From Forced Migration to Regeneration: An Open Letter to the Citizens of the Global North

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De la Migration Forcée à la Régénération: Lettre Ouverte aux Citoyennes et Citoyens des Pays du Nord

Nous sommes actuellement 82 millions de personnes migrantes, originaires des pays du Sud pour la plupart, vivant en Europe et aux Etats-Unis.Malgré ce que disent les médias, migrer est toujours l’ultime recours. Le dépouillement, la violence des gouvernements, la corruption et l’impunité structurelle, la pauvreté, la guerre, et le réchauffement climatique nous ont forcés à abandonner nos maisons et nos terres dans nos pays d’origine.

Nous en avons assez d’être traité(e)s comme des citoyen(ne)s de seconde classe, comme des menaces à la sécurité des pays riches. Nous en avons assez des politicien(ne)s corrompu(e)s et des médias qui nous criminalisent.

Soyons clairs, une bonne fois pour toutes: nous soutenons le droit des personnes à la migration volontaire, et croyons en la valeur des communautés diverses, mais l’écrasante majorité d’entre-nous préfèrerait ne pas risquer sa vie aux frontières, ni dans les mers ou sur les routes, où nous sommes les proies du crime organisé complices des agents migratoires, des polices et des gouvernements; nous ne souhaitons pas nous heurter à la discrimination et à la maltraitance lorsque nous arrivons dans des endroits où nous essayons de survivre avec nos familles.

Cependant la dure réalité est là: Nous ne serons pas en mesure de rentrer chez nous -et la grande majorité devra continuer de partir- tant que les conditions sociales, climatiques, politiques et économiques ne seront pas réunies pour que nous puissions vivre une vie sans violence et insécurité, dépourvue de faim et de malnutrition, avec des opportunités de travail et d’éducation capables de pourvoir le bien-être de nos familles et de nos communautés.

Qui doit créer ces conditions? Et comment?

L’économie extractiviste basée sur l’industrie a engendré trop de pression sur les terres desquelles nous dépendions jadis pour nous nourrir. Nos sols et écosystèmes ont été tellement dégradés qu’ils ont perdu toute capacité de résilience face aux phénomènes climatiques extrêmes.

Sans aliments, sans espoir, nous sommes forcés de partir.

Les pays du Nord et leur modèle économique sont responsables d’une grande partie des émissions de gaz à effet de serre qui nous ont conduits à la crise climatique actuelle, expression de la crise systémique qui affecte gravement la survie de millions d’êtres humains, et met en péril la vie sur notre planète.

Cependant, c’est dans les pays du Sud que nous supportons le poids de la crise, et de l’incapacité du monde à l’aborder. Nous sommes les principales victimes du changement climatique, mais si nous en avions les moyens, nous serions également le plus grand espoir pour y mettre fin.

Des études scientifiques montrent que les sols et forêts des pays du Sud, gérés de manière adéquate, ont un potentiel énorme, capable de réabsorber l’excès de CO2.

Nous pouvons retourner travailler nos terres en harmonie avec la nature, stabiliser le climat mondial et faire de nos foyers des lieux habitables, mais nous avons besoin de votre aide.

Nos pères et mères, grand-pères et grand-mères, et ancêtres, savaient comment se nourrir tout en assurant l’équilibre naturel entre le CO2 dans l’atmosphère et le carbone dans les sols et forêts.

Ils savaient comment maintenir un environnement biologiquement sain et divers, et produire des aliments nutritifs de façon abondante.

Ils effectuaient tout cela sans utiliser de produits chimiques déstabilisant le climat, ni de graines génétiquement modifiées ou de monocultures.

En accédant a ces connaissances, et en les complétant avec les découvertes scientifiques modernes, nous sommes capables de régénérer nos sols et de les transformer en puits collectif de carbone, le plus grand du monde. C’est seulement ainsi que nous pourrons rentrer chez nous, et y vivre une vie digne auprès de nos communautés.

Nous savons qu’il y a des milliers de millions de dollars destinés à aborder la crise climatique globale.

Nous lançons un appel aux personnes et gouvernements des pays du Nord dans le but de libérer ces fonds, pour la plupart retenus par des gouvernements corrompus et des agences bureaucratiques.

Nous exigeons que ces fonds puissent circuler directement entre les personnes prêtes à régénérer nos terres, nos fermes, et nos communautés, pour notre bénéfice présent ainsi que pour les générations futures.

Nous ne demandons pas la charité. Nous vous demandons d’assumer la responsabilité des conséquences de vos actes et styles de vie. Nous vous invitons à coopérer, à travailler ensemble.

Les pays du Nord n’ont aucune chance de résoudre la crise climatique s’ils n’abordent pas la vaste dégradation des terres dans les pays du Sud.

Et nous, millions de migrant(e)s, qui jadis dépendions de l’agriculture pour nos aliments et nos modes de vie, ne pouvons retourner ni rester chez nous tant que nos sols et nos forêts ne seront pas assez sains pour nous alimenter.

Il est temps de s’engager dans une campagne de coopération d’un point de vue global afin de régénérer la Terre, et ainsi régénérer notre bien-être social, économique et physique sur le plan mondial.

Merci bien.

Pedro Mariano Gómez Pérez
Patricia Pérez Gómez
Abraham Gómez Paciencia
Diego López Aguilar

Coalition Indigène des Migrant(e)s du Chiapas

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De la Migración Forzada a la Regeneración: Carta Abierta a las y los Ciudadanos del Norte Global

Somos ya 82 millones de personas migrantes, en su mayoría del Sur Global, las que hoy vivimos en Europa y en los Estados Unidos.

A pesar de lo que lees en los medios, migrar es muchas veces nuestro último recurso. El despojo, la violencia de los gobiernos, la corrupción e impunidad estructural, la pobreza, la guerra y el cambio climático nos han forzado a dejar nuestras casas y nuestras tierras en los países de origen.

Estamos cansados de ser tratadas como ciudadanos de segunda clase, como amenazas a la seguridad de los países ricos. Estamos cansados de políticos corruptos y de los medios de comunicación que nos criminalizan.

Dejémoslo claro, aquí y ahora: Apoyamos el derecho de las personas a la migración voluntaria, y creemos en el valor de las comunidades diversas, pero la gran mayoría de nosotros preferiría no arriesgar su vida en los cruces fronterizos, ni en los mares ni a lo largo de rutas donde somos presas del crimen organizado coludido con agentes migratorios, policías y gobiernos; quisiéramos no enfrentar la discriminación y el maltrato cuando llegamos a lugares donde intentamos sobrevivir con nuestras familias.

Sin embargo, la dura realidad es ésta: No podemos regresar a casa –y la gran mayoría tendremos que seguir saliendo–, hasta que haya condiciones sociales, ambientales, políticas y económicas necesarias para que vivamos libres de violencia e inseguridad, hambre y desnutrición, con opciones de trabajo y educación para sustentar y lograr el bienestar de nuestras familias y comunidades.

¿Quién debería crear esas condiciones?, ¿Y cómo?

La economía extractivista basada en la industria ha causado demasiada presión sobre las tierras de las que antes dependíamos para alimentarnos. Nuestros suelos y ecosistemas han sido degradados a tal punto que han perdido su capacidad de resiliencia ante eventos climáticos extremos. Sin alimentos, sin esperanza, sin una economía al servicio de la vida, se nos fuerza a irnos.

El Norte Global y su modelo económico, es responsable de gran parte de las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero que nos han llevado a la actual crisis climática, expresión de la crisis sistémica que afecta gravemente la sobrevivencia de millones de seres humanos, y pone en riesgo la vida en nuestro planeta.

Sin embargo, en el Sur Global estamos soportando el peso de la crisis, y de la incapacidad del mundo para abordarla. Somos las principales víctimas del cambio climático, pero si tuviéramos las herramientas necesarias también seríamos la mayor esperanza para revertirlo.

