About Me
Before I went to college, I had never heard the term “regenerative agriculture” before, and it wasn’t until I came to Bucknell University that my eyes were opened to the potential that regenerative agriculture could have. In my freshman seminar class, we took a tour of the Bucknell Farm. At first I wasn’t very excited about it because I had to walk all the way across campus at eight in the morning, but as the tour concluded, I felt the complete opposite. I felt as if I wanted it to go on forever. While on the tour, Jen, our guide, talked about regenerative techniques like no-till planting, cover cropping, and multicropping, as shown in Figure 1. All of these seemed to have endless benefits when used properly. Then I did some initial research because I was interested in the genre and came across the idea that regenerative agriculture had the capability to actually reverse the effects of climate change. This topic in particular really resonated with me because I have always felt that climate change is the most pressing issue that our world is facing. I also feel like we aren’t currently doing enough to fight back against climate change, so a switch to regenerative agriculture rather than modern agriculture was really intriguing to me. This leads to the blog post I have written, which explores how a transition to regenerative agriculture could supply the world with endless positives.
Figure 1: This is a picture of the Bucknell farm that I took when I went there. Here you can see how no till planting is in progress in the top right of the image, and cover cropping is being used between the rows of carrots that are growing in the center of the image.
The Current Issue
Figure 2: This figure shows how currently there are a lot of ways that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are being emitted into the atmosphere and very few ways they are being taken out [9].
Currently, a majority of the world agrees that climate change is an issue that needs to be addressed. The effects of climate change, like the increasing of global temperatures and the frequency of severe weather events, are clearly noticeable now. The average temperature on the Earth’s surface has increased about 1.2°C since the 1800s [21]. One way to stop and actually reverse the growth of climate change is with regenerative agriculture. The present-day commercial farming practices are turning healthy soil into dirt [9]. While modern farming practices have been developing to meet the growing need for produce on the planet, this didn’t come without a cost. Commercial techniques like monoculture cropping, synthetic chemicals, mechanization, and GMOs have created substantial harm to the environment. Of which one of the most significant is soil degradation [5]. This means that the once lively microbiome that would be thriving in a healthy soil sample is no longer there. The result of this depletion of soil is that there is little place for the carbon dioxide that is being emitted into the atmosphere to go, which is demonstrated by Figure 2. While healthy soil was able to sequester carbon in the past, it is no longer able to as a result of our conventional industrial farming methods. Regenerative agricultural practices can rebuild the health of our soils and provide a habitat for organisms that can help sequester atmospheric carbon and keep it stored, which would reverse the negative effects of climate change that society is experiencing now [9]. As the health of the soil continues to degrade, society’s reliance on poor industrial farming practices will only grow, and the cycle of soil depletion continues. This process may take some time, but the fact that something positive needs to be done to reverse this decline in soil microbiome health can no longer be debated.
What is Regenerative Agriculture?
Figure 3: This figure illustrates one of the key principles of regenerative agriculture: keeping the soil covered so that the microbiome remains healthy [15].
Regenerative agriculture is the concept of using practices that heal the soil rather than degrading it. Conventional agricultural techniques are leading to soil degradation, which in turn reduces productivity [7]. This also reduces the soil’s ability to retain moisture, support healthy microbes, and sequester carbon from the atmosphere, leading to worsening effects of climate change. The main purpose of regenerative agriculture is to restore the soil’s biological health so that its productivity will increase and it will be able to return to storing carbon from the atmosphere. Regenerative agriculture follows a few main principles that, if followed, will rebuild the soil. First, minimizing soil disturbances is key to promoting the health of the soil. Preserving the living root systems and keeping the topsoil covered (shown in Figure 3) makes sure that the microbes living within the soil are able to thrive, reproduce, and increase in their diversity. The effect of having a healthy soil microecosystem is that it increases biological processes leading to greater moisture retention and nutrient cycling so that the productivity of the land can be increased. Additionally, removing (or minimizing) the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides is another crucial concept of regenerative agriculture. The use of these chemicals is detrimental to the overall health of the soil. While some of these chemicals may add nutrients to the soil or kill undesirable pests, they do so in ways that produce more harm than good. In short, they remove both the good and bad organisms. As a result, biodiversity is significantly hindered, leading to a greater dependence on chemical fertilizers. Another principle of regenerative agriculture is incorporating livestock and wild organisms into the land so that they can live in harmony with one another. Once again, this supports soil health, leading to increased biodiversity and a healthy micro-ecosystem [7]. Examples of regenerative agricultural practices include using natural compost, no till planting, crop rotations, cover cropping, livestock grazing, and little to no use of pesticides and artificial fertilizers [8].
