Stewardship of land, people, flora and fauna, for mutual awesomeness!

Today I'm introducing a new series based on holistic regenerative agriculture, specifically focused on the Regrarians Platform. Regrarians®, a term coined by Darren Doherty, blends regenerative and agrarians. It may be the single most holistic systematic approach to land management in practice today.

The Regrarians® Platform is the basis of work flow & decision-making for all of Regrarians Ltd. work in designing, developing & training in the field of Regenerative Agriculture & Living. The Regrarians Platform is based on the ‘Keyline Scale of Permanence’ developed by the late, great Australian agricultural landscape designer, P.A. Yeomans as outlined in his 1958 classic, ‘The Challenge of Landscape’.

There’s a temptation when introducing a series to try to tick all the boxes in one shot. Of course, that would negate the need for a series. But it also would do readers a disservice, if for no other reason than the fact that the task is impossible. At the very least, it would be incredibly cumbersome in this format.

So, let’s go with some introductions. We’ll answer a few of the basic questions, such as: Who is Joe? What is holistic regeneration? What are we gonna do here?

Who’s Joe?

Enjoying mote con huesillo
in Santiago de Chile

Another temptation is to lay things out like a resume, trying to make myself look better than I am. It’s probably safe to say that I’m the quintessential quinquagenarian who is constantly striving to figure out what he wants to be when he grows up.

A couple of months ago I posted an @introducemyself, so there's no sense doing that here. But it might be a bit helpful to provide some background as to why I would have any credibility in holistic regenerative agrarian pursuits or education.

I’ve done a few things, being a sort of Jack of several trades and master of a couple. It’s probably safe to say that I’m somewhat career averse. I enjoy learning and experiencing new things, so I’ve gravitated from one job to another, for various reasons. Usually circumstances changed, so I had to look for work. Rather than sticking with what I’d been doing, I attempted to pick something else up. As a result I’ve worked in various jobs, some unrelated. But, as I look back on them, I can see that they’ve all conspired together to provide the ability and insight I have today. Here’s a list of most of them:
Concrete crew; airline ground operations supervisor; fencing contractor (mostly horse applications); electrician, tractor mechanic, pastor, writer, web design (front end), consultant, knucklehead and smart alek.

In the last few years I’ve become more focused on regenerating the land, specifically for agricultural purposes. As I grew in my understanding of permaculture, I became both excited and frustrated at the same time. Excitement came as I grew to understand the microbiological systems that could be promoted by taking a holistic approach. Frustration came as I realized that the system is rigged in favor of the industrial monoculture farm, and that a more holistic pursuit seemed to offer far greater challenges in being financially sustainable.

I attribute getting over that hurdle to Darren Doherty, who came up with the Regrarians Platform and is perhaps the foremost consultant on holistic land design and management. He and his wonderful wife, Lisa J. Heenan, co-founded Regrarians.

His scale of permanence, the Regrarians Platform, modeled greatly after P.A. Yeomans’ Keyline Scale of Permanence, helps the designer to focus on first things first, providing a plan that takes all aspects into account and strives to blend them harmoniously and in a way that is highly complementary. This results in greater efficiency and, if we do our job well, high profitability. This, of course, leads us to the title of this column.

The big evolution in the Regrarians Platform over Yeomans’ Keyline Scale of Permanence is its inclusion of social & economic themes, whereas Yeomans scale was very much centred on agriculture. The Regrarians Platform also has changes in some of the headings and adds 9. Economy & 10. Energy to Yeomans original eight headings.

What is Holistic Regeneration?

I’m really glad you asked. Holistic regeneration focuses on two main aspects of land design and management:

One is our need to take all things into consideration in a logical (though sometimes flexible) order.
The other is that our goal is to design in such a way that the land and systems are not merely sustainable, and certainly not degenerative (like so much of our farmland and even rangeland is), but regenerative. In other words, they are constantly improving and growing in their health and productive capacity.

The holistic perspective specifically focuses on the scale of permanence. This “scale of permanence” addresses the inputs and structure of the land beginning with that which is most difficult, if not impossible, to change and ending with that which is less permanent and/or most easily changed. While we can, to at least some degree, affect them all, some are affected very little by our efforts while others are almost absolutely affected. Also, some of our efforts will stand the test of time, while others will need our constant attention and maintenance.

