Are Corporate Claims of Regenerative Agriculture Real?
Regenerative agriculture could save the world. Or at least it belongs in the toolbox to help reduce and reverse climate change. EarthDay.org chose it as a major theme for their 2021 campaigns because so few people are familiar with this important strategy.
But like so many good ideas, corporate marketing teams are already coopting regenerative agriculture into a meaningless buzzword. What is regenerative agriculture really? And how can you as a consumer separate the green from the greenwashed?
Regenerative Agriculture
Like other sustainable agriculture movements, regenerative agriculture focuses on the health of the soil. Conventional, agrochemical-based farming methods’ impacts on soil health are well documented: erosion, diminished tilth, and destruction of microbiotic communities.
Globally, more than 90% of conventionally farmed soils are thinning and a third of Earth’s soils are already degraded. Sustaining soil is not enough – it’s necessary to regenerate it.
Soil Schism
While everyone can agree that soil restoration is at the heart of regenerative agriculture, it is a fairly new movement that lacks the widely recognized standards of organic farming. The new system, Regenerative Organic Certified, is still fine-tuning its standards and has only issued a handful of certifications. There are two competing approaches to regenerative agriculture.