Ep. 033: An Agriwilding Evolution with Matt Swarbrick

Wilder Podcast

Matt Swarbrick, a farmer in North West Wales, shares with us the journey of Henbant. Using the principles of holistic decision making and agriwilding, they’ve created a thriving ecosystem that enables them to produce delicious nutrient dense food and magical spaces for both people and nature. Enjoy Matt’s warmth and passion as he paints a picture of the beautiful world they are creating.

Your Hosts:

• Tom Constable: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-constable/
• Chloe Constable: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chloe-constable-24155821b/
• Website: https://www.grangeproject.co.uk
• Podcast Journey Page: https://www.grangeproject.co.uk/wilder-podcast

Grange Project Contact & Social Media:

• Email: [e-mail]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grange.project/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/grangeproject
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GrangeProject
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-constable/

Our Guest: Matt Swarbrick, Henbant

Matt Swarbrick is a permaculture inspired farmer at Henbant in North Wales. An ecologist and filmmaker by background he and his family and the Henbant team are on a mission to prove that with a small farm you can produce good food, financial profit, build soil and biodiversity, build a community and enjoy it all at the same time. Henbant has an 80 share CSA scheme and produces enough eggs, beef and veg for 80 local families from amongst a diversity of silvopasture systems. They are now working with the Wildlife trust to explore the space between ecologically intensive farming and maximum biodiversity enhancement; agri-wilding Henbant’s watershed. Henbant runs a range of courses in and is one of Europe’s leading models of small scale regenerative agroecology.

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-swarbrick-322503289/?originalSubdomain=uk
• Website: https://www.henbant.org/

Listen out for:

[00:00:00] Tom and Chloe update on the project, focused on food production focused developments.

[00:06:48] Matt introduces himself and his background.

[00:12:30] Matt describes their journey to Henbant and the layout of the farm.

[00:17:25] We discuss their approach; holistic decision making and the concept of agriwilding.

[00:24:33] Tom and Chloe question Matt about the food Henbant is producing including the importance of agroforestry.

[00:30:11] We discuss risk, entrepreneurship and the value of diversification.

[00:35:58] Chloe asks about how people are invited to join the system at Henbant.

[00:39:16] Matt tells us about the courses that are run from Henbant.

[00:43:42] We question Matt about the future vision for Henbant.

[00:47:40] Chloe and Tom reflect on the interview and what resonated most for them.