Estudios científicos demuestran que los suelos y bosques del Sur Global, manejados adecuadamente, tienen un enorme potencial para reabsorber el exceso de CO2.

Podemos regresar a trabajar en nuestras tierras en armonía con la naturaleza, reestabilizar el clima mundial y hacer de nuestros hogares lugares habitables – pero necesitamos de su cooperación.

Nuestros padres y madres, abuelos, abuelas y ancestros sabían cómo alimentarse manteniendo el equilibrio natural entre el CO2 de la atmósfera y el carbono en el suelo y los bosques.

Sabían cómo mantener un ambiente biológicamente sano y diverso y producir alimentos abundantes y nutritivos.
Hacían todo ésto sin usar químicos que desestabilizan el clima, sin usar semillas genéticamente modificadas y monocultivos.

Al acceder a este conocimiento, y al complementarlo con descubrimientos científicos modernos, podemos regenerar nuestros suelos– y transformarlos en el sumidero colectivo de carbono más grande del mundo.
Sólo así podremos regresar a casa y tener una vida digna junto a nuestras comunidades.

Sabemos que hay miles de millones de dólares disponibles para abordar la crisis climática global.

Hacemos un llamado a las personas y gobiernos del Norte Global para liberar esos fondos, la mayoría de los cuales están amarrados en gobiernos corruptos y agencias burocráticas.

Exigimos que se permita que esos fondos fluyan directamente a aquellos que estamos listos para regenerar nuestras tierras, nuestras granjas y nuestras comunidades – para el beneficio presente y para las futuras generaciones.

No estamos pidiendo caridad.Les estamos pidiendo que se hagan responsables de las consecuencias de sus acciones y estilos de vida. Les pedimos que cooperen con nosotros, que trabajemos juntos.

El Norte Global no tiene esperanza alguna de resolver la crisis climática sin abordar la vasta degradación de la tierra en el Sur Global.

Y nosotras(os), millones de migrantes que alguna vez dependimos de la agricultura para obtener nuestros alimentos y sustento, no podemos regresar o quedarnos en casa hasta que nuestros ecosistemas estén lo suficientemente sanos para mantenernos.

Es hora de comprometerse en unacampaña cooperativa a nivel global para regenerar la Tierra, y al hacerlo, regenerar nuestro bienestar social, económico y físico a nivel mundial.

Gracias.

Pedro Mariano Gómez Pérez
Patricia Pérez Gómez
Abraham Gómez Paciencia
Diego López Aguilar

Coalición Indígena de Migrantes de Chiapas

There are now 82 million migrants, mostly from the Global South, living in Europe and the United States.

Despite what you read in the media, for most us, migration is a last resort. We have been forced—by dispossession, poverty, war, climate change and government corruption—to leave our homes and land in our home countries.

We are tired of being treated as second-class citizens, as threats to the security of wealthy countries. We are tired of corrupt politicians and media that criminalize us.

Let us state clearly, here and now: We support the right of people to voluntarily migrate, and we believe in the value of diverse communities. But the vast majority of us would rather not risk our lives crossing borders, either over dangerous seas or along land routes where we are easy prey for agents of organized crime, often working in collusion with migration agents, police or governments. We would rather avoid discrimination and abuse when we arrive in foreign places, just trying to survive with our families.

However, the harsh reality is this: We can’t return home—and many more of us will have to keep leaving—until the social, environmental, political and economic conditions exist for us to live free of violence and insecurity, free of hunger and malnutrition, and until the employment and education conditions improve so that we can provide for our families and communities.

Who should create these conditions? And how?

The Global North, with its industrial-based, extractive economy, is responsible for most of the greenhouse gas emissions that have led us to this climate crisis which is threatening the survival of millions of people, and even life on Earth as we know it.

This economic model has put great pressure on the lands we used to depend on to feed ourselves. Our soils and ecosystems have been degraded to a point where they have lost their resilience in the face of severe climate events.

Without food, without hope, without an economy in service of life, we are forced to leave.

We in the Global South are bearing the burden of this crisis, and of the failure of the world to address it.

Yet, though we are the greatest victims of climate change, with the right tools, we are also the world’s greatest hope for reversing this crisis.

Scientific studies prove that the soils and forests of the Global South, managed appropriately, have the greatest potential to sequester excess CO2.

We can return to managing our lands in harmony with nature, so that we can re-stabilize the global climate and make our homes livable again—but we need your cooperation.

Our parents and grandparents and ancestors knew how to feed themselves while at the same time maintaining the natural balance between CO2 in the atmosphere and carbon in the soil and forests.

They knew how to maintain a biologically healthy and diverse environment while at the same time producing abundant, nutritious food.

They did all this without the use of climate-destabilizing chemicals and genetically engineered seeds and mono-cropping.

By tapping into this knowledge, and complementing it with modern scientific findings, we can regenerate our lands—and transform them into the largest collective carbon sink in the world. 

Only then can we can return home, and live prosperous, dignified lives as we did in the past.

We hear that there are billions of dollars available to address the global climate crisis.

We call on the people and governments of the Global North to unleash those funds, the majority of which are tied up in corrupt governments and bureaucratic agencies.

We ask that those funds be allowed to flow directly to the people who are ready to regenerate our lands, our farms, and our communities—for the benefit of all of us now, and for future generations.

We are not asking for charity. We are asking for the Global North to take responsibility for the consequences of their actions and lifestyles.

We ask them to cooperate with us, to work together with us.

Global North has no hope of resolving the climate crisis without tackling the vast land degradation in the Global South.

And we, millions of migrants who once depended on agriculture to sustain us, cannot return—or stay—home until our ecosystems are healthy enough to sustain us.

It is time to commit to a massive global cooperative campaign to regenerate Earth, and by doing so, regenerate our collective global social, economic and physical well-being.

Thank you.

Lead authors:

Pedro Mariano Gómez Pérez
Patricia Pérez Gómez
Abraham Gómez Paciencia
Diego López Aguilar

On behalf of the Chiapas Indigenous Migrant Coalition (Coalición Indígena de Migrantes de Chiapas)

Signees:

