Our approach at Ragmans

Our approach is focused on increased system health by improving soil and plant fertility.  We encourage life and diversity from the micro-level (microbes and minerals) up to macro-level (people!) creating more sustainable farming practices. Much of our thinking at Ragmans has been developed by Juanfran Lopez (left) who has studied and taught in Europe and South America. These techniques were originally introduced by Jairo Restrepo (right), who continues his relationship with Ragmans, teaching here every summer. Our video - Harvesting the Sun introduces Jairo and his thinking. This article also explains our approach in more detail. 

Our goal is to measure the effectiveness of these biological techniques on system biology and mineral balance on plant and soil health.

In addition to this we are developing a high quality range of preparations and techniques such as biofertilisers, bokashi, aerobic teas, mineral chelations, mychorriza, chromatography, lactic acid bacteria, and native microbe reproduction among others methods…. We wish to offer a service tweaking these techniques into specific land situations with local farmers.

This section of our website is a bit complex. We have put some of the tools that we use in the section below. We have also gone into detail with our fertilisation plan for the orchards as it shows how we actually apply these tools. We would welcome comments!

  • Applied Agroecology Workshop

    - A day with Jairo Restrepo - a one day workshop on the 24th July 2015

    Jairo Restrepo is a passionate educator and activist in the field of sustainable agriculture and food sovereignty. He campaigns for a return of self determination, knowledge and autonomy to the farmer away from the power of agribusiness. He offers education, agronomy and consultancy around the world. His background is in Latin America and recently he has been touring in Europe and Australia. Jairo is consultant to the UN, Unesco, and the International Labour Organisation.

    Jairo’s teaching style is practical. He offers tools and inspiration for farmers, smallholders and activists. An agronomist with a rebellious character, he has a passionate belief in people power, in local rural culture, food sovereignty, and the desire to transmit the indigenous knowledge and experience gathered from over 20 years work across all continents. 

    We will cover a brief history of Jairo’s work, and where this has taken him. After lunch we will walk around the farm orchards to give Jairo an opportunity to demonstrate various agroecological approaches and low cost technologies such as mineral brews, wild microbes, biofertilisers, and compost tea.

    Jairo Restrepo has extensive experience of implementing these techniques at different scales through his teaching work and consultation. These Agroecological technologies are increasingly recognised as holding the key to the future of farming and climate change, and so we are excited to be able to offer his expert knowledge at Ragmans.

    "this guy is a genius and a tour de force of the first order!" Darren Doherty

    Who should attend:
    Farmers and independent small-scale growers, food producers, food retailers, campaigners for food sovereignty and students.

    Jairo will also be teaching a one day course on chromatography on Sat 25th July, and a five day course - An introduction to Regenerative Agriculture 18-22 July.

    Please note: this course will be delivered in Spanish with a translator. This is the first time that Jairo has taught in England. We would advise that you book onto the course early!

    Concessions available: please email us on info@ragmans.co.uk with details of why you would like to be considered for a concession.

    For information about Jairo's other courses and events whilst in the UK please click here


    £50.00


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