A Simple Goal That Became a Mission

Simona Hrochová and her husband founded Rodinná Farma Částkov in 2014 in Částkov, Czech Republic, starting on just 2,000 square metres with a simple goal: to grow honest, healthy food for themselves, their family, and friends. Neither had a background in agriculture. What started as a hobby became a mission, which grew into a full farm, still first-generation and entirely a family operation. Simona came to regenerative farming through permaculture and agroforestry, but above all through the land itself.

Rodinná Farma Částkov sits on gneiss, granite, and clay at 400 metres above sea level in a region with persistent rainfall deficit and deep groundwater. The customary approaches Simona initially tried, ploughing, rotavating, heavy irrigation, did not suit this terrain. “The soil was telling us something so we looked for a different way.” Simona shares. “I am proud that we were able to build our farm from the ground up without subsidies. Every decision, investment, and season of hard learning was achieved by the family, together.”

The Soil Taught Her a Different Path

The transformation from conventional market-garden practice to a no-till, cover-cropped, agroforestry-integrated system happened gradually. It took three years for Simona to understand the soil could not withstand disturbance. She stopped ploughing. Since 2020, Rodinná Farma Částkov has used neither plough nor rotavator. Cover crops are sown year-round in every three to four-week window between vegetable plantings, so the soil is never left bare, including through winter. "We do not disturb the soil with deep mechanization," Simona explains. "Instead, we work with it in its natural layers."

In 2017, Simona and her husband established an agroforestry system on 1.5 hectares, planting about 150 trees and hundreds of shrubs, with vegetables growing in the interrows. The results are striking: thanks to catch crops and zero tillage, Rodinná Farma Částkov needs 10 times less water than neighbouring growers on the same plot. Manure and compost use has decreased by about three-quarters. "We farm in challenging conditions at 400 meters above sea level with a rainfall deficit and deep groundwater," Simona says. "Even so, thanks to systematic planning and optimal water management, we create a diverse, productive, and strong ecosystem."

Feeding 80 Families With Trust, Not Labels

Rodinná Farma Částkov covers 4 hectares total, with 2 hectares in active vegetable production under full regenerative management. The primary distribution model is community-supported agriculture: about 80 families receive fresh produce within 24 hours of harvest.

The product range includes vegetables, fruit, herbs, flowers, perennial crops, legumes, and root crops, alongside laying hens, rabbits, and goats, whose manure feeds back into the soil cycle. Simona has deliberately chosen not to seek formal organic certification. "It is essential for me that our customers trust that they will actually do what I say," Simona explains. For her, certification is a bureaucratic layer between her and her customers' trust.

She farms without synthetic inputs and wants her community to know that, not because a label says so. Additional income comes from farm consultancy, workshops, courses, and event hosting. Finances have improved since going regenerative. The model is lean, direct, and built on trust, not labels.

Sharing Knowledge, Not Keeping Secrets

Simona does not keep what she knows to herself. She shares methods, failures, costs, and obstacles with customers, students, and other farmers. Simona has been an educator at the Farmer's School in Prague, delivering lectures and workshops, and has hosted interns.

She is active on social media, sharing not just successes but honest accounts of what goes wrong. Simona is a member of Živá půda (Living Soil) and received the Laskavec award from the Karel Janeček Foundation. She has been featured in the European Land Owners Women in Agriculture publication.

Her core philosophy is simple: "Our goal is not only to produce food but also to motivate, share our experience, and show that organic farming is possible even under difficult conditions." Simona speaks to two audiences simultaneously, farmers and consumers, believing both need to understand the system to change it.

Being part of the Top 50 Farmers program matters to Simona for connection. She hopes to meet other regenerative vegetable growers to exchange knowledge and learn from farmers working in extremely dry conditions and managing CSA communities. The recognition amplifies what she has been doing in Částkov, showing that organic regenerative farming is possible even in the hardest conditions. "The restoration of the soil and landscape continues to be our top priority," Simona says. "We want a healthy and healthy landscape and soil for our children and future generations."

Written by Top 50 Farmers and Helianthi Psaropoulou Heilmann