Zuzana Benešová

Zuzana envisions a society where soil health is prioritized as a cornerstone for addressing broader challenges such as climate change, drought, floods, and food insecurity. She does this by shifting mindsets on land stewardship and by engaging an array of traditional and non-traditional agricultural stakeholders in regenerative practices.

Zuzana has developed a new model that leverages activation and education of an unusually wide range of stakeholders – well beyond those traditionally involved in agriculture – to advance regenerative practices and improve soil health. She transforms the narrative of land stewardship from “my land” to “our soil”, reframing soil as a shared common good rather than a private, passive asset. This narrative is then woven into practical solutions offered to diverse actors through a tailored, multi-pronged strategy that addresses their specific needs and aligns these interests with ecological goals. In doing so, Zuzana builds a robust ecosystem for regenerative agriculture that accelerates cultural change and embeds soil stewardship not only into farming, but in the very fabric of the economy and society.

Zuzana empowers individual landowners by offering free advisory services and an open-source lease generator that embed regenerative principles into lease agreements. Municipalities and dioceses—some of the largest landowners in the country—are activated through a new role she pioneered: the Field Manager, who helps redesign leases, farming methods, help choose suitable farmers and monitor outcomes. For farmers, she builds community through the Regenerative Agriculture Society and the online Platform for Regenerative Agriculture, enabling peer exchange and reframing farmers as co-creators of sustainable future. She connects chefs and food buyers with regenerative farmers through workshops, farm visits, and “speed-dating” events —reviving forgotten crops and creating market demand. Corporations like Nestlé are engaged to embed regenerative sourcing into their operations, while insurers are drawn in through pilots linking soil health to flood-risk mitigation and lower payouts.

Her holistic approach normalises soil stewardship as a shared responsibility, cultivating an environment where regenerative agriculture is seen as a common good - supported by aligned incentives and mutual benefits.

Zuzana’s innovation and ecosystem building have resulted in broad impact. Since she founded Soil for Life for the Partnership Environmental Foundation in late 2020, Zuzana has activated around 3,500 landowners and helped to write hundreds of new fair lease agreements. Hundreds of farmers have participated in knowledge sharing and networking events. All this has resulted in the regeneration of 35,228 hectares of land by the end of 2024 – or roughly 1% of all the land used nationally for agricultural purposes. Her goal is to regenerate another 9% by 2030.

Globally, soil degradation is a major but neglected problem. Around one-third of soils worldwide are already degraded (The Heinrich Böll Foundation) and over 90% planet's land could be degraded by 2050 (UNESCO). Healthy soil is critical for carbon sequestration, water retention and impact on climate change efforts as well as food security. In the Czech Republic, over half of its total land – 53,2 % – is agricultural but is mostly exposed to industrial farming practices. Recent polling shows that while more than 86% of Czechs recognize industrial farming’s harmful effects, only 21% see a pathway to act.

The Communist-era forced collectivization, which grouped land into large state-owned cooperatives for over 40 years resulted in severed economic, social, and emotional ties between landowners and their land. The restitution that started in the 1990s, led to fragmented land ownership with 3.2 million landowners but only 90,000 people working in agriculture. Many new landowners have lacked the knowledge and connection to land to manage it sustainably leading to seeing the land not as a source of ecological agency but as a distant passive asset. That is why 75% of the arable land is rented, often to big agroholdings using heavy machinery and chemical pesticides with limited crop rotation leading to erosion, compaction, and a loss of organic matter. Unlike forest owners, landowners receive no state institutional support.

Farmers often find themselves in the middle of a polarized narrative. Ecological sector often blames them for the soil degradation – especially the large ones – overshadowing the complexity of the system and loosing potential allies. Yet many smaller and newer farmers - especially regenerative ones – truly face structural barriers – limited access to land, fragmented plots, dominance of big agroholdings focused on high yields and low prices. These factors together constrain adoption of regenerative practices.

The agricultural infrastructure is mostly dominated by agricultural oligarchs, notably by former prime minister Andrej Babiš, who owns most of the grain silos, thus disrupting farmers direct access to buyers including consumers, retailers, and restaurants. The reliance on monocultures – mostly wheat, corn, and rapeseed - further reinforces this dynamic.

Increasing erosion has led to more frequent and destructive floods, however the government’s erosion monitoring system is overly complicated and ineffective. Municipalities often neglect erosion monitoring and prevention, relying instead on insurance payouts. Meanwhile, state prioritizes expensive, ineffective and environmentally harmful dam constructions over natural soil retention ability.

Soil health is almost invisible in national and European legislation. The 1992 Czech Soil Protection law has not been enforced effectively. Due to the legal vacuum and poor enforcement, the soil health is a “nobody’s problem” and there is no clear ownership of its protection.

This problem is visible in EU subsidy policy as well. Under the Common Agricultural Policy, the subsidies distributed by national authorities are based entirely on the hectarage, unrelated to soil conservation, providing no incentives for regenerative practices. Large-scale agroholdings disproportionately benefits from this system – exemplified by Babiš’s conglomerate as the country’s largest agricultural subsidy recipient. The absence of an official definition of regenerative agriculture prevents linking public funding to regenerative methods, perpetuating harmful practices.

