Regenerative Organic Soil Gets the Best of Both Worlds
Gillian Flies and Brent Preston own and operate The New Farm, a vegetable farm that provides high-quality, organic produce to fine restaurants and specialty retail stores in the Toronto and Collingwood areas. Cool-weather greens and root vegetables grow on the 20 farmed acres located in the Niagara Escarpment. Gillian and Brent’s approach to farming is “regenerative organic,” a relatively new sustainable farming method that is based on the Regenerative Organic Certificate developed by the Rodale Institute.
While some consider regenerative and organic practices to be one and the same – as it was in the 1930s when “regenerative” was first coined by one of the founders of organic agriculture – the Canadian Organic Standards are not always prescriptive when it comes to practices that are gaining momentum among regenerative enthusiasts, such as conservation tillage and integrating animals. Nevertheless, both regenerative and organic principles are rooted in the same common practice: building soil health.