Regenerative vs. Sustainable vs. Degenerative Techniques
Figure 4: This graphic demonstrates the strict difference between a degenerative and regenerative approach to agriculture, with a sustainable approach falling in between [13].
A farming (agricultural) practice can either be classified as regenerative, sustainable, or degenerative, as illustrated in Figure 4. Although there are distinct differences between the three, many strategies don’t fall perfectly into one category or another. In short, to be a regenerative technique means that its application will be rebuilding the surrounding ecosystem(s) of the farm; to be sustainable means the technique will be maintaining the ecosystem(s) of the farm; and to be degenerative means the approach or technique will be harming or degrading the health of the ecosystem(s). Although regenerative agriculture can be classified as being sustainable, there are real differences between the two. To be regenerative means to actually be rebuilding and enhancing agricultural ecosystems so that they are thriving, growing, and becoming more resilient, while sustainable agriculture techniques are able to keep the interconnected ecosystems from getting worse and degrading [19]. Degenerative strategies, on the other hand, have little overlap with the other two and, while more broadly practiced across the industrialized agriculture landscape of the US, are actually very harmful to the environment. Some of the most widely adopted degenerative agricultural techniques include monocropping, deep tilling, and the regular use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides [11].
Origin
Figure 5: Modern regenerative practices have their roots in the techniques of indigenous peoples [19].
While there may be recent trends in the popularity of using regenerative practices, these core practices can actually be traced back to indigenous peoples. For example, the idea of intercropping has been seen from the Iroqouis so-called three sisters over a hundred years ago. They planted beans, squash, and corn together because they all had different needs and could grow in harmony with one another [19]. Furthermore, this strategy improves the soil’s health and increases yields for the farm. Additionally, the less common but still prevalent method of agroforestry appears to have originated from indigenous peoples. In simple terms, agroforestry is the integration of trees and other native species of plants in a natural forest with specific crops so that their symbiotic relationships can be maximized [19].
Examples of Regenerative Techniques
Using Natural Compost:
Figure 6: This image shows what natural or bio-compost is composed of. It also demonstrates how compost is a way to recycle food waste so that it isn’t sent to landfills [6].
While natural compost, also called bio-compost, may be more expensive than other synthetic options, it is a more sustainable approach with a vast array of benefits. Using nutrient-rich compost can fuel a healthy soil microbiome, making it more diverse [12]. In response, natural processes will speed up, and more critical nutrients will be returned to the soil as well as carbon. Bio-compost significantly increases the bacterial and fungal richness of the soil, which can improve the quality of the crop produced [12]. Compost also shortens the germination process and maintains optimal soil moisture levels so that growing can happen more efficiently. Compost has many beneficial impacts on the microbes in the soil, which are vastly different from the use of synthetic fertilizers, which can be destructive to the microecosystem [8]. Furthermore, as shown in Figure 6, organic compost is a method of reusing leftover food waste that would otherwise be thrown away and sent to landfills.
No Till Planting:
Figure 7: This figure from the EESI illustrated all of the benefits that come with using a no-till farming approach [2].