Zuzana catalyzes a transformative shift in regenerative agriculture by building understanding across diverse stakeholder groups and activating them as changemakers. Zuzana activates landowners through free advisory services, an open-source lease generator and the creation of a new role – the Field manager. She and her team catalyze farmers mainly by creating Regenerative Agriculture Society – a platform for peer exchange and mutual empowerment. To create market pull and shorter supply chains, Zuzana forges direct connections between regenerative farmers and chefs, restaurants, and food retailers like Nestlé. Even insurers are mobilized to pilot new products that help reduce flood risks.

Zuzana employs two key strategies to activate landowners. Firstly, she provides free advisory services to individual landowners on soil health and sustainable land management. Recognizing that many landowners were unaware of their poor soil conditions and lacked practical guidance, she and her team analysed the land register and targeted men aged 45-55 with an extensive online media campaign, resulting in thousands of sign-ups. By reviewing hundreds of lease agreements, Zuzana identified a key opportunity to incorporate regenerative practices directly into contracts, as most lacked any soil protection provisions. She later launched an online open-source lease generator accommodating diverse landowner needs and introduced a contract rating system to further activate landowners' shift from passive owners to active and informed stewards.

Municipalities, owning around 5% (200,000 hectares) of country’s agricultural land and other large landowners such as Catholic dioceses (owning around 1%) have been activated through a new role Zuzana created – the Field Manager. The field manager evaluates land condition, recommends suitable farming methods, assists with lease agreements, and/or help select suitable regenerative farmers. The field manager develops a viable land management plan with simple and adaptable steps, avoiding radical shifts. Subsequently, the manager also monitors the implementation. Using satellite imaging, orthophotos, and field checks, the field managers measure the impact on soil health and the regenerative agriculture ecosystem. The organization also gather qualitative data on the adoption of sustainable practices.

To date, approximately 3,500 individual landowners have used Soil for Life’s free advisory services, including its lease contract generator. More than 1000 contracts for more than 200 municipalities have been rated. Around 6 % of Czech municipalities (339 of 6,250) have worked with Soil for Life’s 5 field managers to assess soil quality and revise lease terms, achieving concrete changes in 40 municipalities. The goal is to activate municipalities to launch their own field managers trained by Soil for Life, so that by 2030 at least one quarter of all districts (50) have a dedicated Field manager. Municipality of Jihlava and Diocese of Plzeň has already done so. Through this combined strategy, more than 35,000 hectares (around 1% of the agricultural land) were recovered. Zuzana’s goal is to double the amount of healthy land each year; reaching regenerative practices on 10% of the country’s agricultural land by 2030.

Having originally targeted landowners, Zuzana has recently expanded her focus to include farmers as a key lever, recognizing their openness to reframing their role in land stewardship. Zuzana has created Regenerative Agriculture Society with over 70 active members who promote regenerative practices while participating in workshops, seminars and peer networking. Zuzana has also launched the Platform for Regenerative Agriculture – an online community of 275 members (192 of whom are farmers) - that provides online discussion forum and knowledge resources. Both platforms build supportive community and collaborative space for often isolated farmers while activating them as changemakers.

To date, hundreds of farmers have participated in knowledge sharing and networking through the Regenerative Agriculture Society and Platform for Regenerative Agriculture. In 2025, 6 workshops where experienced Society members shared their experience with other farmers drew 40 to 80 participants each, with demand so high that additional sessions had to be added. This counters the narrative of farmers as the “bad guys” and highlights their openness to change. Zuzana aims to have at least one regenerative farming ambassador in each of the Czech Republic’s 205 districts. Efforts to revive agricultural cooperatives—despite historic distrust—seek to enable farmers to jointly purchase equipment, further strengthening collective capacity to embrace regenerative practices.
Zuzana's model uniquely catalyses non-traditional agricultural actors — including insurance companies, food producers, retailers, restaurants, and consumers. By aligning their economic interests with environmental stewardship, she expands the regenerative ecosystem and create greater demand for regenerative practices and products.

Collaborating with insurers, Zuzana links land stewardship to risk prevention. Soil for Life has developed a simple online erosion events reporting tool that replaces state’s inefficient bureaucratic system and enables public to participate in soil protection. The authorities now take the reports seriously, triggering fines after repeated erosion events. Zuzana also advocates for erosion notifications to be sent directly to landowners, not just to farmers and municipalities, overcoming municipalities’ disregard as they know their costs will be covered by insurance. Zuzana raises insurers’ awareness that healthier soil dramatically reduces flood risks and thus payouts. This has led several insurers to participate in pilot projects in erosion-prone municipalities, paving the way for insurance products rewarding regenerative land management.