Viridiana Alcántara Cervantes—Iniciative 4 por 1000 Bonn
Miguel Concha Malo—Centro de Derechos humanos “Fray Francisco de Vitoria, O.P., A.C.—Distrito Federal
Arturo Vera Tenorio—Mercado Alternativo de Tlalpan Ciudad de México
Carlos Villablanca—Ecobarrio 4 Alamos Santiago
Guadalupe Meza Docente—Universitaria Guanajuato
Sara Román—Red Nacional Género y Economía (REDGE)—Benito Juarez
Rocío Miranda—Ciudad de México
Luz Maria Munoz de Cote—Mitoteras por Guanajuato—Guanajuato
Rocío Servin—Guanajuato
Pedro Luis del Ángel Rodríguez—Guanajuato
Rosario Patricia Rodríguez— R Ninguna—León
Paco Ayala—La Cuadra A.C. Huerto Roma Verde—Ciudad de México
Tania Salazar—Mexico
María Soledad Del Rocío Suárez López—Delegación Miguel Hidalgo—Mexico, D. F.
Eveline Woitrin—Rescatando los Picachos—Guanajuato
Ercilia Sahores—Regeneration International—Mexico City
Peter Mokaya—Organic Consumers Alliance(OCA)—Nairobi Kenya
Maina Azimio Azima—Wellness Consultants—Nairobi Kenya
Omoke Brian—Think Organic—Nairobi Keyna
Julie Ngigi—Spur Africa LTD Nairobi—Nairobi
Sulemana Abudulai—African Biodiversity Network—Tamale
Anne Mugo—Teacher—Nairobi
Boniface Njoroge—Bonafied Organic Ventures—Nairobi
Luse Kakunta—Unza—Lusaka
Emanuel Chibesakunda—Plant A Million Zambia—Lusaka
Fortunate Nyakanda—Zimbabwe Organic Producers and Promoters Trust—Harare
Alfred Lakwo—AFARD Nebbi—West Nile
Innocent Lawoko Muno—UNHCR Yumbe—West Nile
Ronnie Cummins—Via Organica—San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato
Roger Jones—RasX—San Miguel de Allende, GTO
Christiaan Verdegaal—Amsterdam
Fouad Yammine—Beirut
Temor Al-karawi—Eitorf
Alejandro Calvillo El—Poder del Consumidor A.C.—Ciudad de México
Adelita San Vicente Tello—Semillas de Vida—México
Azucena Mastache—Cuernavaca Morelos
Fray Gonzalo Ituarte OP—Vicaría de Justicia y Paz—San Cristobal de Las Casas
Alfredo Rubin—Red Semillas de Libertad—Buenos Aires
Barbara Icaza—Ciudad de México
Natasha Uren—Coalición de Migrantes Mexicanos—CDMX
Angélica Schenerock—Agua y Vida: Mujeres, Derechos y Ambiente AC—San Cristóbal de Las Casas
Joel Tovar—AccionMasVerde—Ciudad de México
Ellen Farmer—Collaborative Ventures—Santa Cruz
Amber Rappe—OCA—Finland
Meg—San Francisco
Ashleigh Brown—Ecosystem Restoration Camps—UK
Stefan Meyer—OCA AgroEcology Center—Finland
Kristine Bartyzel—Santa Fe
Florence Reed—Sustainable Harvest International—USA
Daniela Howell—Savory
Claudia Flisfisch—Regeneración Internacional—San Cristóbal de Las Casas
Michaela Fohmann—Schliengen
Richman Mutono—African Centre for Migration and Society—Wits University Johannesburg
Eirian Sahinkaya—Cologne
Carlos Flores—Mexico
Laura Izela Loredo Ruelas—Mexico City
Alicia Silva—Mexico
Angélica Gómez—Fondo Semillas—Ciudad de México
Wiliams Alonso Landaverry—Organización Democrática Mundial Copan—Honduras
Isabel de la Lastra—Taramundi—Asturias
Dana Stockar—Organizacion Walung Curarrehue—Araucanía—Chile
Oscar Gerardo Vargas López—IMDEC, AC—Guadalajara, Jalisco
Mariana Ortega Ramírez—Agromás S.C.—Cuautepec de Hinojosa—Hidalgo
Aurelia Nashru—Red Xotlac Amecameca—México
Natalia Lopez—Cooperativas Sin Fronteras—San Pedro—San José
Lena Bartula—Ser Mujer—San Miguel de Allende—Mexico
Laia Borges—Barcelona—Spain
Pilar Quintanilla—San Miguel de Allende—México
Fintan Lethert—Organic Consumers Association—Minneapolis—Minnesota
Henry Anton Peller—Ohio State University—Punta Gorda—Belize
Stephanie Bourdin—Paris—France
Monica Baxter—Olympia—USA
Sallie Latch—Center for Global Justice—Mexico
Judith D Schwartz—Vermont—United States
Deborah Richmond—Rewilding our Planet—England
Kathleen Arbonne—Spokane—United States
Rachel Kastner—San Miguel De Allende—Mexico
Ben Radler—Würzburg—Germany
Bernd Müller—Global Ecology Institute—Portugal
Nat B Life—Antwerp—Belgium
Pedro Leal—Portugal
Andres Balzo—Santiago de Chile—Chile
Aurora Paisim—San Pedro de Atacama—Antofagasta—Chile
Alexis Baden-Mayer—Citizens Regeneration Lobby—Washington DC
Eirian Sahinkaya—Cologne—Germany
Rebecca Bailet—Albuquerque—United States
Mia Smith—Honolulu—United States
Mathilde Berguerand Aucune—Limans—France
Ianka Mosimann—Undervelier—Suisse

Chance Encounter Leads to Tropical Ag Conference and Long-Term Commitment to Regenerating Belize

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On November 13 – 15, Regeneration Belize and Regeneration International (RI) will co-host the Tropical Agriculture Conference in Belmopan.

The event, which will take place at the National Agriculture & Trade Show grounds, will feature a combination of international speakers and local experts on everything from regenerative poultry production and beekeeping to edible landscaping and greenhouse management.

Photo credit: Regeneration International

Regeneration Belize, an official RI Alliance, aims to transform Belize into a leading producer of nutrient-rich agricultural products and a showcase for carbon sequestration through soil regenerative practices.

A relatively new nonprofit, Regeneration Belize grew out of a casual encounter about a year ago (December 2017), at the ACRES USA Annual Eco-Ag Conference in Ohio. It was there that Ina Sanchez, director of research for the Belize Ministry of Agriculture, and Beth Roberson, of The Belize Ag Report, first met RI’s international director, Andre Leu.

Leu, who spoke at the conference along with Ronnie Cummins and Vandana Shiva—both founding members of RI—explained RI’s mission and how the international nonprofit was working to fulfill that mission, on a global scale. Intrigued, Sanchez and Roberson invited Leu to Belize.

Before long, Leu had offered to come to Belize in 2018 and present a three-day farmers’ workshop.

One thing led to another, and in February 2018, RI’s Latin America director, Ercilia Sahores, and RI network member Ricardo Romero traveled to Belize for discussions with about 20 people, including Belizean farmers, consumers, business leaders and NGO members, about how to spread the word in Belize about regenerative agriculture. Also attending was Belizean Senator Osmany Salas, who represents all NGOs in the legislature, and now serves on Regeneration Belize’s Advisory Group.

Sahores, Romero and others met with officials of Belize’s Ministry of Agriculture, including CEO Jose Alpuche, CAO Andrew Harrison, and Belarmino Esquivel, head of Extension Services. During those meetings, the ministry offered the use of the National Agriculture and Trade Show Grounds in the capital city Belmopan for an agriculture conference later in 2018. The conference planners agreed to have to include information for every type of Belizean farmer—small and large, conventional and organic. They also agreed to no admission fees, so that costs wouldn’t prevent interested parties from attending.

Originally, there was no vision to form a separate NGO for Belize. But it was later decided that a nonprofit would provide a vehicle for raising funds for future work, including the conference. Now as an NGO, Regeneration Belize can host an annual conference, in addition to ongoing workshops and other events useful to the agricultural sector.

For Regeneration Belize’s premier conference, RI has provided six international speakers, who will share proven methods and practices for the tropics. The speakers and their topics are: Andre Leu on topsoils; Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin on regenerative poultry; Dr. Alvaro Zapata of Fundación Cipav on integrated livestock with silvopastoral systems; Elder Adrian Calderon on regenerative beekeeping; and Ronnie Cummins on regenerative food, farming and land use as the next stages of organic and agricultural ecology.

Regeneration Belize selected 11 local experts to round out the two days of presentations, 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., at 5 different pavilions. Local experts will present on: medicinal plant gardening; native crops; biofertilizers; watershed management; biochar, turmeric & vanilla production; edible landscaping; greenhouse management and agroforestry. Wednesday sessions will be in English and Kekchi Maya. Thursday’s presentations will include some in English and others in Spanish

 

Learn more about the conference presentations here and here.

 

Beth Roberson and Dottie Feucht are founding members of Regeneration Belize.

For more information about Regeneration Belize and Regeneration International (RI), sign up RI’s newsletter.

 

 

Regeneration International Founding Member Receives Lifetime Ashoka Fellowship

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 15, 2018

Contact:
Regeneration International: Katherine Paul, 207.653 3090, katherine@regenerationinternational.org

Ashoka: Amy Clark, 202.365.3452, aclark@ashoka.org

Regeneration International Founding Member Receives Lifetime Ashoka Fellowship

Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin One of 11 Social Innovators Awarded Prestigious Fellowship in 2018

MINNEAPOLIS – Regeneration International (RI) announced today that Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin, founding and steering committee member, has been awarded a lifetime Ashoka Fellowship.