In conventional farming, the soil is constantly being disturbed (tilled up) whenever a new crop is being planted. As a direct effect of disturbing the soil, the organic matter located within the soil becomes exposed and oxidized. In simple terms, conventional tilling exposes carbon stored in the soil to oxygen, which then actually produces carbon dioxide that goes into the atmosphere. No till planting means that there are ways of planting so that the topsoil is not regularly turned over and exposed to this oxidative stress, which means that carbon stays in the soil naturally rather than being emitted back into the atmosphere. Not tilling up the soil also lessens the effects of soil erosion when it rains on an area [8]. As per Khangura, when no till is used, studies have found higher levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in soil samples when compared to conventional methods. These are all vital nutrients that plants require to grow, so switching to a no-till approach should be an obvious choice for those wanting to improve the quality of the soil and the productivity of their crops [7]. Overall, as shown in Figure 7, the benefits of no-till planting include a higher capacity to hold water, less need for machinery, less carbon dioxide being released from the soil, improved soil health, decreased risk for erosion, and better surrounding water quality [2].
Cover Cropping:
Figure 8: This figure juxtaposes the growth of corn with and without cover cropping. As depicted, there are many positives that come with cover cropping [22].
Cover cropping is the concept of keeping vegetation growing in a field even when the farm’s cash crop is out of season. Returning back to the key principle of regenerative agriculture, cover cropping allows the soil to be covered at all times [17]. As previously mentioned, the soil itself is home to a vast array of microorganisms. When there is no vegetation growing on top of the soil, there is no food source for this microbiome, and it would be redundant to continue to explain the importance of keeping the solid “healthy” on a microscopic level.While Figure 8 introduces many benefits of cover cropping, there are many more. Cover cropping expands biodiversity for the area, prevents erosion, maintains higher moisture levels in the soil, and can actually keep relative soil temperatures lower [8]. Additionally, cover cropping can improve nutrient cycling, soil fertility, pollination, and can even contribute to the moderation of extreme meteorological events [17].
Strategic Livestock Grazing:
Figure 9: This is an image of what livestock grazing in a controlled manner would appear like [15].
Caring for livestock takes up a majority of the land that is dedicated to agriculture. Conventionally, livestock grazing involves releasing a herd of animals out into a fenced-in area. Although there is no immediate issue with this, it can lead to desertification of an area if not managed properly. For example, cattle will target perennial plants over annual plants, and in time there will no longer be any perennial plants left in an area. Once these plants are lost, the soil’s biodiversity will decline, leading to overall less and less foliage growing in an area [8]. Now regenerative livestock grazing involves controlling where the animals are able to graze so that they equally target all the grasses as portrayed in Figure 9. Rather than releasing a large herd onto the land, a farmer will fence them into a smaller area, then rotate them from area to area. The key to this is that the rancher will only have the livestock graze in areas that are able to handle the increased pressure at that moment [8]. By moving the livestock to different areas regularly, the farmer ensures that overgrazing does not reduce the biodiversity of the plant life. This also helps distribute the livestock waste more evenly across the entire pasture, providing natural fertilization to the soil. Additionally, agro-ecosystems that include grazing, particularly those with hooved animals, are more productive, stable, and resilient when the soil is biologically functional. Such systems provide greater earnings and more abundant ecosystem services [20].
Limited Use of Synthetic Chemicals:
Figure 10: This image displays a person spraying pesticides on produce. Note that they have to wear protective clothing so that the chemicals don’t harm them, which highlights how damaging these chemicals are [1].
Synthetic chemicals relate to both inorganic fertilizers and pesticides. Both of these have a dramatic effect on the life within the soil. While they may appear to be providing some benefit in the short term, they are ruining the biodiversity of the microbiome of the soil overall. For example, pesticides are often used to kill unwanted pests, hence the name. They also have an unintentional effect, though. While pesticides do kill all the bad organisms, they also kill all the beneficial organisms [8]. Once again, the importance of maintaining a healthy soil microbiome is a crucial outcome of regenerative farming. Keeping a wide variety of microorganisms present in the soil has a plethora of benefits, like restoring nutrients, helping facilitate normal chemistry flows, and sequestering carbon, just to name a few [9]. Overall, not using these synthetic chemicals gives the soil a break and allows the microecosystem to repair itself, leading to a multitude of benefits.
Crop Rotations:
Figure 11: This figure expresses the general idea of crop rotations, which is switching between cash crops to maintain the health of the soil [3].
