Péter Balogh

Péter Balogh, a farmer and geographer, has been living and farming in Nagykörű, near the Tisza, for 25 years, on about 40 hectares, mainly grazing (cattle, sheep, horses), on the saved saline grassland on the side of the Tisza, and in the floodplain of the Tisza, where he is turning the abandoned field into a landscape wood pasture, with economic benefits.

His professional teaching is about the necessity and the possibility of RETREATMENT, a management approach and practice adapted to the inherent functioning of landscapes.He has been publishing on the subject for 25 years, has participated in the development of the Landscape Management Concept of the Further Development of the Fair Town Plan (VTT) and has been involved in awareness-raising and advocacy activities in civil initiatives since its inception. During the drought of 2022, he was the initiator of the Water Separation Movement, which presented the reality, the essence and the feasibility of Landscape Water Retention at a scientific conference, and has since then been promoting the possibility of a natural solution to the inefficiency of the current system in the face of industrial solutions.

The essence of his teaching is that water management in the WET is wetland management, i.e. that water management problems can be solved by securing the original location of water and by revitalising the original functional processes of water through our land use. This can solve the problems at the landscape level, at the parcel level, and with proper landscape management the need for irrigation is eliminated. For the sustainability of our farming, it is essential that farmers understand landscape life processes and help landscape functioning in their farming, effectively triggering small-scale water cycles. Behind the living soil, we also need to see the living landscape, so that TMG can be combined into TAP regenerative farming.