Season Two, Episode Seven: Cycle to Farms documents regenerative farmers' realities across Europe, the Middle East and Africa

In this episode, we had the pleasure of speaking with Aisha Hassan and Lukas Paltanavičius, the founders of Cycle to Farms, an advocacy project with the goal of documenting regenerative agriculture practices in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa by cycling from farm to farm. They began their cycling journey in the Netherlands, ultimately visiting over 20 farms in 15 countries. The couple's initial goal was to explore regenerative agriculture and learn its true meaning from farmers themselves. They found that it went beyond practices and embraced community, culture, and social well-being. 

 At this point, Aisha and Lucas have paused to process their experiences and finalize a documentary highlighting the stories of the inspiring farmers they've met, you can follow their journey on their website, cycletofarms.com, and on Instagram @cycletofarms. They hope to inspire others to pursue their dreams and make positive changes in their lives.

Thanks for listening to Hawthorne Valley’s Roots to Renewal podcast. We are an association comprised of a variety of interconnected initiatives that work collectively to meet our mission. You can learn more about our work by visiting our website at hawthornevalley.org.

Hawthorne Valley is a registered 501c3 nonprofit organization, and we rely on the generosity of people like you to make our work a reality. Please consider making a donation to support us today. If you’d like to help us in other ways, please help us spread the word about this podcast by sharing it with your friends, and leaving us a rating and review.


If you'd like to follow the goings-on at the farm and our initiatives, follow us on Instagram!

Transcript

Heather Gibbons (00:10):

Welcome to Hawthorne Valley's podcast, Roots to Renewal. We're happy you joined us for episode seven of season two. In this episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with Aisha Hassan and Lucas Paltanavicius, the founders of Cycle to Farms, an advocacy project with the goal of documenting regenerative agriculture practices in Europe, the Middle East and Africa by cycling from farm to farm. They began their cycling journey in the Netherlands, ultimately visiting over 20 farms in 15 countries. The couple's initial goal was to explore regenerative agriculture and learn its true meaning from farmers themselves. They found that it went beyond practices and embraced community culture and social wellbeing. Let's join Hawthorne Valley's executive director, Martin p as he chats with these inspiring young people,

Martin Ping (01:03):

Aisha and Lucas. It's, it's really wonderful to reconnect and have you as guests on our podcast. This is honoring Hawthorn Valley's 50 years of agriculture, education and art in Hudson Valley here. And I had the pleasure of meeting the two of you at Sekem in November of last year, and I've been following your journey via your website and am really interested to learn more firsthand on how things are going and to share your story with our listeners on the podcast. So thank you for taking time. And first of all, where are you right now?

Aisha Hassan (01:40):

Oh, my name is Aisha Hassan.

Lukas Paltanavičius (01:42):

Lukas Paltanavičius <laugh>

Aisha Hassan (01:45):

<laugh>. Uh, thank you Martin for inviting us. We are currently in, uh, Tanzania, Mwanza near the Lake Victoria. So, and we just arrived two days ago, so we'll still have to explore the town.

Martin Ping (02:00):

I'd like to just begin with asking you what inspired you to make this journey in the first place? Did you have like a, a working hypothesis or what was your, what was your inspiration?

Aisha Hassan (02:11):

So, Cycle to Farms started, uh, actually when we first met each other back in 2019, uh, Lucas and I were discussing the kind of impact we would like to make with our future work. So we wanted to take our lives a bit more serious and into our hands and make the right kind of impact. And for us, that meant in the agricultural sector, that's, uh, a sector that is close to our hearts and that we have been delving into during our studies. And, uh, on a more personal level, I got vested into the topic of sustainable agriculture because I was interested in solving issues regarding food security from a young age, I was always told about problems of food insecurity in Somalia, my country of origin. So I felt the urge to delve deeper into this topic and to find solutions for this problem.

