Is Regenerative Agriculture a Fad?
Q: Is this ‘regenerative agriculture’ a new fad like so many other ag ideas? Where did it start?”
As I think on regenerative agriculture and all it’s come to represent in the past 25 years or more, I wonder about the origins; we “immigrants”, to this “new world”, were not the first humans here. Some of us can claim at least one far-back ancestor who was what we now know as Native Americans/indigenous people. There were thriving, stable, peoples all over this North America, and the world, who understood the necessity of respect for the planet they depended on for everything. They were here for thousands of years before us and were the first to understand the value of all life. They knew the land they lived on as a living friend; the plant species and what they were valuable for; the way the animals interacted with the land; the interlinking of life. They were watchers of the stars, weather changes, animals’ responses to changes, and so much more.
I think it’s the nature of people who came to this chunk of land, from another place, to try and be in charge. If “it” won’t submit willingly, then we beat it into submission. As ships came and brought “immigrants” onto this soil, they also brought rigid ideas, staunch opinions, diseases and more, along with ignorance of the land they were coming to. Our proud ancestors believed that “their way was the ONLY way” and set about to prove their point, starting with wiping out as many Native ideas and cultures as they could. The ways of the land were demonized and forbidden; the practices were banned.
Slowly as European diseases set in, much like COVID-19, and travelled from village to village, wiping out entire bloodlines, it also wiped out the wisdoms passed down, generation to generation. Knowledge of the uses of plants vital for food and medicine, was lost. Cultural practices, beliefs, infrastructure, and families were squeezed and pushed into an ever-narrower window…and many have been lost completely.
The good news? Some of the Native American wisdoms, practices, cultures, and land-use was retained in a few survivors, and is being re-birthed today. One of their beliefs about the earth is, it’s not meant to be dominated, owned, managed (in the sense that current farming techniques use). They believe Nature is in charge and we should follow, learn, and emulate. Funny……sounds like what a lot of regenerative agricultural gurus are teaching at their seminars, doesn’t it?
Sherrie Ottinger, The Tennessee DirtGirl
