Regenerative Agriculture: Back to the Basics

In Alexa’s latest documentary review of Kiss the Ground, you might have noticed that soil is the latest talking point in the world of agriculture. The UN General Assembly even declared 2015 the International Year of Soils. The importance of soil cannot be overstated, for it is our lifeline on this Earth. It provides food security, a water filtration service, a holding facility for waste, a platform for man-made infrastructure, and even removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Soil is one of our most vital resources, but over time we have failed to acknowledge it as such. How can we take better care of our soil, and in turn, take better care of the Earth?

Our Soil Under Modern Agriculture 

Up to 95 percent of the world’s food is grown in the uppermost and outermost layer of the soil, commonly referred to as topsoil. It possesses a high concentration of organic matter, mineral particles, and microorganisms, all of which make it a hospitable home for plants. A combination of exploitative modern farming practices, including relentless tilling and excessive chemical inputs, have led to a looming topsoil crisis. Nearly one third of the world’s soil has already been degraded, and an additional 24 billion tons of fertile soils are lost each year due to wind and water erosion. According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, if we continue down this beaten path we may only have 60 years of topsoil left. Our once rich, dark brown soils have been neglected by policymakers and sacrificed for the sake of productivity. 

Through an assortment of complex ecological processes, healthy soil is able to sequester carbon from the atmosphere and offset a fraction of greenhouse gas emissions. The top meter of the Earth’s soil harbors approximately 2,500 gigatons (5,511,500 pounds) of carbon, roughly three times the amount found in the atmosphere. Soil has the potential to be an enormous carbon sink, but under abrasive agricultural practices and failed conservation, it has become a carbon source. But it is not too late to reverse this trend; a recent study found that by protecting and replenishing the soil on a global scale, carbon stores could offset up to 5.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide a year. 

Change in Direction

What if I told you we had the ability to reduce atmospheric carbon, foster biodiversity, and fight global hunger all in one? Would you believe me? Well, look no farther than regenerative organic farming. 

In the 1980s, Robert Rodale coined the term “regenerative organic agriculture,” a form of agriculture that extends beyond the scope of sustainability by focusing its efforts on renewing the land to its full potential. Regenerative agriculture describes a compilation of practices that not only minimize harm to the land, but goes so far as to improve it. It is a holistic approach to farming that encompasses everything from soil health, to fair working conditions and high standards for animal welfare. The crux of regenerative agriculture is rebuilding soil biodiversity and increasing organic matter to sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The fundamentals of this approach are derived from indigenous land traditions; their earnest stewardship of the land and symbiotic relationship with Earth have been the blueprint for regenerative practices.

What Does it Look Like in Practice?

Regenerative agriculture takes us back to the fundamentals of farming. It boils down to three key cultural techniques: cover the soil with plants at all times, diversify what is grown, and don’t disrupt the ecosystem. In practice, this includes cover cropping, rotating crops, practicing conservation tillage, and pasture-based livestock grazing.

In agriculture, cover cropping is the practice of planting additional beneficial crops in times of rest or in combination with the cash crop. The modern day agriculture system creates an enormous incentive for farmers to plant the same crop year in and year out and then leave the field fallow (bare) for a long period of time. By planting cover crops between growing seasons the soil is protected from erosion and nutrient loss. Cover crops also work wonders for the soil structure, for they loosen compacted soil and minimize the need for tillage. 

Rick Clark is a regenerative farmer from Indiana that plants a cocktail of cover crops he refers to as “gunslinger.” This includes haywire forage oats, sorghum sudangrass, tillage radish, winter peas, balansa clover, and cereal rye. Each crop provides a unique advantage to the soil biome. For example, sorghum sudangrass nurtures the growth of mycorrhizal fungi while winter peas and clover add nitrogen to the soil.

Crop rotation is as simple as planting different crops on the same plot of soil over a sequence of seasons. When farmers plant the same crop year after year, the pests and pathogens associated with the plant will continuously attack the crop and make itself a permanent home in the field. Additionally, repeatedly planting the same species will drain the land of limited nutrients and require additional synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Planting a variety of crops disrupts the cycle of pests and diseases, reduces loss of soil nutrients, suppresses weeds, and alters the soil structure thus increasing water infiltration. 

