Lessons from regenerating a 1100 hectare farm in semi-arid Spain, with Silvia Quarta

This last week has been incredible for me. After almost 5 years of being connected to different aspects of the work at the farm in La Junquera, first through my connection with Silvia Quarta the leader of Camp Altiplano, the first in the global Ecosystem Restoration Communities network back when I worked at the restoration coordinator, then through collaborations with Alfonzo and Yanniek through the Climate farming community, and also with their incredible staff of Clara, Jeronimo, and Jacobo in coordination and organizing, I was finally able to visit them in person.

In the first few days we did some course planning and taught a two day intensive on water resource management for farmers. I stayed a few days to talk about their new collective project to restore the watershed of the Quipar river, and then represented Climate Farmers in a Benchmarks soil health program.

It has been surreal to meet the heroes who are working tirelessly to pioneer regenerative management in their semi arid location and to build friendships that go far beyond the occasional zoom call.

That brings me to our interview today with Silvia Quarta.