About Speaker

Marina O'Connell is a director of the Apricot Centre, and in 2015 she took on the tenancy for Huxhams Cross farm, in Dartington, Totnes, Devon with a small but rapidly growing team as the farm itself grows. This small 13-hectare farm has been regenerated by weaving together Biodynamic farming, agroforestry, and the farm was designed using permaculture design techniques. The farm produces fruit, vegetables, eggs, and small-scale grain, while providing training and a home to a wellbeing service for children and families. It is home to the new school for level-three regenerative land-based systems that started in 2022.

Marina studied Horticulture at Bath University, and a Masters in Environment and Society under Jules Pretty at Essex. She has worked at the Horticultural Training workshop at Dartington Hall and Otley Agricultural College. She ran a small market garden in Essex, selling her produce at Growing Communities in London, and now a larger farm in Devon. The team completed an impact assessment of Huxhams Cross farm after 5 years, finding that the farm is carbon negative, sequesters more carbon that it uses, supports more biodiversity, produces a wide range of local food and is economically viable.

Marina is a permaculture designer, and designs and creates business plans for regenerative farms, small and large scale. Her new book Designing Regenerative Food Systems was published by the Hawthorn Press in 2022.