Seeing sustainable farming beyond the theory

He had spent many years in research but was looking for a way to engage more directly with farmers and the wider food system. At the same time, he was unsure whether another academic degree was the right next step.

What he was looking for was not simply more theory, but a clearer view of how sustainable farming works in practice. What eventually drew him to the Lighthouse Farm Academy, was the opportunity to step outside the academic setting and learn directly from farms that were already testing new approaches in practice.

Nathan’s first Lab took him to Austria, where the focus on soil function connected closely with his background in environmental science. Spain followed, bringing him into a very different context where farmers have to work with limited and unpredictable water availability. In Serbia, his attention shifted towards data, management systems and the question of how new tools might be adapted beyond one highly mechanised farm.

Although each Lab had its own theme, together they began to form a broader picture. The Austrian experience helped him think more systematically about the way soil processes interact. In Spain, he saw how strongly local conditions shape the decisions farmers can realistically make. Serbia showed him how data can support those decisions but also raised questions about how such systems could be transferred to other settings.

The value, he says, was not only in seeing different techniques, but more importantly in understanding the reasoning behind them.

Before joining the Labs, Nathan had often encountered discussions about sustainable farming that were presented in clear-cut terms: avoid tillage, reduce inputs, follow a particular model. Being on the farms made those arguments feel less absolute.

“From the outside, it is easy to become quite prescriptive about what sustainable farming should look like,” he says. “But once you speak with farmers and see the conditions they are working in, you understand how much depends on their soils, climate, machinery, skills and available resources.”

That did not weaken his belief in the need for change. It made his view of that change more grounded. Farms are not moving from one fixed system to another; many are still experimenting, learning from each season and finding out what is possible in their own context.

For Nathan, the most tangible result has been that the relationships continued after the Labs ended. He remained in contact with the farms in Spain and Serbia and began exploring how his own technical background could support their work.

In partnership with La Junquera (Spain), he is using satellite imagery to investigate whether the effects of different farming practices across the landscape can be quantified and clearly distinguished. In Serbia, he is looking at how soil and weather data might help assess the productivity and resilience of a crop rotation using plant residues for fertility needs without requiring livestock manure or synthetic fertilisers.

The work is still developing, but that is part of what makes it meaningful. The challenge is not simply to produce technically sound analyses, but to translate them into something that farmers, policymakers and other stakeholders can actually use.

The other participants were an important part of that process. Farmers, scientists and professionals from sectors such as finance approached the same questions from very different angles. For Nathan, that diversity made the Labs more valuable, not only because it broadened the discussion, but because it showed how differently people interpret and communicate ideas about sustainability.

“I originally expected to attend only one Lab,” he says. “But I gained a great deal from all three. Each one had its own focus and its own context, and together they gave me a much more practical understanding of sustainable farming.”

For professionals who want to look beyond familiar narratives and understand how change actually takes shape on farms, that may be the Academy’s greatest strength.