“This award is well deserved,” said Andre Leu, international director of RI. “Reginaldo has developed a unique regenerative poultry and agroforestry system that can used by small scale farmers around the world to take them out of poverty, produce high quality food and improve the environment. We hope that the recognition that comes with this award will assist in the scaling up of these important regenerative farming systems.”

Haslett-Marroquin said: “The Ashoka Fellowship comes at a time when I have personally struggled to find a crack in the wall of systems change, it opens a huge gap in it, sufficiently big to walk myself, my team and partners into a world of new possibilities, with less stress, with a world community and ecosystem of people also bent on changing the world, I feel blessed and fortunate to have this opportunity, I look forward to using it to expanding our collective capacity to draw down carbon, cool the planet, feed people healthy foods, and help bring back some dignity and purpose to the time honored profession of farming.”

Simon Stumpf, Director of Venture and Fellowship at Ashoka, said: “This group of Ashoka Fellows reminds us that even our most complex and tangled social challenges are solvable. Among these new Fellows are innovators transforming our food system, criminal justice system, workforce development sector, even the funeral industry. These people show us how to champion real, transformative change in a world that needs it.”

Ashoka evaluates more than 500 promising nominations every year in the United States and conducts hundreds of hours of in-person interviews before selecting Ashoka Fellows. This year’s Fellows come from small towns and urban centers all across the country. With creativity and commitment, they tackle complex challenges, imagine a new way forward and build it for everyone, for the good of all. They forge partnerships and pathways for everyone—all ages, backgrounds, walks of life—to contribute fully as changemakers.

Haslett-Marroquin is the principal architect of the poultry-centered regenerative agriculture model promoted by the Main Street Project, and which serves as the cornerstone of his work on behalf of RI, He also directs the Regeneration Agriculture Alliance, a platform designed for building regenerative agriculture support infrastructure. A native of Guatemala, Haslett-Marroquin, who lives in Northfield, Minnesota, earned his agronomy degree from the Central National School of Agriculture in Guatemala, and degrees in international business administration and communications from Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has won numerous awards for his work, including the Twin Cities International Citizens of the Year (1996), and the Northfield, Minnesota, Service to Mankind Award (SERTOMA), 2008. He serves on several nonprofit boards, including the Conservation Core of Minnesota and Iowa. Haslett-Marroquin is a founding member of Regeneration International and Regeneration Guatemala. He was appointed to the RI steering committee in 2017. He is the author of “In the Shadow of Green Man.”

The other 2018 Ashoka Fellows are: Brandon Dennison, Coalfield Development, Wayne, West Virginia; Erica Gerrity, Ostara Initiative, Viroqua, Wisconsin; Jess Ladd, Callisto, San Francisco, California; Kara Bobroff, NACA Inspired Schools Network, Albuquerque, New Mexico; Katrina Spade, Recompose, Seattle, Washington; Lam Ho, Community Activism Law Alliance, Chicago, Illinois; Molly Burhans, Goodlands, New Haven, Connecticut; Rachel Armstrong, Farm Commons, Duluth, Minnesota; and Steve Miller, HBCU Truth & Reconciliation Oral History Project, Henderson, Texas.

Regeneration International is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to promoting, facilitating and accelerating the global transition to regenerative food, farming and land management for the purpose of restoring climate stability, ending world hunger and rebuilding deteriorated social, ecological and economic systems. More here. https://regenerationinternational.org/.

For 35 years, Ashoka has pioneered social entrepreneurship, an entire field dedicated to fostering energetic problem-solving right in the communities where the problems exist. Through its time-tested growth platform, it finds, vets, and supports thousands of leading changemakers in the United States and around the world. More here.  https://www.ashoka-usa.org

Navdanya Farm Hosts Third RI General Assembly in India

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“Regenerative Agriculture provides answers to the soil crisis, the food crisis, the health crisis, the climate crisis and the crisis of democracy.” Vandana Shiva

Thirty eight representatives from more than thirty organizations met at Dr. Shiva’s Navdanya Farm to network and explore next steps for Regeneration International, a cooperative of stake holders committed to promoting small scale organic farming as a solution to climate change.

The meetings began with introductions and short presentations about each participant’s work, which ranges from soil science to filmmaking. The group represented seventeen countries from Africa, Asia and Europe, as well as North, South and Central America.

The diversity of the groups’ roots was fitting, given that many participants attended the International Biodiversity Conference that took place at the Forest Research Institute in Dehradun over three days before.

After introductions, there were more in-depth reports from Belize,

Brazil, India, Kenya, Lesotho, Mexico, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Tanzania, United States, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

There was much interest in each region’s various strategies and challenges. One benefit of the meeting was the opportunity for the different countries to come together and share information about their work, that has a little-known but profoundly positive impact on climate change.

In the spirit of action and inspiration, Becket Films screened a soon-to-be finished cut of The Seeds of Vandana Shiva, a documentary about Dr. Shiva’s life of activism for a regenerative and peaceful world.

The next part of the meeting centered on strategies for the future and how the Regeneration International network can scale up and support the work of its members.

First there was clarification of the mission: Regeneration International exists to promote the message and practice of organic food, fiber and farming that regenerates the environment, the climate and human communities. This means that the regeneration is inclusive of partners working with nature to restore the health and biodiversity of soil, seed, water, land, food and fiber in ways that also supports the rights and welfare of small farmers, women, the indigenous, and other minorities.

There was consensus to use the film, The Seeds of Vandana Shiva as a tool for education, outreach and fundraising for our affiliate groups.

The meeting looked forward to UNFCC COP25, scheduled to take place in Brazil in November 2019 where participants decided the next international gathering of Regeneration International partners should take place. Despite the 4/1000 initiative that was signed at COP15, the issue of agriculture and food systems is still fundamentally ignored by the COP and the climate movement. For this reason it is Regeneration International’s agenda at COP25 to bring greater attention to the issue of small scale organic food and farming as a solution for climate change.

The meeting concluded with resolutions to deepen relationships, to continue to share experiences and information, to support and broadcast partners’ initiatives, and to work together on planning for COP25.

Reversing Climate Change through Regenerative Agriculture

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This year’s Acres U.S.A. Conference features numerous speakers, who can show how we can reverse the disruptive effects climate change by adopting best practice regenerative production systems. These systems will also make our farms and ranches more productive and resilient to the current erratic climate disruption that we are all facing.

The increasing erratic and disruptive weather events caused by climate change are the greatest immediate threat to viable farming and food security. We are already being adversely affected by the longer and more frequent droughts, and irregular, out-of-season and destructive rainfall events.

The world is already around 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degree Celsius) warmer than the industrial revolution. The energy needed to heat the atmosphere by 1.8 degrees is equivalent to billions of atomic bombs. I am using this violent metaphor so that people can understand how much energy is being released into our atmosphere and oceans and why we will get more frequent and stronger storms wreaking havoc in our communities.

This extra energy is violently fueling and disrupting our weather systems. It means storms are far more intense. Winter storms will be colder and can be pushed further south and north than normal due to this energy. Similarly, summer storms, especially hurricanes, cyclones, tornadoes, typhoons, tropical lows, etc., are far more intense with deluging destructive rainfall.

Droughts are more frequent and are resulting more frequent and damaging forest and grass fires that are changing the ecology due to not allowing time for recovery. The current intense northern hemisphere heatwave, global drought and unprecedented number of ferocity of forests fires are being exacerbated by climate change.

The frequency and intensity of these types of events will only get exponentially worse when the world warms to 3.6 degrees, which is the upper limit that the Paris climate meeting agreed to.

Some people don’t really care if the world is 3.6 degrees warmer — however it is not the average temperatures that are the concern, but rather the regular extremes, especially the out-of-season heatwaves and rain events, that we are experiencing now.

Managing Climate Change Now

Atmospheric CO2 levels have been increasing at 2 parts per million (ppm) per year. The level of CO2 reached a new record of 400 ppm in May 2016. This is the highest level of CO2 in the atmosphere for 800,000 years. However, in 2016, despite all the commitments countries made in Paris in December 2015, the levels of CO2 increased at record levels in 2016 (3.3 ppm of CO2 entered the atmosphere, creating a new record).

