Marina O'Connell

Marina O’Connell (1961–2024) was a successful grower, farmer, and educator. Born of seven generations of Dutch nurserymen from Boskoop in Holland (famous for fruit trees), she celebrated the professional women who are pioneering the transition to resilient food production and to re-localizing our food economy.

O'Connell, the Apricot team, and her family turned the bare land at Huxhams Cross Farm, Totnes, Devon, UK, from “a miserable bit of land” (as a local farm contractor called it in 2015) into a productive, beautiful, community-connected, and profitable farm.

She action-researched the use of biodynamic, organic, permacultural, agroecological, regenerative, and agroforestry methods in her work. She always led by example. People from around the world have visited her farm and joined her courses and her Devon apprenticeship program for regenerative food systems. She was consulted by farmers, who asked her to help redesign their farms away from industrial farming, and by farm estates needing help to make a successful transition to resilient food systems by 2030.