The Ultimate Guide to Exploring Regenerative Agriculture
Agriculture has been a way of life for thousands of years. Unfortunately, it has also become a driver of environmental destruction.
Food systems – which include land-use change and agricultural production – account for more than a third of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions globally.
Clearing and converting land for agriculture results in land degradation, habitat destruction, and the loss of biodiversity.
However, regenerative agriculture takes sustainability a step further. Instead of merely decreasing the industry’s impact, regenerative agriculture seeks to have a net-zero or even net-positive impact (doing more good than bad) by regenerating soil health, supporting biodiversity, and restoring the ecological balance.
This idea is not new. Many practices implemented in regenerative agriculture are what Indigenous People have been doing for years, and involve working with nature.
How is Regenerative Agriculture Better for the Environment?
The term climate agriculture is often used in tandem with the term regenerative agriculture.
Anthropogenic, or human-induced, climate change is impacting the environment (with people and animals impacted too as a result), and many changes and adaptations taking place in the agricultural sector occur as a way of mitigating and adapting to climate change.
One of the ways regenerative agriculture does this is by employing a land management approach known as agroforestry: the practice of cultivating crops amongst native trees and establishing wildlife corridors.
These methods not only support biodiversity by offering homes to native species, but can restore degraded soil.
Better Soil Health
Soil health is a key feature of regenerative agriculture, especially because conventional agriculture is degrading soil.
Soil can be protected in many ways, including crop rotation, using crop cover, practicing polyculture, and applying low or no tillage. These practices also have other benefits.
Crop rotation helps reduce soil erosion, and can help combat pests and diseases, thus limiting dependency on pesticides (more on that in a bit). Polyculture provides farmers with multiple crops instead of restricting them to one source of food or income.
Using the Native American Three Sisters method of growing corn, squash, and beans together is an excellent example of polyculture.
When using this method it not only shows us the benefits of working with nature, but of nature in companionship and not in competition.
Healthy soil provides healthy crops, but it has another very important benefit: it acts as a carbon sink – an important measure in mitigating climate change. When land is degraded, soil loses its ability to store carbon and when forests are burned, they release the carbon they’ve been storing.
This is why planting and preserving trees is important. Tree cover also pulls carbon out of the atmosphere. Furthermore, establishing riparian buffer zones (strips of land next to waterways filled with trees and vegetation) offers stability, thus preventing soil erosion.
A great example of working with tree cover in regenerative agriculture is shade-grown coffee.
Water Conservation
Water conservation is also key and goes hand in hand with soil health. To conserve water, regenerative agriculture implements measures such as rain harvesting and irrigation, which is important for dry and drought-stricken areas.
Another measure is to grow heat and drought-resistant crops.
Planting and supporting native vegetation is important too, because alien species may introduce diseases and be water guzzlers.
The water struggle is endless, because even if it is not scarce, farmers need to keep water clean. The use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers in conventional farming pollutes waterways in the form of chemical runoff, poisoning fish and wildlife, contaminating food sources, and destroying habitat.
Regenerative agriculture seeks to reduce the use of these chemicals, and organic agriculture guidelines are sometimes a leaping-off point for regenerative practices.
Is Regenerative Different from Organic?
At this point, you may be asking yourself whether you should be shopping organic or regenerative or wondering whether there is even a difference.
They are very similar, with the key difference being that regenerative focuses not only on doing less harm to the environment and to people (whether workers or consumers), but also on giving back to the land and eco-system. Ultimately, there is a lot of overlap.
Does Regenerative Agriculture Impact Food Nutrition?
This leads us to the significant caveat that we need to consider more than just what we put on our plate or on our bodies: we need to consider how the products were produced. When it comes to food specifically, how it is produced can impact not only the environment and animal welfare, but also food nutrition.
In the past few decades, the nutrient density of our food has fallen. This decline has been correlated with conventional farming methods that impact soil health.
Heavy tillage and the excessive use of pesticides disrupt the biological processes in the soil, creating conditions that make it difficult for crops to intake nutrients.
Since regenerative agriculture seeks to restore and maintain soil health, it can create more ideal conditions in which to grow healthy, and thus nutritious, crops.
Meat products from regenerative farms have also been found to be more nutrient dense.
Are There Certifications for Regenerative Products?
There is regenerative certification available, certifying farms and products according to criteria such as soil health, animal welfare, and fair trade. Some examples include:
Regenerative Organic Certified from the Regenerative Organic Alliance (ROA)
Certified Regenerative from A Greener World
Soil Regen’s Regenerative Verified and Regeneratively Grown
Keep in mind that there are often farmers and businesses that cannot afford certification.
This does not mean they are not farming or producing according to sound and fair social, animal welfare, and environmental practices. Do not get bogged down and confused by labels.
If you try to look for products that implement every kind of certification, you’re going to be looking for a long time. And as mentioned, a lot of certification criteria overlap anyway. The ROA, for example, requires organic as a baseline for their certification.
These labels should act as a guideline and not as a deciding factor on whether or not you buy a product or support a business.
Remain mindful and enquire about environmental, animal welfare, and social practices, regardless of certification.
While there may be some value in shopping for certified products, there is a lot of value in shopping small and local farms or farmers markets.
Regenerative agriculture is not without its challenges. Its potentially lower yields can be an issue, especially in a world with rising demand and hunger. But climate solutions are never going to be singular or isolated.
Combining regenerative agriculture with other climate-friendly practices can help slow down the pace of the changing climate and thus the environment’s destruction.
MEET THE AUTHOR
Claudia Hauter is a South African writer, copy editor, and content creator with degrees in Drama and Anthropology. She works in television managing web content. When she isn’t reading or writing, she’s walking her dog, finding small businesses and markets to support, or attracting butterflies and bees with her vegetable garden. Learn from Claudia on Twitter or Instagram.
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