According to the World Meteorological Organization, “Geological records show that the current levels of CO2 correspond to an ‘equilibrium’ climate last observed in the mid-Pliocene (3-5 million years ago), a climate that was 2-3 °C (3.6 – 5.4° F) warmer, where the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets melted and even some of the East Antarctic ice was lost, leading to sea levels that were 10-20 meters (30-60 feet) higher than those today.”

Global sea level rises will cause the atoll island countries, large parts of Bangladesh, Netherlands, coastal United States, New York, New Orleans, Miami, San Francisco/Bay Area, London, Manila, Bangkok, Jakarta, Shanghai, Singapore, Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Perth and other low lying areas to go under water

Even if the world transitioned to 100 percent renewable energy tomorrow, this will not stop the temperature and sea level rises because it will take more than 100 years for the CO2levels to drop. These sea level rises will cause a huge refugee crisis for over a billion people by 2050 and throw our planet into chaos. The world cannot cope with 2 million refugees from Syria. How do we cope hundreds of millions of climate change refugees? There will be wars over food, water and land.

The fact is we have to speed up the transition to renewable energy and we have to make a great effort to draw down the CO2 in the atmosphere.

The Solution Is Under Our Feet!

In order to stop the present increase in atmospheric CO2, agricultural systems would have to sequester 2.3 ppm of CO2 per year. Using the accepted formula that 1 ppm CO2 = 7.76 Gt CO2 means that 17.85 Gt of CO2 per year needs to be sequestered from the atmosphere and stored in the soil as soil organic carbon (SOC).

Stopping the increase in GHGs and then reducing them must be the first priority, and this should be non-negotiable. Moving to renewable energy and energy efficiency will not be enough to stop the planet from warming over the next hundred years and going into damaging climate change. The amount of 405 ppm is past the level needed to meet the Paris objective of limiting the temperature increase to +1.5/2°C (2.7/3.6° F). The levels need to be well below 350 ppm. The excess CO2 must be sequestered from the atmosphere to stop damaging climate change.

Soils are the greatest carbon sink after the oceans. There is a wide variability in the estimates of the amount of carbon stored in the soils globally. According to Professor Rattan Lal, there are over 2,700 gigatons (Gt) of carbon stored in soils. The soil holds more carbon than the atmosphere (848 Gt) and biomass (575 Gt) combined. There is already an excess of carbon in the oceans that is starting cause a range of problems. We cannot put any more CO2 in the atmosphere or the oceans. Soils are the logical sink for carbon.

Most agricultural systems lose soil carbon with estimates that agricultural soils have lost 50-70 percent of their original SOC pool, and the depletion is exacerbated by further soil degradation and desertification. Agricultural systems that recycle organic matter and use crop rotations can increase the levels of SOC. This is achieved through techniques such as longer rotations, ground covers, cover crops, green manures, legumes, compost, organic mulches, biochar, perennials, agro-forestry, agroecological biodiversity and livestock on pasture using sustainable grazing systems such as holistic grazing. These systems are starting to come under the heading of “regenerative agriculture” because they regenerate SOC.

Regenerative Agriculture Potential

BEAM (Biologically Enhanced Agricultural Management), is a process developed by Dr. David Johnson of New Mexico State University, that uses compost with a high diversity of soil microorganisms. BEAM has achieved very high levels of sequestration. According to Johnson et al., “… a 4.5 year agricultural field study promoted annual average capture and storage of 10.27 metric tons soil C ha-1 year -1 while increasing soil macro-, meso- and micro-nutrient availability offering a robust, cost-effective carbon sequestration mechanism within a more productive and long-term sustainable agriculture management approach.” These results have since been replicated in other trials.

Soil Organic Carbon x 3.67 = CO2 which means that 10.27 metric tons soil C ha-1 year -1 = 37.7 metric tons of CO2 per hectare per year. (38,000 pounds of CO2 per acre per year – close enough)

If BEAM was extrapolated globally across agricultural lands it would sequester 184 Gt of CO2/yr.

Regenerative Grazing

The Savory Institute, Gabe Brown and many others have been scaling up holistic management systems on every arable continent. There is now a considerable body of published science and evidence-based practices showing that these systems regenerate degraded lands, improve productivity, water holding capacity and soil carbon levels.

Nearly 70 percent of the world’s agricultural lands are used for grazing. The published evidence is showing that correctly managed pastures can build up SOC faster than many other agricultural systems and that it is stored deeper in the soil.

Research by Machmuller et al. 2015: “In a region of extensive soil degradation in the southeastern United States, we evaluated soil C accumulation for 3 years across a 7-year chronosequence of three farms converted to management-intensive grazing. Here we show that these farms accumulated C at 8.0 Mg ha−1 yr−1, increasing cation exchange and water holding capacity by 95 percent and 34 percent, respectively.”

To explain the significance of these figures: 8.0 Mg ha−1 yr−1 = 8,000 kgs of carbon being stored in the soil per hectare per year. Soil Organic Carbon x 3.67 = CO2, means that these grazing systems have sequestered 29,360 kgs (29.36 metric tons) of CO2/ ha/yr.

If these regenerative grazing practices were implemented on the world’s grazing lands they would sequester 98.5 gt CO2 per year.

Conclusion

Just transitioning 10-20 percent of agricultural production to best practice regenerative systems will sequester enough CO2 to reverse climate change and restore the global climate. Regenerative agriculture can change agriculture from being a major contributor to climate change to becoming a major solution. The widespread adoption of these systems should be made the highest priority by farmers, ranchers, governments, international organizations, industry and climate change organizations.

André Leu is international director of Regeneration International. He is a longtime farmer in Australia and past president of the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements. He is the author of The Myths of Safe Pesticides and Poisoning Our Children, published by Acres U.S.A.

International Symposium in Johannesburg Will Highlight the Role of Soil as the Solution to Food Security and Climate Stability

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It all started over lunch during the COP 23 Climate Summit in Bonn, Germany, in November 2017. An idea shared over lunch led to a few back-and-forth emails—and here we are: announcing the “4 per1000 Africa Symposium on Soil for Food Security and Climate.” The Symposium will be held October 24-26 (2018), in Johannesburg, South Africa.

During its third meeting, held in Bonn, the Consortium (governing body) of the French government’s “4 per 1000: Soils for Food Security and Climate” Initiative met to discuss next steps, or as they referred to it, their “Roadmap 2018.” (Never heard of the 4 per 1000 Initiative? Learn more here.) Consortium members highlighted the need to organize regional networks that could draw attention to the global policy initiative, and pressure policymakers to incorporate the initiative’s climate solution into their overall strategy for meeting the goals established by the Paris Climate Agreement.

That’s when I, representing Regeneration International (RI), suggested that we find allies to host an African “4 per 1000” symposium—and now that suggestion has become a reality. We are about to spread the news, to a wide audience in South Africa, about the great potential of regenerative agriculture and land management to heal South Africa’s soils, increase food security in the region, and restore climate stability.

It’s been important for RI to find a platform to bring together players in soil health, food security and climate health. However we also realize the importance and power of partnerships. That’s why we’re thrilled and honored to be organizing this symposium in partnership with the South Africa-based NEPAD Agency, through its Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), and France’s The 4/1000 Initiative. The timing is perfect for partnering with the NEPAD Agency’s programs—the partnership anchors RI within the CAADP framework which African governments, under the African Union, have signed onto to promote and mainstream the concept of agro-ecological organic regenerative agriculture.

This symposium is much needed at this time, when South Africa, and all of the global south, faces a series of crises. Landscapes are deteriorating every day due to poor management decisions. Year after year, we see a continuous downward spiraling in food security, wildlife habitat, healthy societies and livelihoods.

Small-scale food producers are especially vulnerable to climate disruption, including droughts and flooding. In the restoration of soil carbon, we see tremendous opportunity to build resilience and to not only mitigate, but eventually reverse global warming. What a better way to regenerate both the environment and societies in a continent where agriculture still holds a high place of importance?

