#152 Regenerative Farming Explained

Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast

Episode 152

 Regenerative Agriculture Explained

Did you ever think that maybe we should have left things alone? Surely you have heard the phrase, “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”

These are the sorts of things I think about and the sorts of questions I ask when I look at many things going on in our modern world. Granted our advances in technology have proven to be to our advantage in many ways. But there is a price to pay for that convenience. 

And such is the case with farming. In last weeks episode I discussed the reason we have factory farming. But at the same time we are destroying the natural foundation of the things we need to survive. This week I am going to take a look at something entirely different, an alternative to factory farming. So join me for E152

Welcome back everyone to the Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast. This is your host Patrick and this is E152 which is called Regenerative Agriculture Explained 

But before we get to that let’s first talk about the good news story of the week. 

Good news story of the week

You may not know this but cotton is by far the most popular fabric in the world. The advantage is that it is also all natural, biodegradable, and renewable. The challenge with cultivating cotton is the high use of pesticides. Run off from these pesticides, as well as fertilizers, and minerals from cotton fields contaminates river, lakes, wetlands and underground aquifers. But, there is good news. 

Over the last 10 years, the cultivation of cotton has become far more sustainable. The Better Cotton Initiative, which is a non-profit governance group, promotes better standards in cotton farming practices in 21 countries. Just recently they published their annual impact report which highlights significant progress in their pilot projects in India. 

Better Cotton tracked the performance of Indian farmers from 2014 to 2022 and found the overall pesticide use had decreased by 53% and water use had dropped by one-third. Additionally, almost one million farmers saw their cost of production decrease by almost 16%, which means their lives have improved at least from a financial prospect. 

And so the world takes another small step toward sustainability. And I thought that story was appropriate considering I have focused the last couple of episodes on agriculture and food production. 

Now let’s move on to this weeks episode which focuses on regenerative agriculture. 

From what we do know about the evolution of civilization at one point in time people existed in small nomadic bands and survived by hunting and gathering. It is generally agreed that humans began farming about ten to twelve thousand years ago. Although there does not appear to be a specific time line, the domestication of animals was approximately in the same era. The domestication of animals and the development of agriculture is what helped to ensure a stable food supply. 

That said, it is worth noting that at this point in history it is estimated that our global population ranged somewhere between 2 million and 15 million people.

Even though global population began to increase rapidly, for hundreds of years agriculture was essentially on a small, local scale. However, the Industrial Revolution brought about great change in many ways including the production of food. New advances such as the seed drill and the Dutch plow increased productivity. 

It was the rising population and the availability of abundant cheap labor that drove the Industrial Revolution. More people began seeking jobs in factories. Fewer men focused on agriculture. At the same time the mechanization of farming, the production of chemicals, pesticides and the invention of large tractors made it possible to farm larger tracts of land with a much smaller work force.  

Modern industrial agriculture is simply the consequence of both social and technological changes that began in the 1800s much of which was the result of the Industrial Revolution.  The end game was simply to increase crop yields for a growing human population. And that was accomplished by applying fossil fuel energy, mechanization, advanced crop breeding methods, and the use of artificial compounds such as fertilizers and pesticides. 

And simply for the sake of reference, the population of the world right in the middle of the Industrial Revolution was approximately one billion people. 

But what I have a tendency to do is look at our modern world and think back at how things were when I was growing up. Our lifestyle certainly involved a lot of physical labor due to the work that was needed to keep the farm operating properly. But thinking back it always seemed very simple and basic although not always easy. Maybe my perception is the result of being young and naive but there is no doubt that we were self sufficient in a lot of ways. 

We raised a tremendous amount of our own meat. We had chickens for both meat and eggs. We had a large garden that provided us with most of our vegetables. We had numerous apple and nut trees. We purchased additional vegetables from the local farmers market. We went on fishing trips regularly and even foraged for wild berries. The black berries were my favorite. 

We never really worried about the source of our food because it was us. We never worried about the price of food because we supplied most of it ourselves and the price was our physical labor. And we never gave the first thought to supply chain disruption because everything was local.  And we certainly never gave the first thought to what was going on in China, Ukraine, Chile, Cuba, Russia, or any other country for that matter. And now all it takes is one war in one small country to completely disrupt the global economy. 