Crop rotations, also referred to as diversification, have been proven to improve the profit and yield for an area. It does this by providing additional nutritional benefits as well as by interrupting the pest-disease-weed cycle [7]. Because varied crops draw different nutrients from the soil and undergo separate biological processes, crop rotations allow the soil to develop a more complex profile. For example, deep-rooted perennials can store carbon at greater depths than those with shallow root systems, and some crops like legumes put nitrogen back into the soil through nitrogen fixation, which is a vital nutrient for other crops like wheat. On the other hand, modern agriculture relies on monocultures, where only one type of crop is grown at a time. As a result, these farms now have a heavy reliance on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, which, as mentioned earlier, has a tremendously negative impact on the health of the local ecosystem and the biodiversity of organisms within the soil microbiome [7].
Benefits of Regenerative Agriculture:
Figure 12: This figure explains the multitude of benefits of regenerative agriculture and compares them to the drawbacks of conventional farming [7].
Overall, as shown in Figure 12, the benefits of regenerative agriculture include, but aren’t limited to, improved flood and drought resistance for an area, lessening pollution, rebuilding habitat for wildlife, and rebuilding soil, which serves as a way to fight climate change [15]. It rebuilds the soil by facilitating the growth of microbes, which are incredibly important to a healthy microecosystem. Microbes are essential to providing nutrients to the soil without any fertilizers, maintaining the health of the soil, and can sequester carbon from the atmosphere. This last part is arguably the most important product of regenerative because taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere will reverse the effects of climate change, which is a huge problem the world is facing right now [9].
The Soil:
Soil health can be described as the ability of the solid to carry out functions of a healthy living ecosystem. Healthy soil sustains biological productivity, protects water and air quality, and promotes biodiversity [7]. Healthy soil is a very complex ecosystem that contains both micro and macro organisms. With conventional agribusiness practices, our planet’s healthy soils are disappearing at a rapidly growing rate, which leaves the future of farming in jeopardy. Additionally, healthy soil is a useful storage pool for carbon, as it can hold three times more carbon than the atmosphere. The meaning behind this is that maintaining healthy ecosystems in the soil can be a key way to store carbon from the atmosphere so that the growth of climate change can be stopped and actually reversed [7].
Figure 13: This image depicts what a “healthy” soil sample should look like [15].
Microbes:
The soil is able to do all this through the efforts of its healthy microbe populations. Soil microbes are microorganisms that play a large role in many important ecological processes. Microbes are necessary to sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and recycle nutrients into the soil [9]. This means that they are able to fight off climate change while still being essential for plant growth because they aid nutrient uptake, nitrogen fixation, and the synthesis of other chemicals that promote plant growth. Carbon sequestration is the process of storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the soil. Soil microbes accomplish this by facilitating stable decomposition so that carbon can be put back into the soil. Through increasing the quantity of carbon stored in the soil, microbes are directly able to stop and even reverse climate change. Additionally, soil microbes enhance plant growth so that farms can experience higher yield rates for their crops. They play roles in nutrient uptake by roots, suppress pathogens, and can replace nutrients in the soil. For example, rhizobia are species of bacteria that have a symbiotic relationship with league plants that results in the production of nitrogen in the soil [9].
Figure 14: Here the vast benefits of a healthy soil microbiome are shown [9].
Misconceptions
While there appear to be significant benefits to using regenerative practices over conventional methods, the question remains: Why haven’t farmers switched yet? In short, there are many reasons why farmers are hesitant to switch, as evidenced by opposing journal articles and research studies.
Is the Term Regenerative Misleading?
