fundamental question: how do I better understand my soil?

We often find that farmers who are early in their regenerative journey still look for a solution in a can. Yet correcting many of the issues observed in the soil should almost always begin by going back to basics. In fact, I’d say it’s essential.

Didn’t pick up our Biologicals Guide at Groundswell?

Ahead of the festival, we launched our new 16-page booklet, Biological Inputs: Building Soil Health from the Ground Up, a practical, evidence-based guide covering what biological inputs actually are, how they differ from biostimulants and soil amendments, and headline findings from our nine-month Innovate UK-funded trial across five Welsh farms. No hype, no blanket recommendations, just what the independent evidence shows.

You can download the free guide at the bottom of this page.

Physics, chemistry and biology, in that order.

We always advise clients that there is no point spending money on expensive inputs unless you have the basics sorted. Start by addressing the physical structure first before reaching for any biological inputs. Get oxygen back into your soil to allow air and water movement: half of soil shouldn’t be soil, it should be 25% air and 25% water. Oxygen is often the limiting factor. Only once soil physics are corrected does it make sense to move on to baselining and balancing soil chemistry, and then targeting specific biological inputs.

A Sniper, Not a Blunderbuss

Investing in detailed soil analysis allows you to make informed decisions about required soil amendments and targeted biological inputs. At Terrafarmer, we quantify the need for soil amendment to balance soil chemistry and specific biological inputs, rather than selecting broad-spectrum options: a sniper rather than a blunderbuss approach, to ensure what you’re applying is actually required—and that it will actually work.

We help you understand the soil analysis results with expert interpretation and make a practical plan based on your farm’s context, with a range of services depending on what you need. Get in touch to see how we can help.

People, Purpose and Passion

If I could sum up Groundswell to someone who hasn’t attended, it would be this: People, Purpose and Passion. A hugely inspiring and rewarding two days away from the farm that you won’t regret.

Finally, if you missed the event or you’d like to revisit a particularly inspiring session, keep an eye out for videos on Groundswell’s YouTube channel.