Getting Down to Earth: How Regenerative Agriculture Can Heal from the Ground Up

Oct 11

Oct 11 Getting Down to Earth: How Regenerative Agriculture Can Heal from the Ground Up

“Farming isn’t a battle against nature, but a partnership with it. It is respecting the basics of nature in action and ensuring that they continue” – Jeff Koehler

Today, we inhabit a world plagued by compounding planetary crises. Both the earth’s climate and its biodiversity face imminent threats from a long list of exploitative human practices. In less than a month, world leaders will gather in Glasgow for COP26 to discuss a global response to these threats and negotiate a path toward a more sustainable future. The dialogue will center on strategies for mitigation and adaptation and must include a conversation on the role of agriculture.

Farming, while among the most exploitative human practices, also presents an opportunity to combat the dual crisis in which we find ourselves.

For millennia farming has been at the center of humans’ relationship with nature; small-scale subsistence farmers once worked with nature to produce what they needed to survive. This tender, mutualistic relationship has been supplanted by an ideology of extractivism. The industrial agriculture of the past two centuries has placed productivity and short-term profitability above responsible stewardship of the land. The result has been catastrophic.

Intensive tilling and overgrazing destroy soil. By exposing organic matter and releasing carbon into the atmosphere, these practices weaken the soil and dramatically increase erosion. This over-use has created conditions hostile to farming, encouraging farmers to rely on chemical fertilizers which only further damage the soil, stripping it of its nutrients and microbes.

According to the 2019 IPCC report on Climate Change and Land, these typically monocultural ‘factory farms’ are responsible for over 8.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Not only do they directly affect the climate, but they also affect biodiversity. Another report suggests agriculture is the single greatest threat to 86% of endangered plant and animal species on Earth. By segregating livestock from row crops, and row crops from other row crops these farms disrupt the natural ensemble of flora and fauna. To make matters worse, the chemicals used to increase productivity frequently leak into watercourses increasing acidity and rendering them inhospitable. Because the soil on these ‘factory farms’ is so unproductive, farmers compensate by engaging in extensification: the economically and environmentally costly process by which additional healthy land is converted into farmland. Agricultural extensification is symptomatic of the attitude that short-term solutions outside of existing farms are more favorable than lasting solutions within them. It’s clear there is a problem with the way we farm.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Done differently, agriculture holds the power to reverse the environmental and ecological damage it has caused. The key to this is regeneration.

Regenerative agriculture is a holistic farming practice which seeks to rehabilitate whole agro-ecosystems by strengthening the resources they depend on. In simple terms, it is a return to the ways of our predecessors, a way of working in harmony with the land and its natural processes. It is all about mimicking nature to build more resilient and sustainable agricultural systems within existing natural ecosystems. This all starts in the soil.

Regenerative agriculture relies on no (or low) tillage which keeps carbon in the ground and maintains healthy populations of microbes, eliminating the need for chemical fertilizer. To avoid erosion this practice ensures soil is never left fully exposed by planting a diverse range of cover crops alongside harvestable crops. These cover crops sequester carbon, trapping it in the ground and enriching the soil. Many regenerative farms also achieve this through agroforestry: the incorporation of trees in the landscape to maximise nutrient capture and soil stability. Carefully managed grazing can also help regenerate soil by supplying a rich source of organic fertilizer. The added benefit to all this is its potential to turn back the clock on biodiversity loss. By working with rather than against natural ecosystems, regenerative farming re-creates the essential habitats that support a variety of plant and animal species.

Despite (and perhaps because of) not prioritising profit above all else, studies show regenerative plots can actually be up to 78% more profitable than traditional plots. Planting multiple species of crops and grazing livestock alongside crops diversifies income while simultaneously increasing the quality of the product and the price that can be charged. Regenerative agriculture also reduces input costs by requiring less water and no chemical fertilizer. It’s a way of producing so much more with so much less.

Farmers have every reason to embrace this ancient yet extremely relevant form of agriculture – and so do policy makers. Ahead of this highly anticipated summit in Glasgow, it is imperative that delegates, representatives, educators, and activists reflect on the ways in which the industries that have contributed to the problem can contribute to its solution. Regenerative agriculture offers an unparalleled opportunity to get down to earth and partner with nature to combat climate change and biodiversity loss.