Andy Cato, the British regenerative agriculture trailblazer more widely known as one half of the electronic music duo Groove Armada, will be the headline act at New Zealand’s biggest annual arable farming event this month.
The Foundation for Arable Research’s CROPS 2022 takes place near Ashburton on November 23, with more than 500 farmers and industry representatives expected at FAR’s Chertsey arable research site.
Cato, who had been a mixed arable and livestock farmer for the past 15 years, had gained a new following for his work trying to find a more restorative and sustainable way of growing food.
In recent years he co-founded Wildfarmed, a farming philosophy that prioritised soil health and biodiversity and grew crops without the use of herbicides, fungicides and pesticides.
He was the first Englishman to be awarded the Chevalier de L’Ordre du Mérite Agricole – the French equivalent of a knighthood for services to agriculture.
Cato’s original 100-hectare farm in Gascony, where his farming journey began, was recognised as the most innovative farm in France when awarded the prestigious Lauréat National de l’Agro-Ecologie 2020.
Now back on British soil after securing a 20-year tenure of a 295ha farm in Oxfordshire in 2021, Cato was on a mission to take what he’d learned and, through the Wildfarmed project, help facilitate change for farmers by creating a consumer led market for food grown in regenerating landscapes.
Wildfarmed produced stoneground flour made from a diverse variety of wheat grown alongside a variety of plants, grasses, and legumes.
Working with 42 farmers and more than 250 bakers and restaurants, the company was creating a market for grains based on the quality of the crops and soil, while influencing retailers, bakers, chefs and eaters to see value in choosing local grains produced this way.
United Kingdom retail chain Marks & Spencer recently launched a range of Wildfarmed loaves into 500 of its stores.
In his keynote address at CROPS 2022, Andy Cato would be sharing his farming story and insights from the UK grains sector.
Since its inception in 2002, CROPS had become a must-do on the agriculture calendar.
It also provided an opportunity for industry members to enjoy a day away from the farm, taking the time to make important social connections as well as looking to the future of their businesses.

• Pat Deavoll