The historical practice of industrial agriculture contributes to the degradation of the natural environment, negatively impacting the soil’s physicochemical and biological properties and speeding up soil erosion a thousand times faster than natural processes. Regenerative agriculture, on the other hand, adopts a diversity of methods such as reduced tillage, mulching and agro-ecosystem diversification. Implementing cover crops and livestock rotational grazing can increase carbon sequestration, enhance biodiversity, and help mitigate climate change.

Even though the benefits of regenerative agriculture are well known, Cyprus is still at an early stage, with no supporting mechanisms for its implementation in place, such as governmental incentives or training programmes for farmers.

TUI Field to Fork Cyprus, in partnership with Cyprus Environment Foundation, helps to create these baseline conditions for sustainable agriculture by providing training and support for farmers to transition regenerative agriculture.

92 farmers on the island receive training sessions on regenerative agriculture, which are held in a training centre established specifically for the project. The sessions are offered by specialists who help identify potential regenerative agriculture markets within Cyprus’ hospitality sector and enable market connection.

The programme also develops and tests a sustainably produced tourist offer for over 2500 hotel guests, for example traditional cooking workshops using locally sourced ingredients from partner farms employing regenerative agriculture processes.

Additionally, it offers local members of the community on low-incomes or with disabilities a scholarship programme which supports the transition to regenerative farming, so they can participate in training and obtain a certified diploma in organic farming. They are then included as farming trainees and assistants in the programme.