Regenerative Agriculture is a holistic land rehabilitation approach to farming and grazing that creates regenerative food systems. This approach focuses on building soil and soil health, restoring degraded soil biodiversity, improving biosequestration, and improving standards for animal welfare and farmworkers. It is based on multiple agricultural and ecological practices that emphasize soil health through polyculture, crop rotation, rotational grazing, compost, animal manures, minimum tillage, and other practices. While Regenerative Agriculture and Sustainable Agriculture are similar in tools and ideas, they differ in theoretical approach and implementation. Regenerative Agriculture aims to improve and expand upon restoration, while Sustainable Agriculture seeks to maintain..

Regenerative Agriculture Practices

There are many practices and systems that fall under Regenerative Agriculture. All of them focus on improving soil health and biodiversity, specifically through increasing soil fertility with multi-species cover crops, crop rotations, compost, and animal manures that aid and restore the soil micro-biome.

Regenerative Agriculture uses compost instead of synthetic fertilizers. Compost recycles farm materials such as manure and plant cuttings which, when mixed and incorporated into the soil, creates a diversity of nutrients and microorganisms.

No-till/minimum till conventional agriculture uses heavy machinery to plow (till) fields multiple times at different depths in order to prepare them for planting. This method can cause soil loss, erosion, and compacted soil. Instead, Regenerative Agriculture uses hand tools or animal grazing methods for weeding in place of sprays or machines, and seeds are inserted directly into undisturbed soil either by hand or with lower-impact machines with fewer passes and less depth.  As a result, this increases soil organic matter by preserving the soil structure, which promotes overall productivity. However, tilling is occasionally necessary on a case-by-case basis in order to break up hard spots in which soil is compacted.

Managed livestock with use of rotational grazing practices helps improve the soil as animals fertilize it with manure, aid in weed management by eating or trampling, make use of and increase fertility of the land that is currently unsuitable for crops, and more.

Regenerative Organic Agriculture

Similar to Regenerative Agriculture, Regenerative Organic Agriculture was founded by Robert Rodale. In addition to regenerative practices, it also emphasizes animal welfare and worker fairness. This has a certification called Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC) which is overseen by the nonprofit Regenerative Organic Alliance. The goal of ROC is to build off of existing certifications and partner with certification bodies that can audit the ROC requirements in addition to the baseline. This includes animal welfare standards. With ROC, there are either bronze, silver, or gold levels that can be obtained each with their own requirements. Farms must pay applicable dues.

Farms practicing Regenerative Agriculture often times incorporate methods from agroforestry, permaculture, and Biodynamics.

To learn more visit:
Regeneration International
Rodale Institute
Regenerative Organic Certified

(Not Affiliated; For Education Purposes Only)

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