What is Regenerative Agriculture?

Most people don’t know the impact that agriculture has on the Earth. How we grow most of our food can harm the planet’s ecosystem in shocking ways in terms of loss of biodiversity, loss of topsoil, and the destruction of our habitat.

Agriculture also is increasing our climate change problem and is getting worse as the world’s population increases. Also, large-scale, conventional agriculture systems in the US and abroad are degenerative, meaning that they damage the natural systems we rely on to survive in the world.

All is not lost, though. Regenerative agriculture is being increasingly relied on to stop the damage to our natural environment and can often improve it. At the same time, regenerative agriculture can continue to produce plenty of food, fuels, and fibers to sustain the human race.

Regenerative agriculture means different things to different people, but we can say it centers on enhancing soil health by transferring carbon from the atmosphere back into the soil. The soils of the world have several times the level of carbon in the atmosphere and serve as a type of ‘carbon sink.’

Some of the benefits of regenerative agriculture, which are highlighted in more detail later, include:

  • Boosts soil fertility and health, which increases crop yields

  • Produces foods that contain more nutrients without chemical contaminants

  • Enhances the land’s ability to retain and filter water, which makes communities and farms less sensitive to drought

  • Enhances the resilience and biodiversity of the ecosystem

  • Boosts the availability of nutrients for plants and safeguards them from pests, which reduces the need for expensive and toxic pesticides and fertilizers

  • Recaptures carbon from the air and puts it back in the soil, which reduces climate change impacts

Agricultural practices that are considered regenerative include farming without tilling, which means farmers avoid plowing and instead drill the seeds into the earth. Also, regenerative agriculture relies heavily on cover crops, which are plants that are developed to cover the earth after farmers remove the primary crop.

Other common practices of regenerative agriculture are regular crop rotations, often three or more crops being rotated over several years. Also, many farmers rotate crops as well as livestock grazing for the ultimate regenerative benefits.

Note that regenerative agriculture isn’t really anything new; indigenous cultures have been using many of these restorative and reciprocal principles for millennia. We are fortunate that we have the chance to blend the wisdom of indigenous people cultivated over thousands of years with modern science.

When we do this important work, we can quickly transform the agriculture industry around the world and create a plentiful future that doesn’t damage the planet. Above all, we all must remember that we are part of nature, and how we treat it will have effects for thousands of years on the Earth and human societies.

Let’s take a close look at regenerative agriculture practices and the benefits it offers to all stakeholders.

Primary Regenerative Agriculture Principles

The term ‘regenerative agriculture’ can be rather vague, so let’s drill down into what we’re really talking about. The major principles of regenerative agriculture are:

Reduce Disturbances To The Soil

As we mentioned earlier, regenerative farmers usually till the earth as little as possible and may try to forgo the practice entirely.

Regenerative agriculture also means reducing or eliminating the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Keep Soil Covered With Vegetation

Rather than tilling the soil, regenerative agriculture usually relies on planting off-season cover crops or mulching to protect the earth.

When cover crops are grown, there are secondary benefits, including soil improvement, suppression of weeds, and erosion prevention.

Integrates Wildlife And Livestock Into The Farm

Manure from livestock and wildlife adds immeasurable nutrients to the earth and greatly reduces the need for chemical fertilizers. Also, permanent pastures trap high levels of water and carbon, lowering emissions and runoff.

Fights Climate Change

Building healthier soils, reducing water pollution and runoff, and maintaining cover vegetation also will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and farming. This is because farm equipment is used less and carbon is actively removed from the air, which takes more CO2 from the air than is emitted.

For example, a multi-year study of farms in the Chesapeake Bay watershed that converted traditional farmland to pasture that was rotationally grazed found a 42% average reduction for greenhouse gas emissions. There also were pollution reductions of 63%, 67%, and 47% for nitrogen, phosphorous, and sediment.

According to the study, if the Chesapeake Bay states implement 190,000 acres of forest buffers by 2025, at least 173,000 metric tons of CO2 would be removed from the atmosphere every year. That’s equal to the yearly emissions of 37,600 passenger vehicles!

Regenerative practices also can reduce nitrous oxide emissions by farms, which is severely affected by how much nitrogen fertilizer and manure is applied to the earth during the growing season. These practices can markedly reduce the amount of nitrogen that is put on crop fields, reducing pollution significantly.

Further, regenerative agriculture that builds soil health makes the soil more resilient to the effects of extreme weather that climate change brings, including droughts and floods.

Healthy soil doesn’t dry out as fast when there is a drought. It also has a greater ability to absorb moisture during heavy rains, which reduces the problem of flooded farmland and residential areas.

Farms with robust soil are also less vulnerable to diseases, pests and other risks related to climate change.

Maintains Living Roots In The Soil

Roots offer stability to the soil and regularly provide nutrients and water so these essentials don’t erode away. Regenerative agriculture does this by putting cover crop seeds in the same field as the major crop to ensure the soil is never bare to the elements.

This principle also can be maintained by planting primary crops where cover crops are already flourishing.

Boosts Plant Diversity

Having a diverse number of plants in a limited area improves soil health to more effectively trap nutrients and moisture. Plant diversity also can increase revenues for the farm and offers benefits to both wildlife and pollinators.

Regenerative farming usually rotates crops several times in a few years and will plant a variety of cover crops together, all of which enhance plant diversity.

Helps The Environment

Everything we need to survive on this planet - food, flora, fiber, and fuel - hinges on healthy soil. Regenerative agriculture addresses the global food chain from top to bottom and improves the environment for us and subsequent generations.

Helps Farmers

The most important benefit of regenerative agriculture is it enhances soil quality, which helps farmers. When farmers think first about increasing the levels of carbon in the soil, many amazing things happen.

Primarily, plant life creates more carbon through the photosynthesis process, which in turn puts exudates into the soil.

Exudates are important because they enhance the water-holding capacity of soil, and also lead to better nutrient cycling and plant health. When planets are the healthiest they can be, they photosynthesize faster, which creates a positive feedback loop for microbes.

And when plants are healthier, there is a larger crop yield, and the regenerative agriculture process continues.

For farmers wondering how regenerative agriculture will help them make a profit, there are three focus areas:

●     Enhancing the crop yield as well as yield quality

●     Increasing the profits the farmer earns from meat or produce products

●     Reducing the farmer’s input costs

When you consider these factors, it’s clear that going with a regenerative agriculture model is a wise choice. Many proponents of this type of agriculture argue that the farmer’s economic benefits are huge.

Many Farmers Are Switching To Regenerative Agriculture

It’s clear that regenerative agriculture offers a multitude of benefits to consumers, farmers, and the planet. And farmers are increasingly making the switch to regenerative farming to negate negative impacts on their livelihoods and on the planet as a whole.

Regenerative agriculture is a win-win for everyone. It’s a way of farming that provides improved and more resilient crops and enhances the environment while also reducing the effects of climate change.

That’s why so many large agriculture brands are getting on board the regenerative agriculture train. General Mills, which makes countless cereals and many other foods, is increasing its support of regenerative farming. They are working with other stakeholders to come up with training and resources to aid farmers in adopting the best soil health practices.

How To Support Regenerative Agriculture

Now that you’ve learned the basics of regenerative agriculture, please review what CleanFood.org has to offer. Our country is addicted to toxic foods and ingredients that are bad for our health and the environment.

CleanFood.org is doing its part to educate communities about toxic food ingredients and improve the health of our people and planet.

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