In her 2023 article titled “The Promises and Pitfalls of Regenerative Agriculture, Explained,” Jennifer Mishler makes a bold claim that the benefits of regenerative agriculture may be overpromised. Mishler does admit that there needs to be a shift towards reducing our food supply’s carbon footprint, but she later states that there is no evidence that regenerative agriculture can reverse the effects of climate change [14]. The problem with her claim is that it is simply incorrect. As Kumari states in her research paper, microbes are vital in sequestering carbon from the atmosphere. This fact, paired with the previously mentioned fact that regenerative agriculture can facilitate the growth and diversity of beneficial microorganisms in the soil, leads to the conclusion that regenerative agriculture can in fact increase the soil’s ability to sequester carbon from the atmosphere [9]. Mishler then points out that some so-called regenerative practices are actually degenerative and harming the environment. Specifically, she points out that cattle grazing (shown in Figure 15) in any form leads to biodiversity loss and is a large contributor to climate change [14]. While there may be some drawbacks to a few regenerative practices if not managed properly, the positives typically outweigh the negatives. For example, with cattle grazing, the production of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, is unavoidable, and if livestock populations and time on the pasture are not managed properly, overgrazing can lead to a decrease in biodiversity. But on the contrary, proper regenerative grazing techniques do not have these drawbacks since the animals, grazing times, and pastures are managed in ways to assure soil microbiome enhancement [15]. By transitioning cattle from pasture to pasture, biodiversity isn’t affected, as whenever an area gets to the point where that is a possibility, the livestock are moved to the next area . Furthermore, by using strategic grazing, there can be an improvement in animal and forage productivity, which would sequester more carbon when compared to unmanaged grazing [18]. In summary, while there is the possibility of some negatives coming with regenerative grazing, it is a significant improvement compared with current unsustainable grazing techniques and can actually enrich the soil when properly done.
Figure 15: This is an image of livestock grazing [14].
Study of the Perception of RA Among Farmers
This study used Q methodology to answer the question of how beef farmers in Australia respond to the ideas of sustainable and regenerative techniques, respectively. Q methodology is a surveying technique that allows for participants’ beliefs on a certain issue to be provided in a comprehensive manner [16]. During this survey, participants were provided with a series of statements, then were told to rank them based on their level of agreement, which would fabricate their personal perception of the issue as a whole. For example, the study asked participants questions like, “Modern agriculture is a source of some major environmental problems and needs significant modification” and “I think regenerative agriculture has an important role in the future of farming” and asked participants to rank them according to their agreement with the statement [16]. This allows for a more complete ideology to be formulated so that patterns across participants can be observed and studied. Information gathered via this methodology would be particularly useful because it would show how regenerative agriculture had been communicated to farmers so far, so terms could be adjusted to communicate a more clear image to the public of what regenerative agriculture is. The study found that there was a variety in levels of agreement among topics like what the role of science and technology should have in farming, what being a “good” farmer means, and the potential use of regenerative agriculture in the future. The study also found that there was a consensus in areas like feeling indifferent towards the actions of other farmers and that participants felt that they should farm in harmony with nature [16]. Additionally, the survey revealed that a majority of participants thought that environmental protection and sustainability were important, although they had different ideas on how to achieve these goals. Another conclusion from the study was that farming techniques were better represented as a spectrum, as one individual farm rarely fits into a specific category like conventional or regenerative. Altogether, the study found three main groups of farmers: the people focused on productivity, the environmentally conscious, and those focused on regenerative techniques, which are elaborated on in Figure 16 [16].
Figure 16: This diagram explains the changes in opinion between the three main groups that the study had discovered [16].
Survey Conclusion #1 (Variation of how RA is described):
Analysis from the survey found that a common reason why some farmers aren’t eager to switch to regenerative farming is that they believe that it is lacking necessary evidence and data, it would conflict with their personal beliefs regarding what a good farmer should be, or even just the negative social pressure associated with switching to it [16]. While these are all valid criticisms of switching to regenerative farming, the study presents the idea that they all point to a larger issue considering regenerative agriculture, which is that there is a large communication problem of conveying what it is to the people that would use it, who are the farmers. From the data collected, there appears to be a wide variation in understanding of what regenerative agriculture actually is.
