What is Regenerative Farming & Agriculture? - Explained

What is Regenerative Agriculture?

Regenerative Agriculture

A regenerative farming model uses the highest organic farming standards as a baseline and works with nature to improve and repair the farm, rather than against it. It steadily improves the health of the earth and everything that lives on it, including us.

In place of harming the land, we can nurture a system that heals the soil and even sequesters carbon from the air (helping to reverse climate change), while invigorating our bodies with the purest foods possible. We see it as a win-win for the planet and humanity.

The Problem

Mass desertification
The majority of U.S. soils are extremely degraded (over 50%!) and we are losing healthy soil 10x faster than it is being replenished, leading to mass desertification -- a disastrous situation in which people go hungry and must find other places to live.
Poor Food Quality
This also has an impact on the quality of our foods. The food we eat today contains less protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, riboflavin, and vitamin C than food produced just a half-century ago.
Toxic Chemicals
Conventional farming relies on chemical intervention to fight pests and weeds and provide plant nutrition. That means synthetic pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers on your family’s foods. A non-organic apple typically has over 30 different pesticides sprayed on it!
Greenhouse Gasses
The way we currently produce most of our food is making climate change and biodiversity loss worse—agriculture is currently responsible for a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions, 70% of freshwater use and 80% of habitat loss.

There is an elegant natural solution that starts on the farm.

Why Regenerative?

It doesn’t have to stay that way. Regenerative agriculture is considered by many to be the most powerful weapon we have to preserve our climate, ensure our foods are nutrient-rich, decrease our dependence on overseas fertilizer and food production, and strengthen rural economies. To name a few!

Regenerative Practices

Healthy soil creates a healthy farm, which produces healthy plants to provide nutrients for us. Regenerative seeks to maximize health and vitality of the soil, ecosystem and crops, all at once. Some practices include:

Replacing Herbicides
Replacing chemical herbicides with farm produced herbal sprays to enhance and enliven crops
Crop Rotation
Replacing chemical herbicides with farm produced herbal sprays to enhance and enliven crops
Composting
Composting converts organic scraps into rich soil, boosting its water retention, nourishing crops, and resisting pests.
Mobile Grazing
Grazing animals, if managed properly, can bring pastures back to life, increasing biodiversity below and above ground. Restored pastures actually help draw down carbon, too!