Mission
The Cycle to Farms is an active advocacy project that documents regenerative farmers’ realities across the EU, the Middle East, and Africa by cycling from farm to farm. Cycle to farms gives a voice to the farmers, contributing to intercultural knowledge exchange by taking a bottom-up approach to understanding the farmers’ stories and how they align with existing policies.
Cycle to Farms is inspired by the ethos of “Don’t think in problems, but think in solutions.” this principle resonates deeply with the farmers we have encountered, as they consistently sought solutions to the challenges they face. Cycle to Farms mission is to inspire others to adopt a similar mindset-shifting focus from climate change problems alone to actively investing in solutions.
Why?
Many solutions in the food system we experience today comes from how we treat our soil, grow our food and what we eat. Therefore, regenerative agriculture should be discussed when talking about sustainable agricultural transformations. International policy on combating climate change externalities should focus on sustainable agricultural transformation, adapting to the contextual realities of farming. The Cycle to Farms project maps these realities across various EU, Middle-Eastern & African countries, documenting the challenges of farmers and provide a dialogue about regenerative farming across continents.
Our goals
±7000 km
Cycling distance
+25
Farmers
1
Documentary
Featured in
Our stories
Here you can read our ideas, thoughts and experiences, while cycling.
Who knew a crazy idea like cycling across continents and visiting regenerative farms would lead us to Boston? 😯
Amidst Criticism, COP28 in UAE Shows Promise for Food and Agriculture
When cycling we knew that this is not only about us, but about sharing the findings and learnings with others.
Serengeti, Permaculture design course, city of rocks and many more. But what's next?
Rwanda’s cycling culture left us in awe
"Sustainability, regeneration means also ,people care, fair share’, you need to earn money to be sustainable."
One of the highlights of my visit was spending time on my uncle’s farm, nestled about 30km away from Mogadishu...
Before traveling to Uganda, we anticipated that it would be quite similar to Kenya, but...
How farmers deal with water?
In this guest article we uncover how farmers increase biodiversity
A year ago today, we left the comfort of our homes to embark...
+wildlife + new partnership
We saw people raising branches, cooking spoons, and some even holding stones..
Remember our very first farm visit in the Netherlands? That was a food forest inspired by farming practices in Kenya
Experiencing Freedom and Adventure Cycling Through Kenya
As Cycle to Farms, we also want to encourage more young people to share their stories about sustainable agriculture, so we asked Giovanni to share some of his reflections.
See Cycle to Farms plans for 2023!
2nd phase was physically and intellectually challenging
Cycle to farms wants to enable others young people to share their regenerative experiences. Therefore we are open to receive stories from others which we will post on our website, newsletter and social media.
Everywhere we went, we heard "Welcome to Jordan" hundreds of times. We spent a month and a half there and in that time Jordan stole our hearts.
Farm as a living lab with agroforestry, market garden, vermi-composting and R&D
This video shows little snippets of our #biketravel through: The Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Slovenia
Our third visit after 416 km of cycling – Hof Lebens berg, a 30 ha community farm
Many years ago it felt like utopia to visit farms around the world. But doing that on bicycle was absolutely unimaginable. But first step has been achieved
Claudi Rudorf and Howard Koster switched their city lives in Berlin for building a regenerative agriculture farm
How did the Balkan journey go? Croatia, Montenegro and Albania
It is not always easy to knock on random people's doors and ask if we can pitch a tent in their garden...
Finally after cycling 2000 km, the first episode of Cycle to Farms
Back in 2019 the seed has been planted...
We discovered 3 ways of how to help farmers out with their hard and dedicated work.
Slowly but surely, we become familiar with cycling and wild camping. It is like a full-time job where routine is the key...
The slow cycling gave us the opportunity to spend enough of time on the farms and to reflect on what we have learned from the farmers.
Intro video included where we briefly explain why we cycle, why we focus on regenerative agriculture and what’s next
Description of our planned route and expected timeline
Why we believe that regenerative agriculture is a solution and what are the main principles
Our gear list together with expenses to achieve our mission.
The nutrition we follow to stay healthy and dedicated
Explanation of what we aim to understand and what kind of impact we expect
An explanation of our target audience and the main outcomes of the project and potential risks
ROUTE & timeline
We are cycling from Wageningen to Mwanza, a distance of approximately 7,000 km. The map presents all the regenerative farms globally; the brown icons mark the farms we are visiting.
Phase I (The Netherlands – Germany – Austria – Croatia – Bosnia and Herzegovina – Montenegro – Albania – Greece) is approximately 3,000 km. Flight 1 (Athens – Amman) is necessary due to current connection possibilities.
Phase II (Amman – Cairo) is approximately 1,000 km. Flight 2 (Cairo – Nairobi) is necessary due to tensions in South Sudan and Ethiopia.
Phase III (Nairobi – Kampala – Kigali – Mwanza) is approximately 3,000 km.
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CORE PRINCIPLE
Meet OUR Team
Aisha Hassan is a political scientist with a research interest in agro-geopolitics and regenerative agricultural development. Her more recent work focuses on how to guide food systems towards more sustainable outcomes. Aisha holds an MSc in International Development Studies from Wageningen University and Research. Before her MSc, she obtained a BSc in International Studies from Leiden University. She worked for a microfinance organization in Tanzania, where she trained young entrepreneurs to become financially independent. More recently, she worked as a research intern at the Clingendael Institute’s Department of Business and Peace Horn of Africa. Aisha is passionate about photography and long-distance cycling, and has always dreamed of making the journey from Cairo to Cape Town by bike.
Lukas Paltanavicius has over 7 years of experience in agribusiness development in Europe. He began his career at Scandagra (a Danish and Swedish farmers cooperative) as an Agronomist and was promoted to Product Manager. He also collaborated with Wageningen Academy to create a masterclass called “Future proof farming” for agribusiness professionals. Lukas holds a BSc in Agricultural Technologies from Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania and Italy) and earned an MSc in Biobased Sciences from Wageningen University & Research, with a focus on circular economy, regenerative agriculture, and agribusiness. He has visited 40 countries across 4 continents, and his most memorable trips include skiing in the Himalayas and Mission Siberia.
Our amazing partners:
