Should Regenerative Agriculture Follow Organic’s Path?

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The organic movement forged a path for a federally recognized standard for food. Should regenerative follow its course?

Regenerative agriculture has been the buzzy theme in agriculture for a few years with big investments from big food companies starting in 2020. Big food companies have created programs to engage their suppliers and fund a transition to regenerative practices such as no-tillage, cover cropping, crop and livestock rotation and pollinator-friendly habitats. Private label certifications such as The Savory Institute, the Rodale Institute and A Greener World, have popped up in the last three years, adding a veneer of respectability to such changes. But it’s still the wild west, and these developments haven’t resulted in a shared standard or even a definition that everyone agrees upon.

There isn’t a consensus on what is considered regenerative, how to correctly enforce those changes and how to measure the effects.

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Agricultura regenerativa: devolver la vida al suelo

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“El suelo es el único material mágico que convierte la muerte en vida”. El filósofo indio Sadhguru, uno de los fundadores del movimiento Salvemos el Suelo, trata de concienciar al mundo sobre la importancia de un cambio de enfoque en los problemas medioambientales: detener la degradación del suelo, una medida urgente e indispensable para ayudar a mitigar la sequía, los incendios forestales y preservar el manto vegetal de la Tierra. El movimiento, que cuenta con el apoyo y participación de las Naciones Unidas y múltiples asociaciones y centros de investigación científica, tiene como principal objetivo impulsar cambios en las políticas nacionales de 193 países para aumentar y mantener el contenido orgánico de los suelos.

Más de la mitad de las tierras agrícolas están degradadas

Según la FAO, aproximadamente el 33% de las tierras del mundo están sufriendo la erosión, la contaminación y la urbanización, y más del 50% de la superficie agrícola ha perdido su equilibrio ecológico por la acción humana.

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Secrets of the Soil Podcast with Regen Ray – The Power of Photosynthesis: Maximizing Plant Health and Soil Regeneration with Andrè Leu

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The capture of carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight to make glucose, the essential molecule of life. The other chapters discuss how all other molecules of life, including carbohydrates, proteins, and hormones, are built from glucose, and how maximizing photosynthesis is the key to building healthy cells and regenerating soils. The book also covers the importance of managing cover crops and weeds, as well as balancing minerals to ensure optimal plant growth. The author stresses that dead plants and bare soil do not photosynthesize, and that the more plants put in an area, the better, even if they are regarded as obnoxious weeds, as they provide the most organic matter and molecules of life. The author also discusses how managing water and nutrients is essential in growing healthy plants, and how nutrient deficiencies and excesses can be corrected to ensure optimal plant growth.

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Regenerative Research: Tillage & No-Till Systems

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Issue Summary: Can we regenerate the land if we also voluntarily disturb it? The question is at the core of the conversations around tactics in regenerative agriculture, which is challenging the paradigms related to field preparation.

No-till systems are often introduced to accomplish goals around increasing soil biology and fungal networks, rotating cover crops with cash crops, and running less machinery across the land (lower diesel fuel costs). Some lightly tilled systems and strip-till systems also report the ability to grow biology, balance chemistry and build biodiverse ecosystems.

What is tillage?

Tillage is a centuries-old agriculture practice that farmers use to remove plant life from their fields, break up hardpan and crusty layers, and help incorporate fertilizers.

What is no-till, exactly?

It is exactly what it sounds like: a conservation-based farming system that leaves the soil undisturbed. Instead, successful no-till managers use living, biodiverse crops.

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Animated Video About Holistic Management

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For today’s installment of our #EarthWeek2023 Membership Drive, we are over-the-moon excited to bring you a brand new animated short film on Holistic Management. Check it out:

We sometimes hear from newcomers that Holistic Management, since it is so much more than a grazing system, can be difficult at times to fully understand. With the grazing planning, the decision-making, the Holistic Context, the key insights, and more… how do you convey such a powerful framework to someone just getting started?

This video addresses that need directly. With beautiful animations (thanks to our friends at Studio Poink), it covers all the important bases of Holistic Management in a quick and easy-to-follow 3-minute video.

We hope this video brings inspiration and clarity to your understanding of Holistic Management, and if you enjoy it, we hope you will share it with your community (on social media, by email, etc.)

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La Esmeralda: Regenerative Specialty Organic Coffee Farm

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La Esmeralda, farm in the Municipality of Circasia is located at 1400 meters above sea level. Approximately 10 kilometers from the capital of the department. We have been working in this area for about 9 years with different varietal of coffee, a different coffee growing model.”