Lukas Paltanavičius (03:04):

On my side, I come from a family that, uh, all work in conventional agriculture. So after being in that kind of environment, I also followed those steps. I, uh, did my bachelor studies in agriculture technology. Then I worked for Scandagra, which is a Scandinavian agricultural comparative as an agronomist, and then as a fertilizer product manager. And during that time, I learned that, uh, we were not really contributing to the greater good. We were really focusing how to make more cash from the farmers. And somehow I just didn't, it didn't feel right to me. So I think, uh, transitioning to the, to do the study at Wageningen in organic agriculture, bio-based sciences, eventually out of our own interests and background, we decided to set up Cycle to Farms to cycle from farm to farm, and to highlight these, uh, farmers stories. We always wanted to cycle long distance. And, uh, now we ended up cycling in Europe, Middle East, and Africa. It led us to, you know, to partner with Rainforest Alliance write, um, uh, and articles for John Deere making educational videos for, uh, our university, Wageningen university. And most important that we met a lot of great, uh, and inspiring farmers that, uh, I think they're the, the change makers. They're the true inspiration, and I think that's, uh, the most inspiration that we received during this journey.

Martin Ping (04:25):

Lucas, where did you grow up?

Lukas Paltanavičius (04:27):

I grew up in Lithuania in the kind of small, tiny village, uh, not too far, like 50 kilometers from the border with Poland. So now with the ongoing war with Ukraine, that kind of part, it's Poland, Kaliningrad and Belarus. It's, it's all nearby. So there's this called Suwalki Corridor, which, um, now there's this NATO summit in Vilnius. So everybody's, uh, kind of concerned about that path. So <laugh>, yeah, so that's my regional background. Lithuania is very focused on agricultural and grains export and grape seed oil, uh, oil seed, grape, how do you call it? Canola oil.

Martin Ping (05:04):

You met at, uh, university, is that correct?

Aisha Hassan (05:07):

Yes. Wageningen University. That's where we both studied and graduated last year. So, uh, three months before our, uh, journey started.

Lukas Paltanavičius (05:18):

Yeah. And actually we cycled from Wageningen, so we just left, uh, from the university as a, as a, as a place of inspiration to be honest.

Martin Ping (05:26):

Hmm. Did you know from the very start that you were going to be going from Europe into Africa?

Aisha Hassan (05:33):

So actually the initial plan was to go to Tanzania and visit a farm here that we were very interested in, but somehow it, it felt like we would skip a lot of in, in-between farms, and uh, interesting transitions. And, uh, we thought, you know, uh, why, why not combine these two ideas of cycling and visiting farms at the same time because that's a great way to see changes in not only culture, but also landscape changes. And, and that's obviously, uh, also very important for agriculture. So that's, that's how we came to this decision.

Lukas Paltanavičius (05:56):

And also in our background, uh, we had a quite a few friends who were cycling long distance. One, one friend was cycling, uh, our Indian friend, he was cycling all across Europe. Another friend cycled to Spain, and everybody had this idea to cycle even further. So, uh, one our friend, he wanted to cycle back home to India. Another friend wanted to cycle to, to Iran. So I think, uh, the Netherlands was kinda a good spot for all these, uh, cyclists, cycling ideas, uh, for, for the long distance. And I think Covid really kicked off because we were cycling a bit long distances with our friends and also with Asia, we cycle to Belgium, um, you know, to, uh, to Switzerland. So we kind of did this a little bit of, uh, preparation beforehand to, to see if that's really a thing for us.

Martin Ping (07:00):

How many farms have you visited if you've kept count?

Lukas Paltanavičius (07:05):

Yeah, I, I think we lost count, but it's around 15 countries and, uh, over 20 farms more or less something in, in, in, in, in this, in this, in that direction. Yeah, <laugh>, it's always changing. Yeah, it's not always a, an easy task to find a regenerative farm. It's not per se that they always use that term. It's more like in particular, in, in the Balkan region, it was, um, quite difficult for us to find some farms over there while in Africa, it is not always that they call themselves regenerative, but their practices are in inherently regenerative according to our understanding. And before you come to the farm, you don't really know what to expect, so you only get to know what is it all about after staying at least a week or even two, we try to stay for, for a bit longer just to understand what is it all, all about.