And yet again I look at our modern world and find myself thinking that we are truly getting it all wrong. But what is fascinating to me is that so many people these days are taking note of what is going on in the world and realizing that we need to make some changes. People are starting to realize that perhaps the old way of doing things may not have been so bad after all. Farmers and landowners are completely reevaluating what it means to care for their land. Land management practices are now turning from simply making a profit to finding ways to care for the local community through farming practices that nurture and sustain the land. 

And one of the best approaches to sustainable land management is what is called regenerative farming. This philosophy of farming is more of a holistic approach. It involves looking at how all aspects of agriculture are not only interconnected but also play a part in the surrounding ecosystem. 

Unlike our modern traditional farming, regenerative agriculture is meant to restore soil. These practices focus on ecosystem health and address any imbalances. It is a system of agriculture that provides for people through food production while improving the surrounding area of land so that it can be used for future generations. In other words, we are looking at a means of sustainable food production instead of seeing it only as a supply chain. 

It is interesting to note how regenerative farming is also structured to support and three pillars of sustainability: people, planet, and profits. Unlike conventional agricultural systems, this form of agriculture is based on some very important principles: prioritizing soil health, reduced dependence on pesticides and chemical fertilizers, and developing relationships with local communities so that there is a positive impact on the local economy. 

There are also ecological benefits of this form of farming. It produces healthier crops, land quality is improved due to increases soil health and fertility, it supports biodiversity, and reduces water pollution. And just as importantly, this system of agriculture helps to address the long-standing social inequalities and injustices that are historically present in modern agriculture systems. 

I also find it interesting that the food we eat today is far less nutritious than the food we were eating 50 years ago. This is because our soils are depleted of vital nutrients which should be in the food we eat. Regenerative agriculture is a means of restoring that as well. 

So what exactly is regenerative agriculture. Well, there are 5 basic principles and interestingly enough these are things you can do at home on a small scale in your own garden. 

Principle one: Soil Armor 

What this means is simply protecting the soil from the damaging affects of sun, water, and wind. Intense sunshine dries the soils, elevates the temperature and kills off vital organisms. Keeping the soil covered moderates the temperature  and prevents this. Soil covering also aids in water retention and mitigates erosion cause by hard rains and flooding. This soil covering also mitigates the drying affects of wind.

All it takes is a quick stroll into nature for you to notice that you rarely see bare soil. Keeping the soil covered not only protects it from the elements, but it also suppresses weed growth and the spread of invasive species while providing habit for beneficial organisms. On the other hand, conventional feedlot animals completely destroy the local environment. 

Principle Two: Minimizing Soil Disturbance

In order to promote soil health, it is actually important to disturb the soil as little as possible. Soil disturbances such as overuse, overgrazing, and tilling actually destroys soil biology and structure. By doing so, we also release stored carbon. Applying synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, antibiotics, and fungicides essentially destroys billions of beneficial microbes that live in the soil. Our conventional farming methods routinely destroys the entire soil ecosystem. But regenerative farming limits the disturbances which allows the soil to build, grow, and evolve into a complex self sustaining ecosystem.

Principle Three: Promoting Biodiversity

It has long been known that the diversity of an ecosystem is a protective mechanism. A diverse population of microbes, insects, plants, and animal increases the health and resiliency and is the basic foundation to sustainability. The same holds true for our agricultural systems. 

Conventional farming methods destroy all other forms of life in order to cultivate one species of plant or animal. This is called a monoculture which simply does not exist in the natural world. Animals raised like this are routinely given antibiotics. This medications are passed into the environment in their feces and urine which in turn contaminates ground water and changes the microbial make up of the soil. 

On the other hand, regenerative agriculture mimics the natural world. There is a variety of plants, animals, insects, birds and small mammals all of which play a unique role in this ecosystem. Instead of destroying everything in favor of one species, there is a diverse population.  Funny thing about this type of system, it is the same thing farmers did prior to the industrialization of agriculture. It was in fact the same way my grandfathers developed their farms. 

Principle Four: Keep Living Plants in the Soil as long as possible. 

This is yet another principle that is radically different from our traditional form of monoculture of mono cropping. This form of agriculture often leaves soils completely bare because a crop is out of season. If green crops are left in the ground, they are capturing carbon, adding nutrients, maintaining soil diversity, and keeping the soil stable. This also increases soil fertility so that the fields can support crops and animals for many generations to come. 

