This is a question I get asked on a regular basis.
For me when I started on this journey it was known as ‘conservation agriculture’ which I believe to be a far better description. 'Regen' has been pulled in so many directions; I feel everybody would have their own description as they have been given so much information and not always correct!

For me, the aim of farming in this manner is to reduce the toxicity within the soil and planet, but ultimately it is the reduction in the toxicity in the food that we eat. It is no coincidence that as synthetic inputs have risen, human health has gone down (we are what we eat). I have read that four out of five of us have high levels of chlormequat within our bodies. Side effects include nose and skin irritation, eye and throat irritation, along with lungs, including shortness of breath and fluid build-up, nausea, vomiting, irregular heartbeat, tremors, seizures and coma! Not a nice chemical to be using or eating within our food!
I am definitely a convert to eating healthily. When I look back at my younger self, I was a total believer in modern day chemical agriculture, where I had the belief that we had to keep producing more food, at no matter what cost to the planet or its inhabitants. At some point, we all (I mean all inhabitants here) have to be responsible for our actions. I would probably call myself a bit of a hippy from my old self, which I am fine with, as I now know that I can produce healthy food without the toxicity, which is what regen should be all about in my opinion.

I have proven too many times now that all pests and diseases can be controlled by the correct nutrition and biology, just as nature has done for millions of years! Do we really think that the planet would not have evolved if it were not for the involvement of humankind and their synthetic chemicals? When in truth we have aged the planet considerably in the last 120 years or so, from synthetic chemical use and in turn, increased our reliance on prescription drugs, dealing with the symptoms of toxicity from chemicals used in our food chain, manifesting as multiple and diverse health problems within our bodies.
Fusarium has become more of a problem on wheats since we started to use herbicides, due to the nutritional imbalance caused within the plant. One that can be easily treated with bacillus subtilis. Remember, I always want to know why the problem has occurred in the first place.

So, for me Regen is farming in harmony with mother nature, working in the heartbeat and having a positive impact on the planet while producing food. This has to start with getting a working soil, to give the planet exactly what it needs. This obviously comes from limited soil movement and the planting of cover crops, which are always key to increasing biology within the soil, along with good compost. Moving forward, mixtures should include plant families which are going to do the job required, (the field is telling you with volunteer plants - weeds) and should therefore include the right mixtures to achieve the same outcome faster. This is not applicable where grass weeds are concerned as they are early succession plants and are showing the field is moving backwards!
Water courses should always be protected and food sources should be available for insects and birds as late in the season as possible to keep the whole ecosystem working; which in turn evolves the whole farm, since everything works within itself and everything depends on the other in order to thrive. When the whole farm becomes alive, you as the farmer are part of that ecosystem and be proud to be a part of it!
This is nothing new and has already been achieved a hundred years ago; it’s just that we were all led the wrong way. Now it’s up to us to rectify the damage. This in my mind has to come from educating the public, who in turn need to demand that their food be produced in this way.
As producers, we have been led by greedy agri-chemical companies and fertiliser companies and led by government policies influenced by aforementioned companies to produce unhealthy food at a high cost to the planet.
Another benefit once everything starts to fit, but should never in my mind be the driving force for starting on the journey, is that I have halved my production costs since farming in this manner. But I cannot stress enough that you have to earn the right to reduce inputs! If you try to run before you can walk, you will fail and have high costs in lost income and soils which have gone backwards! The knock-on effect is huge and doesn’t stop hurting for some time after, the journey is not a competition and should be taken at your own speed and enjoyed! The main thing is that you have started.