Groundswell Festival – thousands attend ‘the best one yet’!

Groundswell, the regenerative two day agricultural festival, welcomed over 10,000 people to its tenth event at Lannock Farm in Hertfordshire last week.  

Hosted by the Cherry farming families, the celebrations brought together over 500 speakers, both UK and international, over 375 exhibitors and a wide range of VIP’s including HRH, The Duchess of Edinburgh, leader of the Conservative Party Kemi Badenoch MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Emma Renolds MP, and Minister for Climate Katie White MP. 

The event also included the UK premiere of the Groundswell Film, produced by the directors of Kiss the Ground and Common Ground Josh Tickell and Rebecca Tickell, and narrated by Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson. Ahead of the world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, Harry Tickell launched One Billion Acres – a campaign aiming to convince companies to commit to a regenerative transition. Its aim is to ensure one billion acres is under regenerative certification or management by 2030. 

The opening session at the festival focused on ‘scaling regenerative agriculture – connecting global practice, scientific evidence and systems change’. Chaired by Philippe Birker there was a focus on the one million acre ambition, with speaker Dr Loekie Schreefel from Wageningen University stating key to progress is research, building an evidence base. He said, ‘Much of the research is in one system charting the change on one farm, we need thousands of farms to prove to governments the impact – one story isn't enough.’

Whilst Julia Bolton from IFO, part of the World Bank, said what regenerative agriculture needs is a convergence on farming metrics in the finance sector. And, for farmer Will Harris from White Oaks Pastures in Georgia, who employs 180 people across 5000 hectares, it is about farmers understanding the whole process. ‘Farms in the US have become very linear, someone else processed the produce, someone else marketed it – in the future, farmers can't just produce, they need to process and market to monetise the change to regenerative farming.’

With hundreds of sessions, Groundswell has become a space where all opinions are welcomed, new collaborations start, and for some, is the catalyst to change. Farmer and Regenerative Agricultural Consultant Ben Taylor-Davies, also known as RegenBen, launched his book at the event ‘More-On/Less-On’. Ben, who has been attending Groundswell since the start, felt this year was the best Groundswell yet, a theme that was echoed across the site. 

‘It is hard to describe the influence Groundswell has had on me and my career except for saying in an uncomfortable world where I was changing everything I thought I knew and understood, Groundswell was the olive branch, the most welcoming of events, where knowledge is exchanged and the whole world of regenerative agriculture is there to will you on to succeed.’

Commenting on the 2026 event, event director Alex Cherry said, ‘Groundswell 2026 has shown just how far the regenerative farming movement has come. What began as a conversation between farmers has grown into a community that brings together people from across the food and farming system and supply chains, united by a willingness to share ideas, challenge assumptions and learn from one another. The energy, generosity and optimism we have seen over these two days gives me real confidence for the future of farming.  

‘I would like to express a heartfelt thank you to everyone who made the event possible from our partners, speakers and exhibitors to our many volunteers, stewards and the production team. And to our thousands of visitors, thank you for celebrating 10 years of Groundswell with us all. We can’t wait to welcome you back next year from 23 to 24 June 2027.’