Martin Ping (07:53):

Let's just stay with this term. Regenerative agriculture, it's a term that is used quite often. I think there are institutions here in the US that are trying to put some definition and standards around it so that maybe it has meaning that is, um, understood by and accepted by many. What would you say is your understanding or definition of regenerative ag and how has it evolved while you've been on this journey?

Lukas Paltanavičius (08:25):

So I think at the very start of the, our journey, we decided to focus on regenerative agriculture because we struggle to understand what does it actually mean? Because when you read these policy papers or presentations, it's, um, a a lot of and vocabulary, which is changing over time, and it's not very clear what does it mean. So we thought, why not ask the farmers what does the regenerative agriculture mean to you? And not to ask, you know, the, from the corporation's definition or from a, um, you know, a governmental policy. Yeah. So what do you think Aisha, how did your understanding change over time, over visiting over this past year?

Aisha Hassan (09:07):

Yeah. Um, well, indeed, we were researching a lot about regenerative agriculture before we even started, because making a selection of farms to visits, you kind of have to know what it means. And while searching on the web, we found a lot of, uh, criteria, but mainly focused on practices. For example, crop rotation minimum or zero zero tillage, introducing all kinds of different crops and species, integrating food forests using cover crops, harvesting water, you name it. Composting, obviously very important. And, and not, not using any, any chemical, uh, pesticides and verse fertilizers. So these were like common criteria that we would see all the time. But while we were visiting the farms, we really saw that they were doing way more than that. Uh, they were practicing initiatives that were focused on social, uh, wellbeing of the people and the community building. So almost every farm had, uh, that we visited, uh, was stressing the importance of involving the community in their efforts and regenerating the land and creating a healthy environment for all living beings. And that's like a shared responsibility. One person cannot do it alone, rather a collective of effort that involves the communities in all kind of ways. So that was really, really special for us to see that.

Lukas Paltanavičius (10:36):

And I, I think in my case, I really enjoyed this, the quote that one of the farmers in Austria said, Alfred run, he is, he said, we don't only grow food soil, but we also grow people. I think that's sometimes too often neglected part in, in those definitions.

Aisha Hassan (10:52):

And that was a good summary, I think of, of what we have seen so far.

Martin Ping (10:56):

It is agriculture after all. And so it's very nice to hear that it's living very strongly in the farms and with the farmers who you've visited so far. It's, it's really inspiring. How about any insights that you're gaining around the whole question of food security related to this?

Aisha Hassan (11:12):

Yeah, that's a very good question. For example, in Kenya, we visited at a farm. The, the community was dealing with a lot of food insecurity. So it was a pastoralist, uh, community of around a hundred people in that village. And they were mainly, uh, raising cattle and livestock, and they had almost no knowledge about farming at all. So we visited the initiative, uh, it was a permaculture, uh, center in Lake Pia, and they were supporting these farm, uh, these, uh, community to start farming and in that way get their food and, and harvest their food themselves. So instead of going, uh, one and a half hour by a bus, and sometimes even once to the shop where they're not even sure if they will find the food that they're searching for to create a, a, a system where people are independent, uh, uh, that's what regenerative agriculture also focuses on, uh, and that people know where their food is coming from. And in that way, you also tackle the problems regarding food security.

Martin Ping (12:19):

Uh, an interesting picture there almost to think about the food system coming full cycle back to a more, uh, subsistence farming, I guess is one term that people might have used, that we've moved into commodification of food and away from self-reliance and self-determination for, for many communities around the globe. It seems like what I'm hearing you say is that people are relearning what maybe was experience in the past, which is now coming forward.

