Karen de Vries and Ryan Botha

Karen de Vries and Ryan Botha started the La Loma Viva project in 2009. They are now the co-founders of the La Loma Viva Foundation. It is a farm and education centre, researching agro-ecological strategies to find solutions for transforming degraded Mediterranean landscapes. 

They have been running educational programs since 2012 and have hosted leading practitioners and teachers in the field of regenerative agriculture. Their current focus is developing Syntropic farming in a Mediterranean context – with the aim of facilitating ecosystem regeneration through agroforestry.

Karen and Ryan are educators, consultants, regenerative designers, whole systems thinkers and pioneering practitioners in the field of Syntropic farming in semi-arid landscapes.