Our prairies are a perfect example. There are 60 to 70 different types of native grasses that provide habitat, maintain soil stability and provide forage for grazing animals. 

Principle Five: Integration of Animals

And the last principle is the integration of animals. They provide natural fertilizer, they distribute seeds through their manure, and they stimulate plant growth and productivity. In the absence of animals in an ecosystem, we then rely on synthetic inputs in the form of chemicals to do many of the things that animals do naturally. And as a result we pollute the environment. 

Summary

There is no doubt that we have altered a tremendous portion of our planet for our own purposes. Much of that alteration has been related to our take, make, dispose approach to managing many of our own resources because for the longest time we have thought of this planet as having unlimited potential that is there simply for our unlimited exploitation.  But I think people are finally realizing that while many of those resources are renewable they are just not renewable in the lifetime of anyone alive today. 

I commonly think back about the family farm. While not knowing it at the time, those two farms were a perfect example of how agriculture used to be. Farming we done by hand. Animals were taken care of manually. The animals were rotated from pasture to pasture. The soil was rarely disturbed. The only time I remember my grandfather using a tractor was to harvest hay that was grown for feed. Yes it was a lot of work but it was simple. 

This is the same sort of approach I have taken toward any development that has been done on the homestead, which is minimal disturbance. Ninety-five percent of the land is in the same condition it was when I purchased it 27 years ago. 

Whenever we did do any excavation it was for the purpose of building the cabins, the barn, storage shed and greenhouse. Initially the disturbed soil invited the invasion of obnoxious weeds. But with repeated weeding we now have large healthy patches of grasses and various other species of plants that provide year round food for a variety of animals. 

The next major thing I did was remove a lot of trees. This was actually a painful thing for me to do at first but it was for a good purpose. I had to prevent excessive shading on the solar array so we could live off of renewable energy. I also had to back up the tree line to some degree for fire mitigation. The end result of clearing some trees is we now have a huge variety of shrubs that produce edible fruit. Additionally, new plants and shrubs are moving in that have never grown on the homestead before and this includes several varieties of flowering plants which supports both humming birds and bees. 

The additional benefit of this is that it provides even more grazing for some of our favorite animals such as deer, elk, and moose. In fact, just yesterday I saw a total of 8 moose in less than a day. 

Once I started noticing the natural and beneficial changes, we decided to try and speed along the progress. We took an inventory of all the new plants that were growing, went and found more and then transplanted them. We now have very minimal exposed soil while promoting the growth of a variety of edible plants both for us and the wildlife. It is sort of our version of agroforestry in the middle of the forest. 

Now granted my 46 acres in the middle of the forest is a tiny speck on the planet. What we do there is minuscule compared to the immense needs and challenges facing humanity today. But all it would really take to make a significant difference is for each of us to start by doing one simple thing.

What if we all planted one tree per month for one year. That would almost 95 billion new trees planted in one year. 

What is we all agreed to drive 10% less for an entire year. In the US alone that would save 110 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from going into the atmosphere. That is the same as taking 28 coal-fired power plants off line for one year. 

What is we all reduced our water usage by 25%, which is entirely possible. Then each of us would use 27,000 gallons less water per year. 

What if we all decided to never use a disposable coffee cup again? Well that would save wasting 500 billion cups per year. 

So, as you can see, it takes very little change to produce tremendous results. 

Over the last three episodes I have covered a lot of material concerning the source of our food. I hope by now you can appreciate the value of knowing where your food comes from, how it is produced and the tremendous impact of buying local. 

It is only by having this knowledge that we can begin to make appropriate choices that will eventually force big business to give us even more appropriate and sustainable choices. And that’s how we change the market place. 

In my opinion, in our over exuberance to maximize efficiency in feeding our world, we just managed to fix something that was never broken in the first place. By choosing to live sustainably, support local sources of our food it is possible that we can get back to the point to where our source of food is never a worry. In many respects this is just another example of how we should have stayed with doing things the simple way instead of being depending on convenience. Besides, in my opinion, it always seems when we lean toward convenience we always give up some small little part of our independence. As I have always said, when someone else is on control of your resources, they are in control of your life. So, live sustainably and take it back.

This is your host Patrick signing off until next week. Always remember to live sustainably because this is how we build a better future.