Variation of the Definition:
This discrepancy is evident when looking at the variation of definitions for regenerative agriculture as pointed out by Dr. Jayasinghe in their collaborative journal article titled, “Global Application of Regenerative Agriculture: A Review of Definitions and Assessment Approaches” [5]. In this article, a group of researchers performed a wide-ranging search to study how regenerative agriculture was being described. They gathered a total of 982 publications, ranging from 1985 to 2023, that were relevant to regenerative agriculture and found that the definition of so-called regenerative agriculture varied from paper to paper. While terms like soil health, biodiversity, and sustainability were common across all publications when discussing regenerative agriculture, they reported there being differences too [5]. For example, some focused more on the economic aspects of it, while others depicted it as more of a holistic strategy for land management. Overall, the study collected all the information gathered and created a definition that provides a complete definition for regenerative agriculture. As they state, “Regenerative agriculture is an agricultural and transdisciplinary approach that integrates local and indigenous knowledge of landscapes, as well as their management, with established scientific knowledge” [5]. They then describe it as including a range of principles that focus on rebuilding the soil, strengthening ecosystems, and creating greater socioeconomic opportunities.
Figure 17: This figure is a word map of results found when searching for the definition of regenerative agriculture. Words with a larger text size appeared more frequently than those that are smaller. This figure cements the idea that there is variation in how regenerative agriculture is described [5].
Survey Conclusion #2 (Concerns for Productivity):
Another conclusion noted by the study is that a key concern from farmers who described themselves as using productive techniques rather than regenerative was a common belief that a transition would be unable to feed the growing population. The study states that this idea is most likely linked to the inputs from the “productive” farmers, who think that the main goal of agriculture should be to produce food and raise efficiency. While this study takes place in Australia, productivism is a mindset often linked to western culture, which presents a possible reason why farmers are hesitant to begin a switch to regenerative agriculture in the west [16].
Can RA Feed the World?
Rattan Lal also presents this idea in his article for the journal of soil and water conservation. He questions if regenerative agriculture can produce enough food to feed the world’s growing population [10]. He states that so-called regenerative practices may be more focused on trying to save the world than to feed the world. As a result, regenerative agriculture would be impractical, as it would never actually be possible to implement it as the world requires a steady supply of produce [10]. This idea has a lot of merit, as the productivity of agriculture on poor soil without any fertilizers is low. But what this argument overlooks is that using these practices rebuilds the soil rather than degrading it. In their journal article, Khangura states that many studies have found that regenerative methods like no till have demonstrated increased growth on crop yields and profitability when compared to conventional tillage [7]. Also, no till has shown to decrease an area’s greenhouse gas emissions and aid in restoring life back to the soil’s ecosystem. Overall, not only will a switch to regenerative farming continue to supply to the growing demand for food in the world, but it will also improve farm efficiency and work to fight climate change [7].
Final Take-Away:
With all of this considered, a transition to regenerative agriculture can prove to be very beneficial to both farmers at a small scale, large corporate farms, and to society altogether. When agricultural methods focus more on the process of repairing the soil microbiome rather than degrading it, farmers can experience a plethora of benefits for their land and the productivity of their crops. Some regenerative techniques include using natural compost, no till planting, cover cropping, strategic livestock grazing, crop rotation, and minimal to no use of synthetic pesticides or fertilizers. These are all able to strengthen the soil and farm’s ecosystems, which in turn will sequester carbon from the atmosphere and eventually improve the overall quality, diversity, and resilience of the soil. This means that with a switch to regenerative agriculture, a farmer can fight the growth of climate change in the world while still improving the yield rates for their farm. Even though many farmers may be hesitant to change in their ways, enough awareness needs to be made so that they have a clear understanding of the benefits they are missing out on. Even though many farmers may be hesitant to fundamentally change the ways they have learned to farm, a key next step is to make sure that credible organizations like the USDA and universities that serve the agricultural community are working to raise awareness of the facts regarding RA techniques and benefits. Once farmers are aware of how RA can help meet their productivity and economic needs, they can become leaders in our fight against climate change as theory increases the biodiversity of their farms for the benefit of their families as well as broader society.
Figure 18: This image presents the stark contrast between a healthy ecosystem that can be achieved by using regenerative techniques and a deseretified ecosystem that will occur if we continue to rely on our current degenerative practices [4].
References
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