Communicating the Essentials
The wide variety of regenerative practices to choose from can be a bit overwhelming for farms and landowners alike. To start, recommend that your clients start simple, such as taking an individual field or pasture and doing some trials to see what works for them. Be sure to connect your clients with educational opportunities so that they can learn from other farmers using these practices, whether through a farm tour, workshop, or webinar. That peer-to-peer learning between farmers is essential to improve your client’s comfort level with implementing new practices and their success upon trying a new approach.
Also, help your client understand that failure with a trial can be an important part of a learning experience, but doesn’t necessarily mean to practice isn’t a good fit for them. Many innovative farmers comment on how they made missteps when getting started. Of course, you can help them avoid some of those missteps, but help them understand it’s okay to have a “learning experience” when trying a new practice. If they keep refining their approach and expand slowly, they should find a way to make things work for them.