A popular rotation amongst farmers is a three year alternation between corn, soybeans, and wheat. Corn is a very nitrogen hungry plant, and since it cannot take nitrogen from the air it relies on finding it in the soil. After corn is harvested farmers will often plant a legume, such as soybeans, to replace the nitrogen in the soil. Soybeans are able to convert atmospheric nitrogen into a usable form through the process of nitrogen fixation. 

Conventional tilling is widely practiced on large swaths of land with the purpose of breaking up compacted soil, killing weeds, removing plant residue from the previous crop, and preparing a seedbed. Intensive plowing tears up the soil structure and exposes the microorganisms within the soil to the elements, thereby stripping the field of its nutrients. The use of the plow also disrupts carbon stores in the soil and releases it into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, a potent greenhouse gas. 

Regenerative agriculture incorporates a method of tillage that reduces soil erosion and the degradation of the land. Conservation tilling or no-till is characterized by leaving at least 30 percent of crop residues left in the field. In doing so, crop residue protects the earth from erosion, cools the soil temperature which conserves water moisture, builds up soil organic matter, and allows for soil aggregates to shelter carbon. At one point in time, the production of livestock and crops were closely intertwined and dependent upon one another, but as intensive monocropping became standard practice, so did concentrated animal feeding operations and conventional grazing practices. Regenerative grazing, also known as adaptive multi-paddock grazing (AMP), is a pasture management practice designed to rotate naturally grazing herds of livestock across grasslands. AMP mimics the grazing patterns of historic bison herds in North America by allowing the herbivorous animals to graze on one paddock for a short period of time before moving on to the next. This method allows the livestock to graze on tall grasses until they are within a foot of the Earth; by rotating the livestock onto the next paddock the land is safe from overgrazing and the vegetation is able to recover quickly. The grasses left standing enter a rest and regrowth period that allows for deeper root growth and greater carbon drawdown. Additionally, this practice lessens the need for chemical inputs because the animals naturally enrich the land as they defecate on newly broken up soil. The manure left behind is rich in nitrogen and is able to restore the microbial activity and soil fertility, thereby mitigating the amount of methane emitted by the livestock.

Has Regenerative Agriculture been Adopted? 

While Washington lawmakers continue to funnel money into an agricultural system that prioritizes monoculture and contributes to climate change, farmers have begun to take it upon themselves to shift their focus on fostering an ecologically sustainable system. In the past, farmers have heeded the advice of the government by scaling up and growing “fencerow to fencerow,” and as a consequence, their soils are impoverished. With the price of chemical inputs increasing and becoming economically inviable, farms across the country have decided to ditch their old ways and focus their efforts on revitalizing the soil. 

Some farms have undergone a transition from conventional farming to regenerative farming on their own, but the market system has failed to assist this cultural movement on a nationwide scale, hence the prominent role of non-profit organizations and educational centers. The Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture launched a regenerative farming fellowship in 2019 to support grain farmers in transitioning their operation to more regenerative practices. Up to ten farmers were selected for the 2020 cohort, and each was allotted a stipend of $3,000 in addition to access to specialists, policy experts, and a one-on-one technical mentorship. 

The Soil Health Academy is another center that teaches farmers about the principles of regenerative agriculture and assists in applying the practices. The school provides scholarship funds to help farmers subsidize their tuition as well as hands on training. In winter of 2020 they will even be offering an online course titled. “Regen Ag 101”. These programs offer eager farmers the tools and support to increase their profits, generate resilient land, and improve the quality of their agricultural products. 

Although the regenerative agriculture movement is still in its infancy, farmers from every neck of the United States have made substantial strides in adopting climate-smart agricultural practices. With consumer awareness regarding climate change at an all time high, Nestlê USA, Mars Inc, Unilever, and Danone formed the Sustainable Food Policy Alliance in 2018 to advocate for better food and agriculture policies that protect the Earth. Specifically, the coalition works to urge U.S policymakers to adopt farm policies specializing in regenerative agriculture and soil conservation. Additionally, the Rodale Institute has introduced the Regenerative Organic Certification which establishes a new holistic standard for food production that encompasses organic farming and soil health. These initiatives attract more attention to the potential of regenerative farming practices and allow consumers to support companies with a positive impact on the climate.