CINCINNATI, Ohio — André Leu, a dedicated advocate for sustainable farming and practicing regenerative farmer, was awarded the 2021 Eco-Ag Achievement Award on Wednesday, Dec. 8, at the Eco-Ag Conference & Trade Show in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Eco-Ag Achievement Award is given out annually in early December by Acres U.S.A., the Voice of Eco-Agriculture, to a practicing leader in the eco-agriculture industry. Starting in 1994, past winners include Gabe Brown, Dr. Vandana Shiva, Gary Zimmer and dozens of others still actively working today.
Leu, a farmer in Australia, is also the International Director of Regeneration International, an organization that promotes food, farming and land-use systems that regenerate and stabilize climate systems, the health of the planet and people.
“He always wears two suits,” said Ercilia Sahores, the founding member of Regeneration International and director of its Latin America chapter. “He speaks at big UN conferences, and then he relaxes and wears Rolling Stones shirts full of holes. The guy can go from talking to world leaders and the French Minister of Agriculture to speaking with the humblest farmer in the middle of Costa Rica.”
Regeneration International, of which Leu was a founding member in 2016, has more than 370 partners in 70 countries and works with numerous agricultural systems such as agroecology, organic, permaculture, ecological agriculture, holistic grazing, biological agriculture, organic agriculture and agroforestry. He has spent more than 45 years working and visiting countries and developing new crops all across Asia, Europe, North American, South America and Africa.
Besides his books, Growing Life (2021); Poisoning our Children (2018); and The Myths of Safe Pesticides (2014), he has published extensively in magazines, newspapers, journals, conference proceedings, newsletters, websites and doing numerous media interviews for TV, radio and online systems.
“It’s pretty clear where we’re going as a species, and if we’re going to turn this around, it will be due to the work of people like André Leu,” said Ryan Slabaugh, the general manager of Acres U.S.A. who presented him the award on Wednesday. “The results of his work will be nothing short of revolutionizing how the world will farm, and how every citizen will think about food.”
Leu was the longest serving president of IFOAM-Organics International, the world change agent and umbrella body for the organic sector. He is currently an IFOAM Ambassador.
He lectures and teaches at universities, institutions and workshops around the world. He speaks at numerous conferences, seminars, workshops as well as United Nations events on every continent. He meets with governments, United Nations’ bodies, industry, farmers, consumers and NGOs on the multi-functional benefits of regenerative agriculture and on the science of increasing soil organic matter to both mitigate and adapt to climate change.
André and his wife, Julia, manage and own an organic tropical fruit farm in Daintree, Australia. He plays guitar and keyboards in bands in his spare time.
For more than 45 years, Acres U.S.A. events have served farmers, ranchers, nursery growers and agriculture professionals with detailed, proven ways to build soil health. Learn more about the Eco-Ag Conference & Trade Show here.
