What is Regenerative Agriculture?

Regenerative Agriculture…!! Agriculture principles that have recently received significant attention from researchers, producers, retailers, and consumers.  

Let us begin with what Regenerative Agriculture actually is? 

It is the system of agriculture principles and practices where we try to enhance ecosystem services, enrich soils, improves watersheds, and increase biodiversity. However, it is still lacking a clear definition, because the definition of Regenerative Agriculture must evolve over time, just like the whole living systems that we aim to regenerate.  

Concept of Regenerative Agriculture 

• Growing highly nutritional food at high yields and free from biocides.

• More efficient and less destructive to the environment and ensure better crop nutrition

• Nutrient-flow systems which fully integrate soil flora and fauna 

• Regenerative Agriculture increase soil productivity rather than decreasing it

• Soil genesis process, i.e., Upward flow of nutrients in the soil profile, reducing adverse environmental impact

• No use of synthetic fertilizers and substances that disrupt the biological structuring of the farming system

• Low external input in agriculture

• Integrated systems which are largely self-reliant in nitrogen through biological nitrogen fixation 

Principles Included in Regenerative Agriculture  

No-till agriculture- where farmers avoid plowing soils and instead drill seeds into the soil 

Use of cover crops- plants grown to cover the soil after farmers harvest the main crop 

Diverse Crop Rotations- planting three or more crops in rotation over several years 

Integrating Livestock and Crops- by combining livestock and farming, the whole farm nutrient balance of imports and exports becomes more even  

Agroforestry- the interaction of agriculture and trees, including the agricultural use of trees 

How Regenerative Agriculture is Different from Organic? 

It is a big question, as most of the information mentioned about regenerative agriculture seems to be similar to organic agriculture but how is it different from that? 

So the answer is, Organic is a prescriptive standard for the production of food but this system doesn’t attempt to rebuild or regenerate the soil. And regenerative agriculture focuses on actual improvements to soil health and the overall quality and health of the land. 

Alex Boersch, a featured speaker at 2020 Prairie Organics, a conference held in early March in Brandon. He said that regenerative brands and labels aren’t a threat to organic. In fact, both systems can rise together. 

References- 

https://www.producer.com/  

https://journals.sagepub.com/