Watch the New Documentary “Common Ground”

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Soil4Climate, Big Picture Ranch and Area 23a present a hopeful and uplifting story of the pioneers of the Regenerative Movement who are known for producing tremendous quantities of nutritionally dense food and working to balance the climate – all while bringing our entire ecosystem back to life. The film investigates the power of regenerative farming systems from large to small-scale farming as the key to unlocking more (and healthier) food to feed America and the world beyond.

 

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We Must Still Define Regenerative Agriculture

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Imagine a sandwich that actually made you – and the world – healthier by virtue of making it. This dream is held by hard-nosed ranchers, coastal vegans, corporate types, and hippy homesteaders alike. The term they often use to describe the dream is “regenerative agriculture.” Leo DiCaprio even has a venture capital fund that evokes the term. Surely we can’t all want the same thing for once, right?

Nobody knows because there isn’t a clear or agreed definition of what regenerative agriculture means, putting it at risk of being yet another term greenwashed into meaninglessness, like “humane” or “free-range”, 1984-style. Regenerative agriculture has been used to describe a plethora of agriculture practices: Cover-cropping, no-till biodynamic farming, organic permaculture, sustainable agroforestry, the three sisters, but, most frequently, livestock grazing. These forms of farming aim to restore the terribly depleted soil, which harbors microorganisms and fungi that naturally sequester carbon and nitrogen, fight pests, and reduce erosion and pollution.

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Cover Crops and No-till Aren’t Just Good for Soil — They Also Make Farmers More Money, Study Says

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Farmers can save money by using practices that improve soil, according to a study from the Soil Health Institute.

The study surveyed 30 farms across the United States that are using no-till agriculture, which minimizes soil disturbance, and cover crops, where plants are used primarily to keep soil in place between growing seasons.

Across 29 of those farms, these practices increased net farm income by an average of $65 per acre annually. The study also found that these practices cost farmers on average $14 per acre less to grow corn and $7 per acre less to grow soybeans.

“This is a way that is not only more profitable, but these practices can really help them build that resilience to those more extreme weather events,” said Wayne Honeycutt, president and CEO of the Soil Health Institute.

A 2021 study by the same institute that focused on 100 farms across the Midwest also found that these practices saved money and increased net income.

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The New Colonialist Food Economy

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This past summer, the global trade regime finalized details for a revolution in African agriculture. Under a pending draft protocol on intellectual property rights, the trade bodies sponsoring the African Continental Free Trade Area seek to lock all 54 African nations into a proprietary and punitive model of food cultivation, one that aims to supplant farmer traditions and practices that have endured on the continent for millennia.

A primary target is the farmers’ recognized human right to save, share, and cultivate seeds and crops according to personal and community needs. By allowing corporate property rights to supersede local seed management, the protocol is the latest front in a global battle over the future of food. Based on draft laws written more than three decades ago in Geneva by Western seed companies, the new generation of agricultural reforms seeks to institute legal and financial penalties throughout the African Union for farmers who fail to adopt foreign-engineered seeds protected by patents, including genetically modified versions of native seeds.

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Regenerative Agriculture Is the New Farming Buzzword, but Few Can Agree on What It Means

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Earlier this year, NSW wine and olive oil producer Sam Statham recieved a phone call from a committed vegan.

The caller was seeking an assurance that animals weren’t used to graze the olive grove and vineyard. But the Stathams regularly agist sheep for exactly that purpose, and as a natural source of fertiliser.

“I had a sudden realisation that some people, not only do they not understand where their food comes from, they also might not understand what an ecosystem is or how nature actually works,” says Statham, who runs the family farm Rosnay Organic near Canowindra in the state’s central west.

It’s the main reason Statham now offers farm tours at Rosnay, which is certified to Australia’s national organic standard. He tries to provide clarity to visitors around the meaning of terms such as organic and regenerative, which are increasingly used to promote supermarket products.

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Exploring the connections between Agroecology and Regenerative Agriculture

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Food security is one of a human being’s most basic needs, and the threat of food insecurity causes primal anxiety. Food insecurity is among the main causes of climate-related migration and, in turn, one of the main causes of the growing insecurity of nations.

With these vulnerabilities so raw, it’s no wonder people worldwide are questioning their food supply or that worldwide concern is surging about an industrial food system that feeds climate change and causes political instability – not to mention a system that weakens our immune systems and Nucauses serious nutrition-related health conditions and diseases.

