At ZCO, we practice Regenerative agriculture, a conservation and rehabilitation approach to food and farming systems. Focusing on topsoil regeneration, increasing biodiversity, improving the water cycle, enhancing ecosystem services, supporting biosequestration, increasing resilience to climate change, and strengthening the health and vitality of farm soil.

How do we achieve all this?

We start by improving the photosynthetic capacity of our plants by supporting them with the appropriate nutrition, which in turn allows them to remain healthy and provide more food to soil life through their root exudates. We improve the health of the soil by avoiding herbicides, fungicides, pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. The soil is covered with mulch or cover crop at all times improving the environment for the soil microbiota and reducing erosion from the elements. We have a diverse array of fruit trees, nut trees, vegetables, cover crops, pollinator plants and native plants which leads to a robust ecosystem. Not only does all of the above increase the health of our soil, it also increases the health of the food grown in it and improves resilience to climatic challenges via water and carbon sequestration within the soil.