From Swiss Fields to International Expansion

Peter Fröhlich is rooted in the Swiss countryside, on a generational farm that carries stories weaving back to Roman times. Today, he lives there with his partner, two children and his parents, continuing a family history that has always been closely tied to the land. His father has been farming for 21 years and the last 15 years have been a journey of regeneration.

Peter’s transition into regenerative farming wasn’t marked with a specific starting point or interest. Rather, it evolved over time. “I have been involved in Oberacker, one of the oldest trials on no-till about 30 years ago. Then travelled the world  as a passionate cow breeder, followed by working for a large multinational. I also worked on international programs, which enabled me to see farms in America, Europe, South America, Russia, India and Asia and observe how they work with nature,” he explains.

His transition to regenerative began when he observed that conventional methods were hitting a wall and created too many negative side effects. Guided by a data-driven mindset, he wanted objective proof to validate the shift: “When I started to dig into regenerative agriculture, I really wanted to understand and measure what I'm doing to understand if it works or if I just think it works.”

A Farm as a Regenerative Trial Platform

Peter’s farm is home to Angus cattle, a market garden, and open fields producing cereals, grains, maize, oilseeds, legumes, root crops, fruit, nuts, and grassland. He sees the farm as a trial platform to research and evaluate for the future of agriculture. Rather than following a static, fully transitioned label, he treats his own land as a living laboratory to research and evaluate the future of agriculture. "I have consciously chosen a ‘no certification’ path to avoid working in silos," Peter explains. "We do not want to end up with 2% of the global market, not be able to prove sustainability for 30 years and disappear in insignificance."

This decision stems from the nature of certification frameworks, which often demand an evolved result rather than a transition journey. Instead of working on a static stamp of approval, Peter relies on a system built specifically to measure the realities of a farm. “We measure how a farm actually develops year after year. This ensures that any farmer actively working toward ecological improvement has a practical, validated roadmap to scale their impact globally.

Peter is actively transitioning his farm towards regenerative management with a clear commitment to gradually phasing out synthetic inputs. He is part of the 10% of farmers in the Top 50 Farmers cohort who are in transition toward regenerative farming to show role models at each stage of the journey and how it can be done.

While limited herbicides are still used as part of this transition, his goal is to reduce and ultimately eliminate their use as the farm's biological systems continue to strengthen. Nutrient inputs are also being carefully reduced, with applications focused on replacing what leaves the farm through harvests.

Working to Scale

Peter is also the CEO of AgriPurpose, which is building a global validation and data platform that turns regenerative agriculture into verifiable, comparable and scalable impact together with farmers, industry, civil society and the farm team. “We work across regions, crops, production systems and climate zones while also aligning with major regenerative and sustainability frameworks and ensuring that each stakeholder has equal voting rights,” Peter explains.

He actively shares his regenerative practices through educational projects, collaborations, and public engagement. Through programs like Juckerfarm.ch, a highly diversified Swiss agricultural enterprise that merges farming with agritourism, gastronomy, and direct commerce, he reaches up to 1 million consumers with his story. Peter is also a member of the European Alliance for Regenerative Agriculture working to influence policy and create the enabling conditions for more farmers to choose regeneration.

The Path Forward

"When I envision the future of our farm I see pure nature.” Peter shares. “Maximized photosynthesis. Soil like in the forest and an ever increasing efficiency with people being happy. I see a great space for my son, healthy soil and plants.”

Achieving this requires a fundamental shift away from the rigid obsession with aesthetic perfection over ecological health as he points out “Every day only has 24 hours and some of it has to be spent sleeping! I see these landowners who are completely obsessed with having a perfectly ploughed, sterile field where every single crop looks identical and there’s not a single weed in sight. It’s wild to me. I’ve literally seen one of them crying in front of their field just because of a few weeds.”

Instead of working against nature, Peter’s entire philosophy centers on working in symbiosis with the microbiome and nature. “My goal is to have people understand that there is no artificial atom on our planet and that we need to work for our best microbiome. This does not happen if we kill everything.”

It’s this commitment to scaling regenerative practices that drives his involvement with Top 50 Farmers. “We are role models for what’s possible. The goal is to inspire more farmers to adopt regenerative  management to shift how land is farmed. We as a society can not fail on implementing regenerative agriculture, because that’s our ecological income.”

Written by Top 50 Farmers and Anna Lienbacher