I’m Holly, I’m an organic vegetable and seed grower based at Trill Farm Garden in Devon, and one of the Regional Coordinators for the Gaia Foundation Seed Sovereignty Programme. After training and working in formal horticulture and community gardening for several years, I felt like I just wasn’t doing enough. The problems surrounding our food system were becoming bigger and louder, and I wanted to take more action to enable real change to our food and farming system. So, I started a journey into regenerative agriculture, training and working on agro-ecological market gardens across the UK.

I have been accepted onto the Integrity Soils CREATE UK programme, starting in September. The programme, taught by Nicole Masters and her team, is designed to train and empower consultants and coaches in the theory, principles and practices behind good agro-ecological systems. This is such an incredible opportunity to deepen my insight and understanding of how we can transform our farming & horticultural systems, and more importantly, it offers a unique chance to learn how to share these skills and coach others in regenerative practices.

Nicole and her team are only coming to the UK this one time, and only 20 people have been accepted onto the course. As a low waged grower, finance is a real barrier to me accepting my place, and I need to raise as much as I can towards the course fees over the coming months. If you are interested in supporting the next generation of agro-ecological growers, and would like to see real systems change in our farming sector, I would be so grateful for any support you can offer. I am integrated into a horticultural community that could really benefit from the skills I would learn on the CREATE programme, and I have the drive to make change happen. But without external support I will not be able to fund that learning, so I find myself here reaching out to those interested in creating a better future for our food system, and asking for help!