Lukas Paltanavičius (12:49):

You know, I, I think my personal experience, I think most of the things that I, I've learned about agriculture were not from the, my studies at universities, but it was from my grandmother's garden that was, uh, right next to her house. So the, the vegetables, you know, the practices and the insects around and, uh, different species, most of my understanding comes from that moment. But what, what we have right now in that plot of land is just, uh, you know, plain grass and there is a robot, uh, um, you know, just, um, kind of mowing that, uh, grass. And, um, we pushed ourselves into this direction to understand a little bit more about the agriculture, just by visiting farms and learning, by doing things right, learning in practice, it's not happening only to us, right? So it's happening in, in all sorts, in all parts of the world from students at universities, from communities in the rural and Kenya.

Martin Ping (13:42):

Well, you mentioned farmers that you're meeting in Africa weren't necessarily referring to their practices as regenerative. It calls to mind. Another issue that comes up, at least in this country, and I'm probably elsewhere, that we come up with terms as if we're inventing something new that is actually oftentimes based in practices and indigenous wisdom that has preceded us for, for eons of time. And we're not always giving credit to that. There were people who were living in a, a right and balanced relationship with the earth and with their place and able to provision themselves in a way that was, uh, not causing violence or harm to the, the earth or to future generations. They didn't have to call it regenerative. They didn't have to come up with, you know, any kind of terminology. It was just agriculture or just growing food. So I'm just curious, like what you see as far as these older practices that, that maybe have survived in practice for, for many generations.

Aisha Hassan (14:48):

What we often see is that people are, um, for example, diversifying their income. That's like the main, uh, goal for them. And when it comes to farming, that also means that they have to, uh, crop all kind. Uh, they have to, uh, grow all kind of crops. Uh, so in that sense it was diversifying economically, but also they know, for example, that if they diversify, it'll be also healthy for the soil. And especially in the drier regions of, uh, Africa, they know very well how to harvest water, uh, and, and be very smart with this because they can simply not afford it. They can't afford inputs, they cannot afford, um, you know, pesticides and fertilizers, uh, at the moment. So a lot of them, a lot of the, uh, the farms, they have learned it from their ancestors how to farm, and that worked perfectly well for them. They would, uh, provide for their families and sometimes, uh, uh, for the market, but they would always do it in a community so they could sell their products on a bigger market, for example. And yeah, that was, uh, really beautiful to see. And actually almost every, every time we would stop, we would see a farmer, we would have a chat with them and stay there and, and learn more about, uh, what these traditional methods are and, and practices are.

Lukas Paltanavičius (16:10):

One of the examples that comes into my mind was a community farm in Uganda. Yeah, it's around 400, um, community members. Everybody has around five to six acres of land. They kinda all live together in all that grass area. And, uh, everybody is kinda doing their own thing, but, uh, creating, uh, the, the nice environment that it's kind of nice be for them. So for example, when you go into that field, it's sometimes it feels like it's a food forest, but it's also corn. And there is, uh, beans and there is, uh, ma and there is, um, uh, yeah, sorry. Matoki is a plantain, cassava, sugarcane, beans, uh, potatoes, and mangoes. It's just such a wide variety of foods. So when you ask them, how would you call it? You know, this type of farming, they, they just would say that this is just natural way of farming and this is how we do. And we just know that, you know, if you plant corn, you will get some money for it, and if you, uh, plant plantain, you will, uh, you will have food for yourself. It was just a, just a natural way of living.

Aisha Hassan (17:17):

Every farm that we visited had like a different learning aspect. So we started in the Netherlands, uh, one year and three months ago, and we, uh, the first visit was, uh, a food forest in the Netherlands. He is a pioneer in, in, in, in, uh, regenerative agriculture in the Netherlands. And uh, what we learned there is that you can have a wide diversity of species in a small plot of lands. It was only 2.5 hectares, but he was growing over 450 different species edible, so edible species also. Yeah. So it was really, really interesting to start off that way. And, uh, and every time we would learn something else. So then the next meeting, uh, we also in the farm, in the Netherlands, uh, they were inspired by this farmer, but they were doing it completely different. And they had more the focus of, um, of, of making it holistic and, uh, also growing.

