Our Tribe
Edmund Sutcliffe
Edmund is the founder of Holistic Land Innovations, a collective creating a network of abundant farm ecosystems and communities through the conscious management of ruminants.
He is also the farm manager on Burntwood Farm, the 3rd generation of his family living and working there. He manages the suckler herd of Aberdeen Angus cattle as nature intended, converting them to Organic through the Soil Association, certifying them as grass-fed through the Pasture for Life Association and getting the land they graze on verified as regenerating through the Ecological Outcome Verification protocol.
Whilst studying Chemistry at Oxford, Edmund discovered Permaculture which convinced him that the biological sciences were more appropriate for a sustainable agriculture. This led to the study of root exudates and rhizosphere interactions for his MChem, followed by detailed analysis of the incredible complexity of soil.
He took an internship with Richard Perkins giving him experience of managing small-scale, intensive, regenerative enterprises and provided him with training in Keyline Design, financial planning and farm design. Edmund has used this training and the REX course offered by Darren Doherty as a base from which to develop further skills in whole farm planning and design.
Edmund is qualified as an Accredited Professional and Trainer in Holistic Management, having completed the training in Holistic Management with Chris and Sheila Cooke. He is an Ecological Outcome Verification Monitor with the Savory Institute.
Gemma Gains
From a young age I was incredibly intuitive, older than my years, strong willed and adventurous. These qualities have led me through many life experiences which I now embody. I have always been aware of the subtleties of energy and in the last 4 years have worked to transform these gifts into modalities to help others. This is manifesting into health diagnoses, holistic plant therapy, healing and tarot to name a few.
Connection is our life blood, the energy exchange in holding each other has been proven through science. Holding space for others, whether that be emotionally, spiritually or physically is my passion. Whether we are dancing, chatting or playing: to me this is ceremony.
I believe in providing a safe place for individuals to step forward and feel seen, heard and held in the messiness of their human experience, healing is the by-product of safety on your own terms. It’s a choice to step in.
The container I cultivate daily is one of connection: to self first, to nature and to community. The fullness of my expression is that we are all ONE and we live together only to accept the many variations of that oneness. My work is to help you follow the bread crumbs back to your own inner wisdom, Gaia’s infinite abundance and to empower you with tools for self evaluation and management.
It’s time to power up.
Sheila Cooke
Sheila Cooke, BA, MBA, is an educator of Holistic Management, which enables farmers to regenerate soils, increase profitability and improve quality of life. As hub leader for 3LM, Land and Livestock Management for Life, and an Accredited Field Professional with the Savory Institute, Sheila is developing a network of Learning Hubs, Accredited Educators, and Ecological Outcome Verified producers of food and fibre.
She has long been a health-conscious eater. She went vegetarian in 2002, when mad cow disease (BSE) came to Japan, where she was living at the time. Subsequently, she became vegan when she learned that livestock contribute more to climate change than the transportation sector.
Since then she has learned that holistically-managed livestock are a necessary tool for reversing climate change. Livestock rebuild organic matter in the soil by trampling plants, and by dunging and urinating on the land. This process effectively draws carbon out of the atmosphere, and puts it back into the soil where it originally came from.
Today, she includes pasture-fed meat in her diet, and is eager to see livestock used as tools on the land to regenerate healthy soil in the British Isles.
Chris Cooke
Christopher Cooke believes that developing an ability to read the patterns of the soil surface to assess the health of ecosystem process function is an essential aspect of developing a regenerative farming practise. He is a Field Professional, Educator, and Ecological Outcome Verifier with 3LM.
He is recognised internationally for his pioneering work in managing change which has been evolving since 1983. He co-founded 3LM in 2015 following extensive international experience with a special focus on drought stricken regions. Christopher developed a technology known as Bart for conducting Ecological Outcome Verification on grassland and arable land.
3LM is the culmination of a personal journey to manifest a practical approach to synergistically work with all of life. In 1988, he became aware that what he had been taught in the world of fluid mechanics was simply not true. He felt duped by his education, but soon learned to outperform hydraulic standards by employing the basic principles of how water naturally flows.
In 2001, whilst leading an Integral Psychology class in Dallas, two students made him aware of the thirty-year drought in Australia. Their stories told him how large-scale social change can be catalysed when accepted social practices fail. Conventional agro-chemical agriculture, and water management failed to cope with the drought. It was farmers and other pioneers who led the way through the drought, by letting go of what they had been taught, and by being open to discovering the principles of how life works.
3LM builds upon the legacy of these Australian thought leadership pioneers, who like Allan Savory, worked with nature to build quality of life for all life. These pioneers offer certain hope in an uncertain world.
Marcus Link
Marcus Link is co-founder and collaborative CEO of New Foundation Farms, a start-up company with the mission to transform the world of food and farming with a radical natural approach they call deep regeneration focused on the health of land, food and finances.
Their modelling software CowHow allows them to plan for the integration of significant enterprise stacks for profitability and land regeneration.
Marcus is a deep systems thinker with a strong entrepreneurial drive. In establishing New Foundation Farms, he co-authored Farming Smarter: the case for agro-ecological enterprise, a substantial research paper on the financial and ecological potential of agro-ecological approaches published by the Food, Farming & Countryside Commission.
Previously, he developed and scaled an organic meat box scheme for Riverford.
Darren Doherty
Darren J. Doherty (CPAg, AIA) has extensive experience across the world in project design, development, management & training. A career-long focus on the profitable & regenerative retrofit of broadacre landscapes has seen Darren acclaimed as a pioneer in this important & often overlooked field.
With the advent of the Regrarians Ltd. non-profit in 2013, Darren has shifted his service profile to being that of a volunteer of that organisation, and is a leading attendee at conventions and conferences organised in conjunction with local organisations, companies and individuals all over the globe.
Darren is a 5th generation Bendigo region land manager, developer, author & trainer and has been involved in the design & development of well over 3000, mostly broadacre projects across 6 continents in more than 50 countries, ranging from 1 million hectare cattle stations in Australia’s Kimberly region to 110,000 acre Estancia’s in Patagonia, EcoVillage developments in Tasmania to public:private R&D agroforestry & education projects in Viet Nam, novel AG Machinery development + family farms across the globe with a range of private, corporate, government & non-profit clients.
A true ‘integrationalist’, Darren is the originator of the Keyline® Design (2006), Carbon Farming (2006), Carbon Economy (2007), Regenerative Agriculture (along with RegenAG® {2009}) & Regrarians® (2012) and
Regrarians’ REX®, ROC & RAP conventions and conferences across Europe, North & South America and Oceania.
This wide experience has created an international reputation of achievement plus and enviable & expansive Regrarians Network that integrates many disciplines. Globally many of Darren’s alumni of more than 15,000 people are at the cutting edge of the movement towards regenerative agriculture & living systems.
At 55 years of age, Darren is the originator of the Regrarians Platform® process which outlines a strategic & logical process to the development of regenerative agricultural systems and is the program extensively outlined in the Regrarians Handbook which is now being released chapter by chapter as an eBook; along with the Regrarians Workplace which is the online content management and professional liaison platform for all client, associate, training and alumni relations.
Darren is married to Lisa Heenan & together they have three adult children, Isaebella (1993-), Pearl (1999-) & Zane (2001-).
