In this season of the podcast, we’re asking: How Could We? Transform our food systems so they nourish people and regenerate our planetary systems.
Host Anne-Sophie Garrigou is joined this week by farmer Sheila Darmos from the southern Peloponnese in Greece. Sheila inherited one of Greece’s first organic farms – The Southern Light Farms – and completely reinvented it.
Anne-Sophie is also joined on this episode by Climate KIC’s Laurene Lebelt, who is working on HarvREST, an EU-funded project testing ways to integrate renewable energy sources into farms.
In this episode, Sheila talks about why she returned to Greece after many years away, how her farm helps tackle ‘ecological and social desertification’ occurring across the Mediterranean, how her farm performs is also an educational site offering community living and why she was keen to create networks connecting regenerative farmers across Greece and Europe.
Laurène outlines what integrated landscape management means, how solar panels, wind turbines, or biogas systems can reshape farming landscapes, diversify farmer incomes, and connect food production with energy transition as well as the importance of bringing diverse stakeholders together, such as farmers, conservationists, energy developers, government and community members.
The podcast is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.