It should also be no surprise that there is rapidly scaling curiosity about alternative food systems that don’t ride roughshod over human rights; about systems that keep people and the planet safe and healthy. And yet it can be confusing to understand the similarities and differences between these alternative systems. Let’s take a look at two approaches: Agroecology and Regenerative Agriculture.

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Food Sector Making “More Promises Than Progress” on Regenerative Agriculture

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A ground-breaking study of 79 global agri-food firms has found that 50 (63%) publicly refer to the potential of regenerative agriculture as a solution to the climate and biodiversity crises. However, of these 50 companies, 64% (32/50) including Chipotle, Domino’s and Bunge have not put in place any formal quantitative company-wide targets to achieve those ambitions. The report will be discussed at a private investor-only event being held today at New York Climate Action Week.

Key findings include:

  • 64% (32/50) of agri-food companies that publicly report on regenerative agriculture as an opportunity do not put in place any formal quantitative company-wide targets to achieve those ambitions
  • Only 8% (4/50) of companies that publicly report on regenerative agriculture as an opportunity have financial commitments in place to support farmers in their supply chain to incentivise uptake of regenerative agriculture
  • Regulatory risk: new laws in EU and UK, and new TNFD framework, put revenue, value and reputation at risk with EU-based firms facing fines of up to 4% of revenue if marketing is judged to be misleading
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Unlocking the True Potential of Vegetables

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Want to boost your immune system, increase the nutrient content in your food, improve your mental health and detox your body? Fermented vegetables are for you!

Fermentation is the process that occurs when the natural bacteria in a vegetable break down the food’s complex elements into more digestible forms. When fermentation occurs, vegetables become easier to digest, allowing your body to work less, while reaping more benefits. And those benefits include higher levels of available nutrients, and live cultures of pro-biotic bacteria (kind of like the good stuff in yogurt). These pro-biotic bacteria can improve your digestion, boost your immune system, improve your mental health, and detox your body.

Worried that fermenting is risky? No need! Fermented veggies are actually safer than raw vegetables, because the fermentation process actually kills off any unwanted or dangerous bacteria that may exist on the food prior to fermentation. According to the USDA, there has “never been a single case of food poisoning reported from fermented vegetables.”

Fermented foods have been around for eons. Fermentation is an ancient art that pre-dates writing and agriculture.  It’s often considered to be the practice that first ushered our ancient relatives from the natural world, into a culturally driven world. In fact, the word ‘culture’ is another word for fermentation. Sandor Katz, who has written several books on the subject, calls it “a health regimen, a gourmet art, a multicultural adventure, a form of activism, and a spiritual path, all rolled into one.”

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Prime, grass fed — bird friendly? Audubon Society label coming to a meat aisle near you

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Labels that read “prime” or “grass fed” are likely to catch your eye in the meat aisle. What about “bird friendly?”

Beginning this winter, some Minnesota-raised beef will begin featuring a green and white label from the Audubon Society that says just that.

The bird conservation group is expanding a ranch certification program it started in the West in 2017 to the Midwest. It hopes to create consumer demand for bird-friendly ranching practices and, in turn, incentivize ranchers to maintain bird habitats.

Matt Maier was one of the first Minnesota farmers to sign up. He said the conservation ranching program aligns with what he’s already doing with his land in Clearwater, Minn.

When a lot adjacent to his boyhood farm went up for sale, Maier said he jumped at the opportunity to give his kids the kind of childhood memories he cherished.

“And what I witnessed when I moved back to the land [was] insects and birds and butterflies and frogs were non-existent. All the things that I wanted them to experience were not there,” Maier said. “So I’m like, OK, I want to do something about this.”

That something is Thousand Hills Lifetime Grazed, a cattle ranch that taps 1,000 acres of grazing land — 120 of it Maier’s own — to raise cattle in a way that mimics roaming bison.


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Regenerative Farms vs Organic Farms: What’s the Difference?

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In the realm of sustainable agriculture, both regenerative and organic farming practices stand as beacons of environmentally conscious food production. While they share common goals of minimizing harm to ecosystems and promoting healthier food, these approaches diverge in their methodologies and overarching philosophies. Let’s delve into the differences between regenerative farms and organic farms:

CORE OBJECTIVES

  • Regenerative Farms: The primary goal is to revitalize and enhance the natural ecosystems of the land. Regenerative practices aim not only to sustain current conditions but to actively regenerate soil health, biodiversity, and overall ecosystem resilience.
  • Organic Farms: Organic farming primarily focuses on avoiding synthetic pesticides, herbicides, and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to promote soil and water quality, as well as human health. The emphasis is on preventing harm rather than actively restoring ecological balance.
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