He Engineered for Space. Now He Engineers for Soil.

Before turning to farming, Matthias Hollenstein spent years designing prototypes for the medical and space industries, a background that gave him a unique perspective on problem-solving and precision engineering. However, he felt increasingly drawn to a profession where his work could have a direct, tangible impact on the environment.

In 2012, Matthias trained as a biodynamic farmer, bringing his spirit of experimentation and innovation into farming. Then about ten years ago in Mönchaltorf, about 30 minutes from Zurich, Switzerland, Matthias founded SlowGrow.

Over the past 13 years, SlowGrow has grown into a 20-hectare production farm in Zurich Oberland, extending to 60 hectares using a mosaic-based system designed to be scalable and modular offering a replicable blueprint for large-scale regenerative farming.

Mosaic Farming: Replicable Regeneration

The basis of mosaic farming is controlled traffic farming using high-precision GPS, ensuring that all machines drive in the exact same lanes year after year to limit soil compaction. Fields are divided into 50 to 100 strips, intermixing grains, vegetables, and flowers to enhance biodiversity, while mulch from carbon-rich materials like hay or woodchips feeds the soil and protects its structure. These methods are purposely designed so that animals, insects, fungi, and soil organisms thrive, creating a balanced and resilient agroecosystem: "For us, biodiversity is really not a side effect, it's a production factor." Matthias says.

From the beginning, Matthias was experimenting with approaches that promote soil health and biodiversity, such as mulching, cover cropping, and relay intercropping, renouncing pesticides, synthetic, and animal based fertilizers like manure. However, the lack of suitable machinery made it difficult to scale these ideas beyond small-scale trials.

Slowly, Matthias and his team began prototyping new machines and techniques, blending traditional knowledge with innovation and in 2021 he started HofLabor (Farm Lab) together with Dr. Petrissa Eckle as an independent on-farm innovation hub.

The relationship between HofLabor and SlowGrow has been key to success creating a space for Matthias and his colleagues to focus on research, new machinery, and scalable regenerative techniques while maintaining SlowGrow as a working farm focused on serving the greater Zurich area.

As the latest addition to their work, SlowGrow and HofLabor expanded in 2024 to a 40-hectare city-owned farm in Zurich’s Adlisberg to serve as an innovation demonstration farm for regenerative mosaic farming. It’s a living laboratory where farmers, researchers, and policymakers can witness regenerative techniques in action.

Tech Tools for Regenerative Adoption

In the transition to regenerative agriculture, many farmers face high workloads. Often, they are managing everything from soil health to machinery, finance, and marketing. To ease this burden, HofLabor has become a center for testing farm management tools, new machinery concepts, and decision-making support systems that help farms transition to regenerative models efficiently, including providing machinery for hire. This enables farmers to test or use equipment long-term without upfront investment.

HofLabor also develops tools and methods that increase resilience to weather extremes, provide flexibility in farm operations, support knowledge sharing, and simplify decision-making, making regenerative farming more accessible and sustainable. Matthias and his team also design and build lightweight, autonomous farming machines that address soil compaction and labor challenges.

A Beacon for Regenerative Agriculture in Zurich

SlowGrow and HofLabor were awarded the Prix Climat in 2022 for demonstrating how biodiversity and food production can work together to capture carbon and build resilient soils in an urban area.

The farm’s success has also been driven by its direct-market approach, supplying Zurich’s gastronomy and bakery sector with a diverse range of regenerative products rich in flavor.

Moving forward, Matthias aims to supply institutional canteens such as schools, hospitals, and businesses to bring regenerative food to a wider audience.