From Campus to Crop Fields: Regenerative Agriculture Project Launched in Mount Darwin, Zimbabwe
Mount Darwin is a town in northern Zimbabwe. Known for agriculture and gold and asbestos mining, the town is named after the nearby Mount Darwin, which rises 1,509 metres above sea level.
When Hugo Winkfield, a 2023 graduate of the University of Exeter, took on a work placement opportunity in the town recently, he had no idea what to expect, but threw himself into learning. He did his placement with the Agricultural Research Trust, a not-for-profit organisation that functions as a research and demonstration farm, while providing Zimbabwean farmers with machinery and best practices for sustainable farming.
“I knew nothing about farming before I started the placement – I hardly knew what a plough did,” says Hugo. “I really committed myself and I learned a huge amount about how to farm arable crops, from the top farmers and researchers in Zimbabwe.”
This experience ignited Hugo’s passion for transformative agricultural practice.