Dario Cortese
Applying the principles of agroecology to resilient, small-scale farming
As a farmer, consultant and educator, I partner with commercial farms, communities, and self-sufficiency projects to design, implement, and teach resilient market gardening and successional agroforestry across Italy and the UK.
Areas of Practice
Translating ecological observation into practical action.
Advisory & Project Support
Education & Field Training
Conversations & Outreach
Partnering with commercial farms, private estates, and community projects to design and implement resilient no-dig market gardens and successional agroforestry systems.
Practical, hands-on courses covering soil microbiology, homemade inoculants, and the biological realities of managing a regenerative system from the ground up.
Host of the Pionieri podcast. Open, unsponsored conversations with the practitioners and pioneers shaping the future of our localized food systems.
My Farms
The true test of any regenerative system is its resilience and yield over time.
In 2023, I co-founded OrtoForesta in Florence—a regenerative agroforestry market garden integrating successional tree planting with high-yield vegetable production.
Prior to this, in 2019, I established Living Soil Garden, a biointensive no-dig market garden in the UK.
These spaces have served as my living laboratories.
Follow my work on social media
I am a market gardener, educator and researcher in agroecology, biophysics and regenerative horticulture.
In 2023, I co-founded OrtoForesta, a regenerative agroforestry market garden in Florence (Italy) and before that Living Soil Garden, a no-dig market garden in Exeter (UK).
In my work I explore ways to manage thriving and productive gardens and farms
by mindfully engaging with natural processes.
What fascinates me is the interplay of ecosystem dynamics, plant physiology, soil microbiology
and human wellbeing and nutrition.
In a past life, I worked as a research scientist, focussing on the mathematical modelling of ciliated and flagellar propulsion in microorganisms at the Living Systems Institute of the University of Exeter and on the nonlinear dynamics of active fluids at the University of Bristol.