Regenerative Agriculture has become popular lately due to people becoming more concerned about their impact on the environment. Although more and more farmers and businesses have taken the steps needed to make this industry more sustainable and efficient, some have gone further by switching to Regenerative Agriculture.
It may seem like another trend that will fade away in due time. But Regenerative Farmeing is more than just a trend. It’s a practice that can fix the broken value chain and it can help restore the soil — all doing this while lessening carbon emissions on the atmosphere.
What is regenerative agriculture?
Before dive deeper intot a detailed explanation of regenerative agriculture. let’s have a quick look at this explainer video. This video will help you get a better understanding of of we will talk about in this article:
The agricultural process also contributes to the growing carbon in the atmosphere. Although this is overlooked at most times since food is a necessity. But our population keeps growing. As the years pass by, it’s harder to keep up to feed billions of people. So, to meet the market demand, more lands were used for farming. But this resulted in a disrupted ecosystem. If not addressed early on, the soil will lose its nutrients and become infertile.
All of these problems can be solved through Regenerative Agriculture. It’s a farming system that aims to regenerate the soil, which is the main priority. Healthy soil will be able to withstand the extreme weather conditions brought by climate change. It promotes biodiversity within the soil’s microbes and on the plants too.
But the best part about it is that Regenerative Farming achieves all of these while being able to reduce the contribution to the carbon in the atmosphere, one of the prime reasons for climate change. Instead of carbon being released into the air, the soil traps it to make use of it. This gives the soil the nutrients it needs to make it healthier so it can retain water more efficiently. It makes it less prone to soil erosion and other damages.
Why use it?
If those reasons aren’t convincing enough, there’s more to it.
The carbon levels in the atmosphere are taking a toll on the planet. Many efforts have been done to keep the carbon levels down but it will take years before the damage is reversed. So, while we wait, we should do our best to avoid contributing to that problem.
Many don’t realize it but the value chain is a strong contributor to carbon. Agricultural practices aren’t exempt, even if they grow plants or crops.
What are does it aim?
Regenerative Agriculture aims to keep soil healthy and at the same time, be a more sustainable alternative than the usual process. Here’s a list of what it can achieve.
Improve soil health and quality
As mentioned before, its main goal is to replenish the soil with the minerals and nutrients that it needs. Dry matter compost and soil structure are more supported in order to lock the carbon emitted back into the soil.
Increase climate resilience
Unpredictable weather is the enemy of crops. Resilience can be built up by having an efficient water storage system and through ground covers.
Increase harvest
A soil that has all the nutrients and minerals that it needs will give a good yield.
Improve biodiversity
Chemicals not only harm plants, but also the ecosystem that thrives.