Harvesting the Sun

Over the last month we have been working on the first video translated to English from Columbian farmer and scientist Jairo Restrepo, a world expert in Biofertilisers and soil regeneration. Aptly titled Harvesting the Sun and filmed at Ragmans Jairo talks about the wonders of cow manure, soil microbes, trace elements, and their link with increased soil, plant and human health.

Jairo describes industrial agriculture as a ‘dishonest agriculture’ robbing us of our health and proposes an alternative productive approach harnessing the power of biological mineral ferments which will allow all of us to grow cheap organic food through enhanced photosynthesis –  by Harvesting the Sun.

We made this video because we believe that the work of Jairo Restrepo, long recognised in South America, is relatively unknown in the UK. There is plenty of material on the internet of him teaching in Spanish, but very little in other languages, so we filmed an interview with him last summer and have edited it down for release.

He is a leading teacher and practitioner in the application of technologies such as bokashi, biofertilser, native microbe ferments and the use of trace elements for soil bioremediation. These enable farmers at any scale to produce the fertility they need within their own farms and gardens. He teaches at Ragmans once a year in the summer, leading students through the science of his techniques, and also making about 15 different preparations.

His book The ABC of Organic Agriculture is a classic and has recently been translated into English, and is available through the website.

We believe that mineral and biological ferments could have a enormous impact in revitalising our soils and consequently our health. We have a full time researcher, Juanfran Lopez,who is conducting research at Ragmans. His work and some results from his trials can be found here in the section describing our approach to Organic Agriculture.