Along with Greece, Italy and Portugal, Spain is the country in continental Europe that is faced with the largest percentage of desertification and the greatest water shortages.
Next to climate change, intensive and conventional farming are the main causes of this catastrophic form of land degradation. According to the European Commission, food security is at risk in the Mediterranean area, as 30% of its semi-arid regions have already been affected and 8.3 million hectares of agricultural land have been lost.
 
Conventional and intensive agriculture are causing many of the problems in these regions, which are already Europe’s poorest. The results include soil erosion and an ongoing reduction in soil fertility, a decline in biodiversity and a lack of both drinking water and water for crops. 
 
Methods of regenerative agriculture are intended to halt further desertification, but what exactly should we understand by the term? We asked four entrepeneurs in the Altiplano Estepario, all four of them pioneers of regenerative agriculture and all four passionate advocates of this sustainable way of farming, which does not exploit nature but works with it.