La Junquera
Murcia, Spain
Crash Course: In Collaboration with Regeneration Academy
On-Farm Dates: May 18 - 23
The Farm
La Junquera is a 1,100-hectare farm in the Northwest of Murcia, one of the most desertified areas on the Iberian Peninsula. Since 2015, the team has been implementing regenerative practices growing almonds, aromatics, grapes, cereals, legumes, vegetables, and raising beef cattle. They are now one of the largest regenerative farms in Europe.
Working in a context where the water cycle has been lost, La Junquera is at the forefront of regenerative agriculture and has created the Regeneration Academy to share their learnings, conduct research, and inspire the return of mission-driven farmers to the land.
The Team
Alfonso Chico de Guzmán and Yanniek Schoonhoven own and operate La Junquera where they live with their children. In the heart the farm, they are rebuilding a village with the help of a growing team of individuals dedicated to ecosystem and community restoration through agriculture.
Yanniek is also the Director of Regeneration Academy, founded at the farm to conduct research, to share learnings, and inspire the return of mission-driven farmers to the land.
What’s special about Crash Course at La Junquera?
Crash Course was developed by Regeneration Academy as an experiential introduction to regenerative agriculture and ecosystem restoration. Climate Farm School became a course collaborator in 2024 when Directors Laney & Ryan joined Yanniek to assist in facilitating the course. The partnership has deepened each successive year.
La Junquera is at the cutting edge of regenerative dryland farming and has an ambitious mission to restoring a landscape, community, and water cycle. The team has expanded its reach well beyond farm boundaries, sharing knowledge with farmers across Europe, around the world, and regeneratively managing additional farmland for investment funds.
La Junquera is the site of the first camp of ecosystem restoration communities, a member-based organization of ecosystem restoration sites who work with volunteers to implement restoration activities in more than 19 countries around the world.