Ololo Farm was started with one goal in mind. To grow the most nutrient dense food possible whilst improving the ecology of the land on which we farm. This, to us, is Regenerative agriculture. A form of farming which works with natural systems to restore the ecologic health of our landscape.
Our farm was established in 2018 and has been supplying our busy Safari Lodge and now customers in Nairobi. Our primary products are pasture raised chicken (meat and eggs), duck meat, run a small dairy herd, organic mushrooms and soon to come is honey. We also operate a large shamba where we aim to grow as much organic vegetables for the 'Kitchen at Ololo'.
We've been sold a lie
To date we have been sold a lie. The only way to feed the 9 billion by 2050 is to produce our food conventionally. In other words we must tolerate caged animal agriculture and soil destructive, pesticide heavy grain growing methods.
Conventional agriculture has ensured that humans and the planet remain sick. The list of human health issues is exhaustive but the two standout issues are human fertility which is in precipitous decline and the fact that cancer is the biggest and fastest growing speciality within medicine. A similarly exhaustive list of the damage to the planet from agriculture starts with rainforest destruction, topsoil loss, carbon and methane emissions etc, etc. If we continue down this path, there will be no topsoil left to grow our food. Rivers, estuaries and the ocean will be so polluted that there will be no life left in them. Adding to this depressive state is that poor agricultural practices such as excessive tillage, synthetic fertiliser application, chemical pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and rodenticides are all killing the nutrient availability and uptake of the plants.
The second part of the lie is that the world already produces enough food to feed between 11 and 14 billion people. But most of that food is lost all along the chain to end consumer and a lot of it is grown for the wrong use like feeding grain to cattle or using corn for ethanol production.
“Regenerative Agriculture” describes farming and grazing practices that, among other benefits, reverse climate change by rebuilding soil organic matter and restoring degraded soil biodiversity – resulting in both carbon drawdown and improving the water cycle.
The solution is Regenerative Agriculture
The key to regenerative agriculture is that it not only “does no harm” to the land but actually improves it, using technologies that regenerate and revitalize the soil and the environment. These practices build healthy soil, capable of producing high quality, nutrient dense food while improving, rather than degrading land, and ultimately leading to productive farms and healthy communities and economies. It is dynamic and holistic, incorporating permaculture and organic farming practices, including conservation tillage, cover crops, crop rotation, composting, mobile animal shelters and pasture cropping, to increase food production, farmers’ income and especially, topsoil.
Kioko getting the pump going to shift the water from our duck ponds (which is filled with effluent) back onto our pastures. Pasture raised poultry Here at Ololo farm we live and breath these principles. By using a rotational grazing system of our animals we are able to rebuild our soil health. Our main focus and product is pasture raised poultry. Both laying hens for eggs and broilers for meat. How do we farm chicken regeneratively and why on pasture? Put simply. We raised our chickens in a small amount of space for a small amount of time, followed by long periods of rest. This is the basis of rotational grazing. Our chickens are housed in mobile 'Chicken tractors' which are moved daily. The benefit behind this is that the manure from 700 chickens is left behind. This is ALOT of nitrogen which is great for the soil and increasing the growth of pasture. Another benefit of this system is that the birds do not have to spend their lives living in their own faeces. Additionally, up to 8% of the chickens (broilers) diet will come from natural grazing of grass, insects and bugs. This has a significant beneficial impact on the quality and nutrient density of the meat. As pasture raised chicken has 50% more vitamin A-E, 50% more creatine, 3 x more OMEGA 3's, 4 x more adenosine triphosphate etc etc. Another reason to eat Ololo pasture raised chicken over conventional chicken is that ours have no antibiotics or steroids and are raised outdoors with access to fresh grass and air. Crazy huh?
One of our 'Chicken tractors' which houses approx 700 birds and is 12m x 6m in size. We have a simple method of putting the structure onto wheels and pushing it onto fresh pasture each morning.
This is just the first of many blogs to follow. If there is anything in particular you would like to know more about Ololo Farm or Regenerative Agriculture then please write to me at george@olololodge.com
You are also welcome to come out to the farm and see what we are doing. To book a lunch and farm tour please call reservations on 0708 844 818