Following A Childhood Dream 

Anne van Leeuwen knew she wanted to become a farmer at age 5, but where she grew up, farming was considered a dirty word. Her grade school teachers in the Netherlands instilled a sense that farming wasn’t a viable career, and that nature and agriculture were separate spaces where productivity and biodiversity were pitted against each other.

It wasn’t until watching a documentary in her 20s about land transformation in China that Anne realized a different path to farming could be possible. Together with her partner, Ricardo Cano Mateo, she traveled to Spain and Sweden to envision what a successful regenerative farm might look like. This led them to found Bodemzicht (Soil Perspective), a small 5 hectare farm in the Netherlands. However, a growing sense of urgency to address the loss of life, the climate crisis, and social inequality prompted them to expand to a larger space where they could take greater action.

Together with Daan Houwers and Roos Burger, Anne and Ricardo applied for 45 hectares in Lochem, Netherlands, through Lenteland—a foundation in the Netherlands that aims to accelerate regenerative farming practices by developing regenerative community farms.

“It’s extremely expensive to gain access to land or a house as a farmer in the Netherlands nowadays, and almost impossible to access a place as a new entry farmer,” Anne explains. Lenteland’s approach to transforming the agricultural system toward a sustainable one is by buying a farm and then setting up a local corporation that owns the buildings and the land. It is then refinanced with the farmer’s business plan and by inviting people to become co-owners of the farm.

“Co-owners act as patient capital with the right to a small interest. We repay the debts to Lenteland, and with that money, they pre-finance another farm. It’s like a revolving farm fund. Everything that we invest in this place invests in another place, which I think is beautiful,” says Anne.

Restoring A Bog Myrtle

The farm’s namesake, Gagel—or bog myrtle—is a native Dutch shrub historically used for medicinal purposes, including flavoring beer. It thrives in a peaty environment where tree frogs sing. Development and previous land practices decimated both the bog myrtle and tree frog populations at Gagel, but the team of four young entrepreneurs is slowly restoring both the species and the land.

So far, the team is planting more than 30 km of fruit trees and 100+ varieties of fruit, berries, and herbs, with expected yields of more than 30 tons of fruit. They’re also growing vegetables for the community, grazing animals, and propagating a wide variety of trees that will be available for purchase in their nursery.

“Trees and bushes are a big part of the food transition because they’re very important enablers that create more biodiversity and structure in the landscape,” Anne explains. “We hope to regenerate the land so that it can be a place for tree frogs to thrive again.”

A Vision for Radical Diversity

Gagel’s vision for the farm centers on radical diversity. As Anne outlines, “We try to maximize diversity in everything we do, from production to the landscape.” This shows up in all kinds of ways. The farm is planting over 100 kinds of trees to avoid monocultures. They’ve created an 8-week farmer-in-residence program. Their chickens are a mixed flock that will naturally evolve to reveal the most well-adapted breed to the region.

“It’s the diversity that will bring resilience in this landscape. We don’t use any pesticides or artificial fertilizers. So we need a system in which every species plays its part, so that there is enough food for everyone,” Anne explains.

Radical diversity is also present in their business model, where nine different business lines support each other. “Just like in our production system, we are not dependent upon a single crop, but upon the success of the relationships between them.” The farm’s success depends just as much on the diversity of crops as on the diversity of life, skills, and knowledge of the team and the community that supports the farm.

Building a Regenerative Culture

Gagel is also about creating a place for people to meet and for a regenerative culture to thrive. Offering camping, food events, and lots of activities, the farm is a thriving social space. As Anne explains, “To just have more farms is not enough. We need a paradigm change in our relationship with the rest of life so that we can build a truly regenerative culture where caring for life is at the heart of everything we do.”

For this purpose, Gagel farm initiated a special ‘Eat, Reconnect and Farm’ residency program, where talented young farmers, artists, and chefs stay at the farm to reconnect with the land, co-create, and work on their own projects and businesses.

Anne believes we can learn a lot from Indigenous communities that embody a culture of care and reciprocity with the rest of life. “In the Netherlands and Europe, we seem to have lost this connection.” Anne points out. “I think that has led, and still leads to, a lot of destruction and damage. Over the next century, one of our biggest tasks in Europe is to reconnect ourselves to the rest of life. Food and soil are a great way to start this journey as we find out what it means to be human in a century of ecological feedback.”