Join us
on a Regenerative Journey to the Future of Food and Farming
“We are part of Nature, not apart from Nature.”
– Heilmann Family –
who will be the future stewards of family farms and land?
how will they be incentivised and financed?
Our first sign led us to a small family farm in South-West England. There we met a family facing the same struggles we’ve heard about across Europe. Farm ownership is in fear of rising costs and debt, regulations, extreme weather, big corporate influence and control, and the unfair global market.
We are helping and guiding family farmers with co-creating their 1000 Year Vision. Then we are co-creating a roadmap to achieve this vision of the future. By doing so, we help farmers to absolve their financial and physical constraints.
We are travelling with our campervan throughout Europe, Africa and beyond to spread this message far and wide.
The everyday struggle of family farmers
Across the world, family farms are under threat. Current and future generations of land stewards (farmers) need to be empowered and financed.
If this does not happen, they will disappear and big ag, big pharma and big business will take over.
Debt
Uncertain future
Succession
A Forever Fund for the future with a 1000 Year Vision
In each region of the world, a 1000 Year Vision can be a reality.
By setting up a legal entity which protects and enables each family farm over the next 40 generations, we help secure local food sovereignty, enrich biodiversity, enhance water management, and co-create stronger local communities and ecosystems.
We also encourage healthier and more viable lifestyles.
Podcasts
What if the future of farming wasn’t measured in harvests, but in centuries?
In this podcast episode, Andrés and Sjacco of Tomorrow’s Bytes with sit down with Peter Michel Heilmann, a lifelong changemaker who has helped launch global sustainability movements and now focused on what bold mission: building a 1000 Year Vision movement to secure the future of family farms.
Regenerative design requires more than short-term fixes—it calls for long visions that outlast any single generation. At the core of this episode is the principle that farming is not ownership but stewardship, where land, biodiversity, and community are passed forward in healthier, richer conditions.
In this podcast episode, Matthieu Mehuys of The Regenerative Design Podcast, Peter Michel Heilmann shares his global journey through Africa, Europe, and beyond, where he witnessed both the harsh realities of inequality and the resilience of communities close to nature. His insights into creating a 1000 Year Vision for family farms and land stewards and developing financing models like Earth Certificates show how regenerative farming can move beyond debt and bureaucracy.
News you can use
🌍 Thinking in Millennia: A 1000 Year Vision
Read this inspiring article by Alasdair Crosby in the Jersey Evening Post about our family’s transformative and regenerative Follow the Signs journey across Europe, Africa and beyond—empowering family, community and regenerative farms to thrive with Nature, not against it.
“By embracing the 1000 Year Vision and a regenerative steward-ownership model, local farmers, young and old, could ensure the future of farming in Jersey. It is very important that Jersey invests more in food sovereignty.”
📖 Read the full article on Substack:
https://followthesigns.substack.com/p/building-a-sustainable-future-thinking
FEATURE: Dutch sustainability pioneer, Peter Michel Heilmann, sees Zambia as fertile ground for regenerative agriculture
Read this clearly and concisely written article by Maimbolwa Mulikelela in the Zambia Monitor about our journey in Zambia where Peter Michel met the president of Zambia, Hakainde Hichilema (HH).
For Peter Michel Zambia is not a new discovery but a return to a place that helped shape who he is today.
Born in The Netherlands 55 years ago to adventurous researcher parents, Heilmann spent his early childhood years moving across Africa, including Bujumbura, Burundi and Zambia’s Copperbelt.
📖 Read the full feature article on Substack:
https://followthesigns.substack.com/p/feature-dutch-sustainability-pioneer
Meet the farmers
No agenda, the SIGNS are our compass
We are Peter Michel, Mieke and Ravi, an inspired Dutch family following the Signs, using our intuition, and helping family farms to step off the treadmill.
Along our regenerative and transformative journey across Europe with our campervan and beyond, we are visiting, listening to and guiding farmers and (future) land stewards to co-create a strong foundation for a brighter, financially-independent and resilient future of self-sovereignty, food and farming.
Follow the Signs docuseries in the making
Three passionate, heart-minded and visionary filmmakers, Wouter de Kuijper, Monique Fuchs and Robbert Clignett of DocuFilm, are documenting our Follow the Signs journey.
The new Follow the Signs docuseries that they are currently making will be about a Regenerative Journey to the Future of Food and Farming.
Click here to support their amazing work and donate to see the full Follow the Signs episodes.