The soil is a true ally on the climate crisis front, and Africa has potential to play a big role in this solution journey. Transitioning to regenerative agriculture and land management can help countries fulfill their pledges to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) while nourishing the earth and their populations.

The “4 per1000 Africa Symposium on Soil for Food Security and Climate” will be the first event in South Africa dedicated to communicating the message and strategy behind the “4 per 1000” Initiative. The symposium will bring international stakeholders together with international experts and practitioners to engage in an open debate and to share experiences and lessons on the relationship between soil and climate and the benefits of soil health in supporting all forms of life.

Participants will also have the opportunity to learn more about the work and initiatives that are taking place in Africa, including CADDP and African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100), to name a few. We hope the symposium will help build strong support for the “4 per 1000” Initiative and the concept of regenerative agriculture in general.

The symposium is funded in part by RI, NEPAD, the 4 per 1000 Initiative, the German and French governments and registration fees.

Precious Phiri is a member of the Regeneration International (RI) steering committee and also serves as RI’s Africa coordinator. She is the director of IGugu Trust and founding director of EarthWisdom Consulting Co. To keep up with RI news, sign up here for our newsletter.

Coalition Grows at Regeneration Midwest Gathering

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On June 28 and June 29, about 50 people representing Midwest farm and farming-related businesses, nonprofits, investors and economic development officials gathered in Northfield, Minnesota, to identify next steps toward formalizing the goals and launch of Regeneration Midwest (RM). RM is a 12-state regional coalition organized to serve as the foundation for transitioning five core sectors of the food and agriculture system from the current industrial model to a regenerative model.

RM came to life in late 2017, and has since been evolving as a platform for scaling up models that address the three pillars of regenerative agriculture: social, ecological and economic regeneration. The coalition originated from the poultry-centered regenerative agriculture design pioneered by the Northfield-based nonprofit, Main Street Project. Similar to other organizations throughout the country, Main Street has built a successful, workable and replicable model for re-designing the way poultry is raised. The system delivers a diversity of food products that can be produced and branded under a regenerative standard, with poultry at the center.

While highly successful as a stand-alone project, Main Street faces the same challenges as other organizations building similar models in other sectors: In order to focus on their core competencies and unleash their full potential on a regional scale, these projects need large-scale regional infrastructure support throughout the entire supply chain, which includes farmers, aggregators, marketers, distributors and processors.

RM will facilitate building and scaling up this regional infrastructure by focusing on five core strategically connected sectors of the food and agriculture industry. In this way, the coalition aims to address the common needs and challenges of individual organizations, so together they can scale faster and more efficiently.

Strategic Regenerative Opportunities

• Poultry: Starting with Main Street Project’s design, RM will facilitate the infrastructure needed for replication of this model throughout the Midwest.

• Grains: In partnership with the Midwest Grains Initiative and the Non-GMO Project, and in coordination with a large network of local operations, RM will aggregate existing standards that support agroforestry systems as a foundational blueprint for transitioning small-grain production for both human consumption and animal feed. The intention is to build supply chains to ensure a robust coordination and continuity of regenerative standards and the integration and stacking of related enterprise sectors to build larger-scale trading platforms.

• Pork, Beef: RM will join existing pastured-pork and grass-fed beef producers to coordinate and identify strategies aimed at improving production methods aligned with standards that support the regeneration of land, local economies and natural habitats for livestock species, in order to bring more valuable products to the marketplace.

• Strategically Selected Vegetables, Fruits: Vegetables represent a challenging sector for regenerative standards development, and application. Vegetable production requires intense use of outside inputs, especially if the farm doesn’t incorporate livestock for manure that can be transformed into fertilizer. Cover cropping, crop rotation, incorporation of perennial crops, alley-cropping vegetables and practices of this kind can help a farm regenerate its soil organic matter. RM will work to bring together regenerative standards that support regional scalable opportunities where separate livestock production and selected fruits and vegetable production can become more competitive as a result of their interdependence, and farmers can become their own region’s suppliers of natural inputs, thus regenerating larger landscapes.

Support Systems, Infrastructure

RM will focus first on mapping promising agriculture production models in the sectors outlined above. The core criteria for selection will be based on 1) a family of standards endorsed by the coalition; 2) the feasibility and impact of these models if they were to be scaled across the region; and 3) whether they were designed for the common good, meaning that they are ready to be made available to all farmers and institutions for adoption and deployment.

After these pieces are in place, RM will focus on missing systems infrastructure pieces that are critical to the combined deployment of promising models. So far, the following key areas of system-level programming have been identified as:

• Trade Infrastructure: A platform for large-scale trading of products will be central to the success of the 12-state coalition. RM’s role will consist of ensuring that the value-chain components are in place or that they are built by capable organizations, engaging these organizations and coordinating the process of building and scaling up a consolidated infrastructure so that participants in the 12-state region can access markets at all levels and use the trading platform to move more products from farms to tables. RM will not engage in direct marketing, sales, or handling of products. Blockchain technology, trading boards and standardization of productions and transactions for volume trading, are examples of strategic infrastructure options under development.

• Financing: Financing farms belongs at the local level, with local actors and local infrastructure. RM will help identify and support those organizations directly working at this level. Working with Iroquois Valley Farms (Evanston, Illinois) and Shared Capital Cooperative (St. Paul, Minnesota), RM will bring these financing tools to every organization in the 12-state region and facilitate their engagement. RM will also work to attract investors from around the country.

• Markets: In partnership with existing organizations, RM will support the creation of marketing campaigns to differentiate regenerative products in the marketplace through targeted regional and state campaigns.

• Education: In partnership with existing organizations, RM will support targeted regional and state campaigns aimed at educating industry leaders, investors, consumers and government officials at all levels.

• Supply Chain, Tracking Progress: The supply chain and flow of products from farms to markets is the foundation to successfully transitioning agriculture. Tracking the progress across the supply chain and ensuring that it improves continuously, that it is verified to meet regenerative standards and that there is integrity in the processes, is central to the operational goals of the RM coalition. RM will track progress on key indicators such as number of products available, number of farms engaged, acreage impacted and farmers’ overall financial performance. These indicators will ensure that we can monitor, measure, and continuously improve a successful transition to regenerative agricultural practices.

Building Executive Teams

Thanks to the strong support from Main Street Project, Regeneration International and Organic Consumers Association, RM has an organizing team and three core executives working daily to plan and execute the start-up phase of this initiative.

Based on regional conversations that took place during the 2018 MOSES Conference in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and local conversations in Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Kansas, Indiana and other states, we have produced a base directory of players across the 12-state region. Even though three people currently oversee the larger effort, members from each state are expected to join only if they are ready to work in cooperation, willing and partially resourced to carry on the process of building state-level coalitions and to work in alignment with the larger regional vision.

Farmers who want to join the system or nonprofits willing to engage in state-level organizing within the Midwest states can reach out to the organizers of Regeneration Midwest by emailing regenerationmidwest@gmail.com.

Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin is chief strategy officer at Main Street Project, founding member of Regeneration International and director of Regeneration Midwest.

Reposted with permission from MOSES.

Regeneration: Solving the Immigration and Climate Crises at the Same Time

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“Regenerative agriculture provides answers to the soil crisis, the food crisis, the health crisis, the climate crisis and the crisis of democracy.” — Dr. Vandana Shiva

Two of the most serious and intractable crises pressing down on us—in North America, Europe and worldwide—are the immigration crisis and climate change.

Most of the media coverage of these issues until now has focused on the bad news:

“Hottest Year Ever,” “CO2 Concentrations in the Atmosphere Rising,” “Trump Determined to Build a Wall,” “Thousands of Immigrant Children Separated from Their Parents and Locked Up,” “Another Boatload of African Refugees Sinks in the Mediterranean,” “Immigration Crisis Polarizes EU.”