Aisha Hassan (18:15):

Uh, for example, wheat, the quote that he mentioned was, for example, people care and fair share, right? So it's, of course you care for the people and you want to produce healthy food, but you also want need to earn something. And that's also important, and that's also a question that is often asked, is it scalable? Is it, uh, uh, profitable and these kind of things. And we have definitely seen that that's all possible. Second was a great example as well, of how large scale you can be as a regenerative farm, right? And, and, and do biodynamic practices at the same time, and have this holistic approach where they focus on education, they focus on having their own industries, they focus on unity, uh, well producing healthy food for a larger market. So I think that was a wow moment for us because it was the first time we saw it in such a, a, a big scale. We felt very connected, and we thought this can be done in, in different parts of the world.

Lukas Paltanavičius (19:20):

Cultural aspect, the educational aspect, and the industrial aspect. It's really impressive. And when I, I was very curious, uh, recently to, uh, check their impact report. So they have this very nice framework where they, they cover all those aspects and they measure, kind of put, uh, um, uh, measure a scale for themselves where they are and where they would like to be. And I think, um, I really have a lot of respect and, uh, it, it gives a lot of inspiration that kind of big ambitious things can be achieved as well, so.

Martin Ping (19:52):

What's next for you as far as your, your now gone? How many kilometers so far?

Lukas Paltanavičius (19:58):

So, so far we covered over 7,000 ki kilometers, somewhere close to 8,000. So we finally reached our final destination, Tanzania. And, uh, this question, what's next in following us for the past past year? So we had a lot of good time, uh, brainstorming and dreaming, which direction should we go and, uh, should, um, uh, should head and, um, I think, uh, at the moment we will, uh, take a little pause, we'll come back home. We still need to, to process many findings and, uh, to finalize some of the videos that we are working to make a documentary in which we will highlight the wonderful farmers and stories that they have to tell

Martin Ping (20:40):

And people can follow, uh, your journey and watch some of the, uh, videos that you've shot and see some of the farms on your website, which is cycle to farms.com.

Lukas Paltanavičius (20:54):

Initially, we were making a small video, short videos of our, when we were in Jordan, uh, we met a filmmaker and she suggested, Hey, you should make a documentary. So now we are not making the short videos, but, um, we still do publish block blog posts or interviews or even a podcast like that. So there's, uh, quite some content for anyone who wants to explore more. And in these cycle farms.com, it's correct, you're also on Instagram cycle to farms just for people who are keen to see a little bit more of a daily life and daily struggle. And, uh, we are also very welcome, welcoming, and you really do find a lot of joy when people send us a message. It's, uh, it's always, uh, leads to many great discussions, and there's a lot of people who want to cycle. Somebody wants to learn more about regenerative agriculture, so it's always a bit of everything. So, um, yeah, but in the end, I think with this project, we are trying to encourage people to do the brief that something brave that they always wanted to do, but they never had the courage to do so. So I think it's, it's not about the cycling, but it's more, more doing what you've always been dreaming about. Yeah.

Heather Gibbons (22:22):

As Aisha and Lucas paused to process their experiences and finalize a documentary highlighting the stories of the inspiring farmers they've met, you can follow their journey on their website cycle to farms.com. And on Instagram, they hope to inspire others to pursue their dreams and make positive changes in their lives. Thanks for listening to Hawthorne Valley's Roots to Renewal podcast. We are an association comprised of a variety of interconnected initiatives that work collectively to meet our mission. You can learn more about our work by visiting our website@hawthornevalley.org. Hawthorne Valley is a registered 5 0 1 C three nonprofit organization, and we rely on the generosity of people like you to make our work a reality. Please consider making a donation to support us today. If you'd like to help us in other ways, please help spread the word about this podcast by sharing it with your friends, and leaving us a rating and review. Our heartfelt thanks to Grammy Award-winning artist Aaron Dessner for providing our soundtrack. And to Aaron Ping for his editing expertise.