Is Regenerative Farming the Answer?

Sometime, probably in high school, I learned how farmers would use crop rotation to maintain soil health. For example, a farmer would plant potatoes in the first year, barley in year two, fava beans in year three and let the field sit fallow in year four.

This is not anything new; farmers began using a three-year rotation in 8^th century Europe.

Over centuries farmers learned that altering crops improved the soil. Rotation also confuses pests. For example, corn earworms won’t survive a season of soybean crops.

So, for centuries, crop rotation was considered to be the best way to farm.

Until recently.

With the advent of the green movement in the 1980s, the term “regenerative agriculture” has become a new buzzword.

Regenerative farming is an approach to agriculture that focuses on restoring and enhancing the health of soil and other parts of the ecosystem while producing food. Regenerative farming is rooted in principles that mimic natural processes, aiming to improve soil fertility, boost biodiversity, and increase resilience to weather. It can restore the land, doesn’t require synthetic fertilizers and reduces emissions naturally.

The difference between crop rotation and regenerative agriculture is that crop rotation cycles between the same three or four crops. For example:

Regenerative farming has a much larger menu of options for maintaining or improving the soil. These methods are less centered on certain crops and more about the process of farming:

• Minimal Soil Disturbance: No-till or reduced-till methods keep soil structure intact, preserving microbial life and organic matter. Tilling rips up these networks, releasing stored carbon.

• Cover Cropping: Planting crops like clover or rye between cash crops keeps the soil covered, reducing erosion, suppressing weeds, and feeding soil organisms.

• Crop Rotation and Diversity: Switching crops year-to-year and mixing species (e.g., grains with legumes) prevents nutrient depletion and breaks pest cycles.

• Livestock Integration: Grazing animals like cows or sheep in a managed, rotational way mimics natural herd movements and fertilizes soil with manure and stimulating grass growth.

• Composting and Organic Inputs: Adding natural fertilizer boosts soil biology without chemical fertilizers.

As an example of regenerative farming, in Brazil, cotton farmers are planting second and third vegetable crops, including sesame, pumpkin and corn, alongside their main cotton crop. They are also using organic alternatives to chemical fertilizers. Their cotton yield has tripled in the two crops since they started, while yields of the other crops have grown as much as seven times.

Our Health

With a renewed focus on healthy foods and the desire to improve the health of average Americans, regenerative farming can achieve similar crop yields but without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides employed by commercial farms. Researchers are finding, for example, that chemical fertilizers reduce zinc, copper, and iron density in crops. A diet lacking those minerals has been found to reduce our immunity to disease.

In addition, pesticide interference with microbial communities in the soil reduces interactions between the crops and microbes. This can disrupt the crop’s ability to extract micronutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and amino acids from the soil, which ultimately produces a less nutritional crop.

Besides eliminating chemical fertilizers and pesticides from our food production, there is a belief that regenerative farming improves the nutritional value of food, thereby improving our immune response to diseases.

Climate Change

For those concerned with climate change, regenerative farming can reduce the CO² released into the air by conventional farming. The plowing and tilling performed in conventional farms exposes organic matter to the air, thus releasing CO².

Regenerative agriculture practices such as no-till farming, rotational grazing, mixed crop rotation, cover cropping, and the application of compost and manure have the potential to remove CO² from the atmosphere. No-till farming reintroduces carbon back into the soil as crop residues are pressed down when seeding. Some studies suggest that adoption of no-till practices could triple soil carbon content in less than 15 years.

* * *

So is regenerative farming a one-off, an environmental pipe dream?

Not according to General Mills, whose brand portfolio includes staples such as Cheerios cereals, Blue Buffalo dogfood, Annie’s natural homegrown foods, and Yoplait yogurt plus nearly 100 other products.

In 2019 General Mills pledged to “advance regenerative agricultural practices” on 1 million acres of farmland by 2030. The company hopes to achieve this by using grants to agricultural groups and by developing farmer education programs. As of 2022 they had converted 115,000 acres.

So, look to hear more about regenerative farming in the future as our county focuses on a healthy diet.