Regenerative Agriculture
A Step Toward A Sustainable Future
Regenerative agriculture strives to continually revitalize the natural systems we depend on for our food – air, water, sunlight, and soil. It is a shift in mindset, a change from viewing the land as merely a location to grow crops and pasture livestock.
Regenerative agriculture teaches us that everything in nature is interconnected.
The Problem
We are led to believe that the use of chemical fertilizer, herbicides, pesticides, equipment, and technology can replace those things we use from the soil and avoid natural consequences. Unfortunately, the use of chemicals and not caring for the land is catching up to us. Pollinators that we depend on for 1/3 of our food are dying, flooding and drought are becoming more common, and soils cannot produce like they once did.
We are just beginning to understand the complex natural interactions between soil, microorganisms within the soil, and plants. However, we know these interactions in healthy soil support growth and dictate the nutrient content within our food. Depleted soils result in nutrient deficient products or unhealthy livestock.
Family farms have transitioned from a diversified enterprise, where a wide variety of produce and livestock were raised, to only producing a few ‘specialty’ items. Traditional agriculture has become specialized as well; thousands of acres are planted and replanted to single crop year after year.
What isn’t working
The populations’ need for food combined with our ability to mechanize many steps in production enable us to plant huge plots of land. Discs, tillage equipment, and huge combines make short work of planting and harvesting thousands of acres.
Pests, diseases, and weeds benefit from large expanses of a single crop. We have made it easy for problem species to gain momentum since we have removed the competition. Monocrop systems that lack diversity has led to a depletion of the same nutrients from the soil, weeds becoming resistant to herbicides, diseases spreading quickly, and pest populations growing in numbers that can destroy a crop in days, if not hours.
More money invested for ‘technological advances’ does not necessarily result in increased profit, but agriculture producers know that already.
Left bare after harvest, topsoil is disappearing each year by the tune of 24 billion tons a year. Soils have lost their ability to adsorb and store excess water. Floods and drought are a major concern for ag producers. We need a better way.
The GOOD news
The good news is nature is resilient. We can undo these and other problems by shifting our agricultural practices. By focusing on soil health, we can grow more nutritious food and mitigate many of the challenges facing agriculture producers today.
More life exists under your feet than above ground.
Soils are a complex living community. The interactions between soil organisms, microbes, and plant roots are just beginning to be explored and understood by researchers.
Soil health is key
Preserving, protecting, and enhancing soil health is at the heart of regenerative practices.
We know that maintaining a variety of growing and living things in and on the soil is beneficial. Limiting tillage that disrupts soil life while instead breaking up compaction with large rooted cover crops like radishes and turnips and keeping soils covered contribute to soil health. Supporting biodiversity, adding nutrients to the soils through legumes, adding organic matter - compost, animal manure, and rotational grazing of livestock all have incredibly positive effects on soil health.
Planting diverse species, maintaining plants to encourage continual growth, and keeping the ground covered naturally limit pests, weeds, and disease problems, all while reducing the need for chemical treatments.
Adding organic matter to soil increases its ability to absorb and store water. A one percent increase in the organic matter potentially translates into an additional 27,000 gallons of water held within the soil. Excess water from rains become available for growth rather than causing erosion or running off and being lost. The healthier the soil, the easier it is to produce healthy food while also reducing the impact of floods and drought.
Adapting regenerative practices does require a different thought process, keeping in mind that working with nature is always more beneficial than attempting to sidestep natural processes or beat mother nature into submission. While adapting to regenerative processes will benefit you and your land it doesn’t happen overnight.
The regenerative ag journey begins with one step
Regenerative ag is a journey that begins with a first step. We are here to help you take that first step.
Our meetings, educational programs, and yearly Summit all provide practical information you can apply to your land and livestock. Our directors and staff have an extensive array of personal experience in taking care of their land and are happy to share what hasn’t worked and the methods that have been successful.
None of us have arrived at the point in our operations where we want to be. The journey is ongoing, but we can make progress by banding together. By helping each other incorporate regenerative practices that enable our land to become more productive and profitable, we can pass the land on to the next generation better than we found it.
We invite you to share your experiences with us. Please let us know if we can be of assistance.
By Denice Rackley