Episode 22: Fabian Kemps Verhage spent part of his youth on an organic farm in Nicaragua, where his mother was a development worker. Down on the farm, Fabian felt the manual labor finally put his mind to rest and allowed him to think things through.

Fabian graduated from LUC in 2013 (BSc Sustainability). After some adventures, he took a master degree in Climate Studies at the University of Wageningen and started working at the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). However, he quickly got dissatisfied with the large distance between his office in The Netherlands and the farmers he worked for. The feeling persisted at his next post at the National ThinkTank, where he wanted to contribute to the sustainability of agriculture. Hence, he decided to rent 2.5 hectares and start farming himself.

Without the expertise to grow vegetables he decided to grow wheat and soy. And due to limited access to machines, he challenged himself to conduct most of the work by hand. While still waiting for his first harvest, the experience so far has strengthened his idea that farming is possible with manual (so fossil free) labor and green manure (so fully vegan) fertilizers. While still relying on a side job for a stable income, he hopes to show that farming by hand is not only an answer to the dependency of agriculture to fossil fuels, but also for the thousands of people who want to work more with their hands.

This episode's motto: "The fastest way to get somewhere is to start in the general direction."