What is it?

The Wilderculture Approach uses regenerative principles to design management plans for upland and marginal landscapes. Plans that make economic sense. We work alongside land owners and managers to co-create these plans.

Our methods integrate all the social, environmental and economic factors unique to each project.

Upland and marginal landscapes in Britain are mostly farmed with livestock, but these landscapes once comprised a far more complex mosaic of habitats than they do today and supported large populations of people.

This is because herbivores can either degenerate or regenerate land, depending on how they are managed.

Sadly, our uplands have been subjected to selective grazing over the last couple of centuries, which has resulted in a simplified and downgraded landscape. This ecological downgrading has reduced biodiversity and significantly reduced productivity.

At Wilderculture, we specialise in creating regenerative grazing plans that rapidly stimulate regeneration at a landscape scale. By doing so, we integrate high-quality food production with ecological restoration.

Our ‘regenerative principles’ apply not only to upland farming but also to conservation or rewilding projects where livestock might be used as a tool for such restoration. 

As part of our regenerative design process, we use a ‘holarchy’ of regeneration to identify important habitats or species to ‘protect’, to ‘regenerate’ agricultural land into highly productive agroecological food production and to seek opportunities to restore self-willed natural processes over larger connected landscapes. 

Managed with regenerative principles, herbivores rapidly cycle carbon into the soil matrix, kickstarting soil life. This creates a cascade of biodiversity, and with it… productivity.

The land owners and managers we work with no longer require as many expensive inputs such as bought-in feed. They are often able to outwinter their livestock because they work towards livestock that are suitable for their environment, and winter grazing is pre-planned throughout the year.

Because our approach restores the land’s natural productivity, we also see the burgeoning of wildlife. This restoration of ecosystems increases the health of both wild and domestic species.

Livestock have available to them a far more varied diet, which stimulates health and vitality, and animals are able to self-medicate with plants, herbs and trees. Over the longer term, as the complexity of community dynamics increases in the ecosystem, ‘problem’ species become less dominant.

On our projects, we see a reduction in vets’ bills and the need for prophylactic treatment. In its place, we encourage testing for parasites and the monitoring of livestock health to ensure that it remains optimal. All of this feeds back into ecosystem complexity, as key species, such as dung beetles, return to the land.

When livestock are managed with regenerative principles, what we find below the soil surface is a highly diverse ecosystem with an ever-deepening soil-carbon matrix. This is the vast landscape scale sponge that holds water, making land far more resilient to floods and drought.

What does it involve?

In order to benefit from a highly functional  ‘whole system’, which is our end goal, several parts of our farm ecosystem need time to transition. 

Soils must become biologically active and build in natural fertility.

Plant communities need to shift to become more complex and plants must build nutrient bridges with the living soil.

Livestock must be selected for their resilient traits and suitability for the system.

Landscapes must become more complex supporting a wide diversity of habitats and wildlife. 

People need time to learn the approach, see problems differently, make decsions holistically, and build a capacity for resilience.

The communities and people with whom the management interacts need to understand the aims and objectives of the approach. 

This transition typically takes decades with many setbacks along the way. At Wilderculture however, we have developed expertise in accelerating this transition through proactive training, coaching and peer to peer support – this is delivered though the Wilderculture Approach transition package. 

Landscape-level changes will still take time, but the sooner a plan is developed and management decisions are moving you towards your goals, the sooner you will reap the rewards of whole system function.

The Wilderculture approach transition package is ideal for those who are managing or intend to manage a land base in an upland or marginal landscape.

What does it involve?

Adopting the Wilderculture Approach on your farm or estate will require a design and transition process that has several planning stages;  

1. Learning the principles of regeneration.
2. Designing your whole system context  – environmental, social and economic goals. 
3. Developing the habitat, grazing and animal health plans. 
4. Whole system decision-making and ongoing tailored support.
5. Developing and implementing your monitoring program.
6. Ongoing support.

This process can be undertaken by attending the courses we run from Wilder Gowbarrow, working through a consultancy arrangement based on your farm or estate—or, most often, a combination of both. 

The process of adopting a Wilderculture Approach if flexible and can be adapted to your timeline and budget. 

In addition to our Wilderculture training team below there will be specialist guest speakers invited to attend the consultancy clinics and present on certain topics.