Zuzana strategically targets major food producers and retailers like Nestlé or Prazdroj (one of the biggest beer producers in the country) to connect them directly with regenerative farmers, helping them integrate sustainable sourcing into their supply chains while bypassing the controversial intermediaries.

In gastronomy sector, the model helps create market pull for regenerative products. Through workshops, farm visits, and speed-dating events, Soil for Life connects regenerative farmers directly with fine dining, fast-casual restaurants, chef training centres, and food entrepreneurs. Chefs are supported in developing dishes showcasing traditional Czech ingredients with a modern twist, many sourced from regenerative farms. This demand motivates farmers to grow forgotten or rare crops. Soil for Life even invested in infrastructure like an industrial grain peeler, allowing local millet to return to the Czech table instead of being imported. Over 50 chefs and food professionals have joined this movement, becoming advocates for healthier soil, shorter supply chains, and diverse and sustainable diets – creating bottom- up cultural shift.

Understanding that legislative change takes time, Zuzana and her team initially prioritized stakeholder activation and grassroot movement building. Recently, Soil for Life begun to focus on legislative advocacy both on national and European levels. Zuzana and her colleague are members of a national working group under the Ministry of Environment tasked with implementing the EU Nature Restoration Law in the Czech Republic, including drafting the National Restoration Plan. Soil for Life have emerged as the most active contributor, particularly on soil condition monitoring aligned with the EU target to restore 30% of degraded areas. Zuzana champions improved monitoring and reporting to enhance regenerative efforts.

In parallel, Zuzana aims to work with regional associations of municipalities to scale the Field Manager model and organizes learning visits for policymakers. Key advocacy effort is focused on drafting a definition of regenerative agriculture, development of a certification scheme for regenerative practices – not products – and a subsidy reform – with goal of increasing the subsidy for cover crops from 10% of land to 70–80%, to shift public funding away from intensive farming practices toward soil-friendly methods.

Zuzana has already activated several key policymakers. Jan Farský, MEP, co-organized the landmark 2024 “Living or Dead Soil?” conference in the Chamber of Deputies and champions soil health at EU level. Nationally, active four-year dialogue with figures like Agriculture Committee Chair Michal Kučera and Minister of Agriculture Marek Výborný has led to adoption of the “regenerative agriculture” term. Even President Petr Pavel visited one of the regenerative farms.

Zuzana’s change-making journey is rooted in her upbringing in Communist Czechoslovakia. Raised by anti-communist parents who encouraged reading, open discussions, and critical thinking, she cultivated a powerful sense of curiosity, openness to differences, and a commitment to justice. These qualities manifested already in primary school when she defended a disabled classmate from bullying. Although her teacher scolded her, she felt she had done the right thing. The same desire for justice also propelled her to courageously report a male leader of the summer Pioneers’ camp for inappropriate behaviour toward female students, which led to his dismissal.

Zuzana's creativity and entrepreneurial mindset surfaced just as early - at lower secondary school she successfully negotiated with the school librarian to extend the library hours beyond just one day a week, persuading her fellow student volunteers to help keep it running, thus empowering her peers to take ownership of their learning.

Zuzana's upbringing and awareness of the importance of freedom of speech and justice inspired her to study law and journalism simultaneously at university. Zuzana began her professional journey as a human rights lawyer at the Ombudsman Office, where she and her colleagues contributed to the nationwide policy change that ended the use of bed cages for restraint in psychiatric facilities. During the same period, Zuzana also created the first legal clinic in the country, an innovation that remains still active at the Czech Republic’s second-largest Masaryk university. As chairwoman of the Czech government's Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination, she built a cross-sectoral coalition - from ministries to municipalities— culminating in the establishment of the country’s first anti-discrimination department at the Ombudsman’s office. Through this experience, she recognized the power of empathetic storytelling, practical solutions and active engagement of various stakeholders - key elements of her strategy in Soil for Life.

The birth of her first child motivated her to run for mayor of Ostopovice, a village outside Brno, as she wanted to help foster a more interconnected and resilient community. Zuzana’s ability to empower others to make change led to villagers joining in environmental conservation projects and the founding of a new community school, that now serves hundreds of students and promotes child-centred, experiential learning. She also renewed a local children folklore group and successfully negotiated with the national railway company to restore an abandoned train stop, improving local connectivity and demonstrating her talent for turning overlooked opportunities into tangible community benefits. In 2020, Zuzana identified a potential for change in soil health. While preparing for her job interview with the Partnership Environmental Foundation – the biggest environmental foundation in the country - she discovered that over 3,2 million landowners were completely overlooked in conservation efforts—a missed opportunity that sparked her innovative approach. Zuzana’s legal background and prior experience in systems change enabled her to identify landowners’ lease agreements as critical levers for better soil health.

The multi-pronged approach she has since developed reflects Zuzana’s deep understanding of the interconnectedness of environmental, social and economic issues. Her Soil for Life initiative embodies a commitment to providing practical, systemic solutions and fostering a growing community of practice to scale regenerative agriculture while utilizing emotionally resonant stories to catalyse change.