Regrarians Ltd. Statement of Purpose

…’Regrarian’, a portmanteau of ‘Regenerative Agrarian’, is a term first coined by Darren J Doherty in 2013 to describe those who are actively undertaking the serious & timely process of regenerating, restoring, rehabilitating, rekindling and rebooting production landscapes, be they urban or rural, across the world.
The primary directive of Regrarians Limited entity is to the regenerative enhancement of the biosphere’s ecosystem processes. The secondary directive of Regrarians Limited is to internationally provide the potential for people to be informed about the regenerative economy by the delivery of extension, media, education, goods & materials, whether it involves their work in primary production, other themes of land management, extractive industries, corporate life, domestic services, manufacturing and other activities that are within the reasonable domain of humans — and to undertake and pursue all such other similar, related or compatible objects as may from time to time be considered appropriate by the Company…

We’ll dig into these further over the course of time, but here’s the list according to the Regrarian Platform. We’ll borrow from Darren’s definitions in order to avoid reinventing the wheel.

CLIMATE – You, Enterprise, Risk, Weather
GEOGRAPHY – Landform, Components, Proximity
WATER – Storage, Harvesting, Reticulation
ACCESS – Roads, Tracks, Trails, Markets, Utilities, People
FORESTRY – Blocks, Shelter, Savannah, Orchards, Natural
BUILDINGS – Homes, Sheds, Portable, Yards
FENCING – Permanent, Electric, Cross, Living
SOILS – Planned Grazing, Minerals, Fertility, Crops
ECONOMY – Analysis, Strategy, Value Chain
ENERGY – Photosynthesis, Generation, Storage

As noted above, regeneration does not settle for the status quo. Mere sustainability falls short of the goal. Regeneration focuses on building the most healthy and dynamic system/s possible. In arid regions this can be most challenging. More temperate and wetter climates are more forgiving and resilient.

Our goal is to build up the land’s organic systems in such a way that each of these items on the Regrarians Platform becomes a tool in our arsenal, promoting the health of the land and animals, the durability of the structure/s and the well-being of the people. Each of these should be in a constant state of improving/regenerating, building upon and complementing one another, never settling for mere sustainability.

What are We Gonna do here?

The sky is really the limit, within the bounds of holistic regeneration. We could call it holistic agrarianism or regenerative agriculture. All of these would be just as readily applicable.

We’ll look at aspects of the Regrarians Platform and discuss why it’s laid out in the order that it is. Each theme will be examined and discussed. In doing so, we’ll explore techniques, various possibilities, tools of the trade, perspectives and anything else applicable to our desire to promote the regenerative capacity of our project/s. In doing so, you’ll learn more about both yourself and how to interact with the land, plants, animals and people around you. You’ll start thinking differently. And you’ll become more effective in your efforts to have a positive influence on the lives you touch, whether they’re microbial, mammalian or somewhere in-between.

My goal will be to provide at least one article a week focused on a specific theme of the Regrarians Platform, in order of permanence. Why permanence? Mainly, because it focuses on the longest-term aspects of the design because it's what we can least effect, therefore other aspects need to conform to those that are more permanent.

A Caveat

I've been blessed with being able to spend a fair amount of time with Darren and Lisa. They're great people and I consider myself privileged to consider them dear friends. During the past year I've attended his ten day training three times, writing articles and providing pictures for them to use in their promotions. However, while knowledgeable about the Regrarians Platform, I hesitate to call myself an expert. This is because my experience in implementing it is minimal. As Darren pointed out regarding my writing, it is my perspective on it and sometimes may stray from his own. Where that is the case, I do so accidentally and bow before his extensive experience and expertise.

An Appetizer

I’ll close with a little tidbit related to our first theme, #Climate. Our first inclination is to think about the weather patterns. But there’s more to it - much more. The most important climate when it comes to stewardship of the land and its biology is the climate between your ears. It’s not necessarily that it needs to change (though it might) so much as that it needs to be recognized for what it is.

Weaknesses, desires, strengths, competencies, etc., all must be examined in a realistic way so that any decisions can utilize or compensate for them accordingly. Any failure here will tend to magnify issues later. And this is doubly so if there are relational challenges that affect your land management.

While the rules of the game are largely determined by many circumstances out of your control, your mind can set the stage and change the rules to some degree too. And you may find that this is the most challenging theme to manage. However, the rewards for rightly assessing and working within your own climate are great indeed.

Feel free to contact me in chat if you desire to discuss your project. If you're interested in hiring Darren to design your project, you can find details here.

Steemin' on,
Another Joe