Regenerative agriculture is the new farming buzzword, but few can agree on what it means

Working with rather than against nature … Rosnay Organic, near Canowindra in central west NSW. Photograph: Stuart Walmsley

Earlier this year, NSW wine and olive oil producer Sam Statham recieved a phone call from a committed vegan.

The caller was seeking an assurance that animals weren’t used to graze the olive grove and vineyard. But the Stathams regularly agist sheep for exactly that purpose, and as a natural source of fertiliser.