Unfortunately, there’s been little or no discussion about the interconnected roots of these crises and, most importantly, the good news: that there are positive solutions at hand.

Almost nowhere will you find a news story or commentary that connects the dots, as Vandana Shiva puts it, between “the soil crisis, the food crisis, the health crisis, the climate crisis and the crisis of democracy.”

Yet, not only are these contemporary crises—forced migration, the climate crisis, and others—interconnected, but in fact there are shovel-ready, tried-and-tested solutions to these mega-problems right under our feet, at the end of our forks and knives, and ultimately in the way that we vote, not only at the ballot box, but with our consumer dollars.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bwkWv2Rllk[/embedyt]

Of course the long-term solution to the international crisis of forced migration—creating rural peace and prosperity in people’s home communities so they won’t want to leave their homes and families in the first place—will not solve the immediate emergency that millions of our neighbors to the South face.

The women, men and children currently fleeing violence and persecution in their home countries deserve humanitarian assistance and asylum as long as drug gangs, sectarian militias, and corrupt, authoritarian regimes threaten their very survival. Cruel and immoral treatment of so-called “illegal aliens” by the Trump Administration (and unfortunately the Obama, Bush and Clinton administrations before them), along with enforcement practices that criminalize refugees and deport undocumented workers, must be exposed, resisted and reversed.

The injustices of current immigration enforcement practices are especially hypocritical and cruel given that the primary drivers of the out-of-control crime, poverty and violence that plague Mexico, Central America, Africa and the Middle East are misguided and immoral U.S. and EU foreign policies, such as the so-called War on Drugs, Free Trade Agreements (NAFTA and the WTO), disastrous attempts at “regime change” in Iraq, Syria and Libya, and support for corrupt governments and corporations.

The global body politic, especially in the U.S. and Europe, needs to acknowledge that decades, indeed centuries, of imperial, racist, corporate greed and prejudice lie at the root of our current migration crisis.

On the other hand, the practical, long-term solution to the immigration crisis is not simply to “open borders” and grant asylum, in the U.S. or western Europe, to several hundred million persecuted and exploited people from the global South. The better solution is to reverse the foreign and domestic policies, especially trade, drug war, agricultural and land-use policies, that are driving people from their homelands in the first place. To do this, the global grassroots will have to work in cross-border solidarity to help people everywhere regenerate, not only their politics, but also their landscapes and agriculture in order to restore soil fertility, food quality and the livelihoods of small farmers. Beyond reducing the pressures driving forced migration, this regeneration process will allow us to draw down a critical mass of the excess atmospheric carbon into our soils—carbon that is heating up the planet, destabilizing the climate, and exacerbating poverty, soil degradation, crop failure, malnutrition and societal violence.

The recent election of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) and the MORENA (Movement of National Regeneration) Party in Mexico provides positive proof that decades of misrule and drug violence can be turned around through grassroots organizing, protest and electoral insurgency. President-elect Obrador and the MORENA party, who will take power in December, have promised to deal head-on with the migrant crisis, poverty, the failed war on drugs, political corruption, food sovereignty and the climate crisis.

If MORENA can launch a Regeneration Revolution in Mexico, under extremely adverse conditions, then so can we in the U.S., Europe and other affluent nations.

What are the regenerative solutions we’re talking about? Let’s review some of the basic concepts of regenerative food, farming and land use.

If you’ve never heard about the amazing potential of regenerative food, farming and land use (i.e. regenerative organic farming and grazing, reforestation and landscape restoration) to improve the quality of our food, our health and our environment, while simultaneously drawing down enough carbon from the atmosphere through enhanced photosynthesis to reverse global warming (when carried out in conjunction with the transition to 100-percent renewable energy) you’re not alone. One of the best-kept secrets in the world today is that the fundamental solution to global warming and climate change (as well as rural poverty, forced migration, nutrient-deficient food, deteriorating public health and civil strife) lies in rejecting degenerative agriculture, forestry and land- management practices and instead embracing regenerative alternatives. We need to jump-start a global process of re-carbonizing and restoring our soil and forests through qualitatively enhanced photosynthesis and regenerative organic practices, getting trees and perennial plants back into all of our landscapes, and drastically changing our food production, animal husbandry and consumption practices.

By bringing our soils, plants, forests, waters, biodiversity, animals (and humans) back to full life and vigor, we can regenerate over the next 25 years not only climate stability, but also public health. Additionally, a Regeneration Revolution will revitalize our rural and urban economies; alleviate poverty (most of the world’s poor live in rural areas); reduce forced migration, hunger and malnutrition; and rekindle a common sense of hope and solidarity in the global body politic.

Regenerative food, farming and land use (combined with the transition to 100-percent renewable energy), gives us our best and last chance to not only survive global warming and re-stabilize the climate, but to thrive—with healthier food, fiber, animals, people and local economies as our reward. By bringing together a critical mass of the world’s 750 million rural farmers, farmworkers, ranchers, herders and fishing communities with several billion of the world’s urban consumers—workers, students, policymakers, business leaders and investors—we can safeguard our common home and our common future, and resolve the interrelated crises of forced migration and climate destabilization.

Elsewhere we have provided a more detailed description of regenerative food, farming and land use.

Please review the materials on our website if the world-changing concepts of regeneration and carbon drawdown are new to you.

But for now, here are three basic steps we need to take if we are serious about solving the immigration and climate crises.

Step one: regenerate global solidarity

We need to support national and international politicians and policies that promote rural prosperity and peace, so people are not forced to migrate.

We need policies and subsidies that keep the world’s 3 billion small- and medium-sized farmers and rural villagers on the land. These farmers need to receive an equitable wage or Fair Trade price for their products in exchange for producing healthy, organic and regenerative food and fiber in an environmentally and climate-friendly manner.

We need to educate consumers and reward farmers, ranchers and rural communities for producing healthy food, building up soil health, sequestering carbon from the atmosphere and restoring our forests and wetlands. Unfortunately, what we have today are domestic policies and international trade agreements that subsidize giant polluting factory farms, multinational corporations, unhealthy processed food, GMOs and agro-industrial exports—policies that have driven millions of desperate rural families into forced migration or have left them little choice but to join drug cartels or sectarian militia groups like ISIS or the Taliban.

We need to focus on food sovereignty and self-sufficiency instead of corporate globalization and GMO, chemical-intensive agriculture—both at home and abroad.

Step two: regenerate food, farming and land use

We must move to reverse, not just mitigate, global warming by adopting organic and regenerative food, farming and land use practices. Cook organic, not the planet.

Climate scientists repeatedly have warned us that we must stop burning fossil fuels and destroying our environment and soils—thereby supersaturating our atmosphere and oceans with greenhouse gas emissions—or else we are doomed.

If we are going to avert catastrophic global warming, we must change our energy, agricultural, land use and consumption practices so as to drawdown as much carbon as possible from our overheated atmosphere and transfer this excess load of carbon, through enhanced photosynthesis, into the living soils of our croplands, pasturelands, forests and landscapes, where it will improve food quality, environmental health and rural livelihoods.

The only way we can possibly carry out this Great Drawdown quickly enough to avert runaway global warming is to help the world’s 3 billion farmers and rural villagers stay on the land and farm regeneratively—especially in the world’s warm, sub-tropical and tropical areas, where billions of acres of soils and forests can absorb and sequester the most carbon, and where poverty and desperation are the worst.

In other words, through our political activity and our food choices as consumers, we must help the world’s farmers and rural villagers become self-sufficient peacemakers and regenerators, instead of forcing them to choose between becoming growers, smugglers or soldiers for the drug cartels, or risking their lives and their liberty as forced migrants, undocumented workers and refugees.

We must help create the conditions for peace and rural prosperity in the impoverished conflict zones in the Global South or we will never solve the immigration or the climate crisis. With the regeneration of rural communities and landscapes, and a move away from counter-productive drug laws and foreign policy support for corrupt and criminal governments and corporations, we will see not only a massive reduction in the number of forced migrants across the world, but a surge of reverse migration, with millions and millions of forced refugees voluntarily returning back home to their rural communities and families.