Previously on this farm 30 years of continuity in the hands of Felipe’s father-in-law, there was a conventional coffee crop, according to the guidelines of the federation.

Since they started with a new project, the first thing they did was to eradicate the coffee plantation and start from scratch with an “agroforestry” system in which they basically have shady transitional type:

Higuerillas (shrub plant, castor bean) and Musáceas (banana) especially plantain and banana and also have some final shady with forest trees mainly trees in the area that are excellent for nitrogen fixation such as Guamos is a process that has always been working without chemical synthesis products, everything is an organic agriculture process, initially it is a slow moment, it is something very difficult, because the trees in this transition are susceptible, practically to all kinds of pests, but once biodiversity begins to enter, the banana grows , the castor grows, and the forest trees are also growing, those of the shade.

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The Rise of Regenerative Agriculture: How Food Companies are Catalyzing Regenerative Farming Practices

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Food companies have started to incorporate regenerative agriculture into their sustainability strategies and supply chains – it’s an important buzzword today for companies, but how are they defining it? And what are they doing to support farmers in the transition? I spoke with Daily Harvest – the plant-based meal delivery service – and Dr. Bronner’s, two companies that are leading their own regenerative agriculture projects, about how they’re derisking this transition for the farmers they source from.

Regenerative agriculture is a defining term for sustainability in our food system – while there is no one true definition of regenerative agriculture, the concept has been around for centuries, taking root in Indigenous growing practices. Regenerative approaches can bolster soil health and watershed health. They can also add to climate mitigation and potentially tie into regulatory or commercial incentives for a more sustainable diet.

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Por consenso, la Cámara de Diputados aprobó reforma que busca fomentar prácticas agronómicas sustentables

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Con el consenso de 422 votos a favor, la Cámara de Diputados aprobó el dictamen que adiciona una fracción VIII al artículo 55 de la Ley de Desarrollo Rural Sustentable, en materia de uso de biofertilizantes, plaguicidas orgánicos y bioestimulación de cultivos.

El documento, remitido al Senado de la República, precisa que los apoyos para el cambio de la estructura productiva tendrán como propósitos, entre otros, el fomentar las prácticas agronómicas sustentables que permitan la bioestimulación de cultivos por medio de nutrientes vegetales y/o sustancias naturales; y se propicie el uso preferente de biofertilizantes y plaguicidas orgánicos que permitan una transición gradual y progresiva hacia sistemas de agricultura regenerativa y ecológica.

La Comisión de Desarrollo y Conservación Rural, Agrícola y Autosuficiencia Alimentaria estimó que mediante el uso de nuevas tecnologías y métodos de cultivo cuyas fórmulas sean siempre amigables con el medio ambiente, se podrá no sólo mejorar la producción y calidad en los alimentos, sino también la rentabilidad en el campo.

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Regenerative, Organic and Agroecology: What’s the difference?

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Regenerative, organic, agroecological. You might encounter all of these terms in the search for ‘sustainably’ grown food (there’s another!). This word soup is a great sign that lots of farming communities are experimenting to find a better way, but as a consumer, it can be pretty confusing.

Here’s a quick guide to each term, to help you make sense of labels, and separate the green from the greenwash.

What is organic farming?

Organic farming first arose in the 1940s, as a reaction against the industrialisation of agriculture. These days, it’s got a strict legal definition, and to call your produce “organic” you must be certified. In the UK, most organic goods are certified by the Soil Association or OF&G – just look for their stamps on the label.

Above all, organic farming is about nature: protecting it, enhancing it, and working in harmony with rather than fighting against it.

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La agroecología es una forma diferente de pensar la ruralidad, con vida en los campos

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Se puede producir sin agroquímicos con rindes similares al modelo agropecuario actual y a costos mucho más bajos para las y los productores. Se puede producir con un modelo más diversificado, no monocultivo, e integrarlo a la ganadería para generar más trabajo y arraigo en el campo. Se puede recuperar la biodiversidad de los suelos y retener carbono, bien preciado en tiempos de discursos sobre el cambio climático. El modelo es la agroecología. En el Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA) lo saben porque, desde 2010, el ingeniero agrónomo Martín Zamora realiza estudios en la Chacra Experimental-Barrow, en la localidad bonaerense de Tres Arroyos, comparando el modelo agroecológico con el modelo de la “revolución verde” —siembra directa más paquete de agroquímicos— y acompaña a unos 50 productores en transición. “Veo lo que hace mi vecino con la siembra directa y los insumos y me parece insostenible”, le dicen los productores que ya dieron el paso hacia la agroecología.

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