Step three: regenerate politics

As members of global civil society we must plant peace, not poverty and war. End the drug wars. Legalize marijuana and all drugs. Treat drug addiction as a medical problem, rather than a criminal offense. Stop the war on nature waged by out-of-control transnational corporations. Stop supporting corrupt governments and corporations. Get political. Throw corrupt politicians out of office with a ballot box revolution. Use your consumer dollars to promote positive change. Stop subsidizing industrial agriculture, factory farms and GMOs. Rebuild soils, restore forests, watersheds, biodiversity and perennial eco-systems along with regenerating your own and society’s personal health.

Together, North and South, we can draw down enough carbon from the atmosphere to reverse global warming, re-stabilize the climate, create rural prosperity and end forced migration. Join the growing global Regeneration Revolution. Sign up for our Regeneration International and Organic Consumers Association newsletters and action alerts today.

Ronnie Cummins is international director of the Organic Consumers Association and a member of the Regeneration International steering committee.

Main Street Project Hosts Carbon Farmers and Ranchers to Share Midwest Regenerative Agriculture Model

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Each year, Northfield-based Main Street Project has made strides in its goals to develop community-based, regenerative, sustainable agriculture in and around Northfield. It’s made enough progress now to be an example for others.

Main Street Project Chief Strategy Officer Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin, left, stands with Aaron Clare, of Nebraska Forest Service, at Main Street’s demonstration farm. Photo credit: Philip Weyhe/Northfield News

At the end of June, a few dozen people from all across the Midwest made their way to Northfield to see and learn about Main Street’s systems and consider how they might bring elements of the operation back home. The visitors saw Main Street’s new 100-acre demonstration farm, just north of Northfield, and one of its free-range poultry units, just south of Northfield. Then they stayed the night downtown and gathered there in the morning to talk about what’s happening and what’s in the future.

Read the full article at www.southernminn.com/northfield_news/news/article_d822c4a2-9813-57bd-9d67-371c02142906.html. The article requires a subscription to read. Subscription options, including a one-day $1.99 digital pass, can be found at www.southernminn.com/subscription_options.

What is No-Till Farming?

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The Earth loses roughly 23 billion tons of fertile soil every year. At this rate, all fertile soil will be gone within 150 years, unless farmers convert to practices that restore and build soil organic matter, an essential component of soil fertility.

Many industrial agricultural practices are lethal to soil fertility, including deforestation and burning, and excessive use of synthetic fertilizers and other toxic chemicals. One of the biggest contributors to soil degradation is the common practice of soil tilling. Fortunately, a growing number of farmers realize the importance of preserving and improving their soil by adopting no-till practices.

Young soybean plants thrive in the resiue of a wheat crop. This form of no till farming provides good protection for the soil from erosion and helps retain moisture for the new crop. Photo credit: USDA NRCS Photo Gallery

The invention of the plow—progress or problem?

No-till farming is nothing new. It was used as far back as 10,000 years ago. But as plow designs and production methods improved during Europe’s Agricultural Revolution in the 18th and early 19th centuries, tilling became increasingly popular. Farmers adopted the method because it allowed them to plant more seeds while expending less effort.

Tilling involves turning over the first 6 – 10 inches of soil before planting new crops. This practice works surface crop residues, animal manure and weeds deep into the field, blending it into the soil. It also aerates and warms the soil. Sounds like a good thing, right? Unfortunately, in the long run, tilling does more harm than good. Here’s why.

Tillage loosens and removes any plant matter covering the soil, leaving it bare. Bare soil, especially soil that is deficient in rich organic matter, is more likely to be eroded by wind and water. Think of it this way: Undisturbed soil resembles a sponge, held together by an intricate structure of different soil particles and channels created by roots and soil organisms. When the soil is disturbed by tilling, its structure becomes less able to absorb and infiltrate water and nutrients.

Tilling also displaces and/or kills off the millions of microbes and insects that form healthy soil biology. The long-term use of deep tillage can convert healthy soil into a lifeless growing medium dependent on chemical inputs for productivity.

The case for a no-till farming future

From a soil perspective, the benefits of no-till farming far outnumber those of tillage-based systems. No-till practices allow the soil structure to stay intact and also protect the soil by leaving crop residue on the soil surface. Improved soil structure and soil cover increase the soil’s ability to absorb and infiltrate water, which in turn reduces soil erosion and runoff and prevents pollution from entering nearby water sources.

No-till practices also slow evaporation, which not only means better absorption of rainwater, but it also increases irrigation efficiency, ultimately leading to higher yields, especially during hot and dry weather.

Soil microorganisms, fungi and bacteria, critical to soil health, also benefit from no-till practices. When soil is left undisturbed, beneficial soil organisms can establish their communities and feed off of the soil’s organic matter. A healthy soil biome is important for nutrient cycling and suppressing plant diseases. As soil organic matter improves, so does the soil’s internal structure—increasing the soil’s capacity to grow more nutrient-dense crops.

It’s clear that adopting no-till practices is good for the soil. But what’s in it for the farmer? Remember, tilling became popular because it meant farmers could plant more seeds, faster. Modern no-till tractor implements allow farmers to sow seeds faster and cheaper than if they tilled their fields. Conventional tillage practices require the farmer to make several passes over the field, first tilling the soil and then returning to plant seeds. No-till removes the step of tilling the soil and therefore saves the farmer time and money. According to a report published in Scientific America, this decreases the fuel expense by 50 to 80 percent and the labor by 30 to 50 percent.

Conventional vs. organic no-till farming

One of the common misconceptions about no-till farming is that farmers can use this practice only if they grow genetically engineered (GMO) crops, which require the use of herbicides. To clear up this confusion, it’s important to understand that there are two types of no-till farming: conventional and organic.

In conventional no-till farming, farmers use herbicides to manage the weeds before and after sowing the seeds. The amount of herbicides used in this approach is even higher than the amount used in tillage-based farming, which causes a threat to the environment and human health.

Organic no-till farming uses a variety of methods to manage weeds and reduce or eliminate tillage without resorting to the use of chemical herbicides. These methods include cover crops, crop rotation, free-range livestock and tractor implements such as the roller crimper, which farmers can use to lay down a weed-suppressing mat that can be planted through in one pass.

Organic no-till farming on its own isn’t an all-cure solution to the world’s soil crisis. But it’s one of the many important practices that move us toward a regenerative agriculture model that is better for human health and the environment.

How no-till farming fits into the bigger climate solution

Until recently, the “how do we solve global warming” conversation focused almost exclusively on the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It’s absolutely critical that we do that, and that we do it fast.

But it’s equally, if not more critical, that we figure out how to draw down the carbon that’s already in the atmosphere. Thankfully, climate scientists now recognize that healthy soil plays an essential role in drawing down and sequestering carbon.

According to Rodale Institute, adopting regenerative agricultural practices across the globe could sequester global annual greenhouse gas emissions, which is roughly 52 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide.

Where does no-till farming fit into the carbon sequestration story?

Soil naturally stores carbon. When soil is plowed under, carbon, in the form of organic material such as plant roots and microorganisms, rises to the soil’s surface. This temporarily provides nutrients for crops. But as the soil carbon is exposed to oxygen in the atmosphere, it transforms into carbon dioxide, contributing to the greenhouse gas emissions that warm the planet.

No-till farming minimizes soil disturbance, which helps keep carbon in the soil. It also enriches soil biodiversity, reducing the need for chemical fertilizers that emit greenhouse gases. Studies have shown that organic no-till practices, when combined with cover cropping and organic management, help increase soil organic carbon by up to 9 percent after two years and 21 percent after six years.

No-till practices, when combined with other regenerative methods, such as cover cropping, agroforestry and the rotation of multispecies livestock, can help establish truly regenerative and climate-resilient farms.

Read next: Why Regenerative Agriculture?

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