Article by InnoHUB
Regenerative Agriculture (regenerative from the Latin regenerare, to give new life to something that has degenerated), is a system of farming and agriculture principles and practices that aim to capture carbon in soil and aboveground biomass, in order to increase biodiversity, improve watersheds, enriches soils and enhance ecosystem services.
Regenerative Agriculture practices follow four different principles that are adapted uniquely to each specific bioregion and climate, responding in relation to the presented condition. The Regenerative Agriculture principles are the following:
- Progressively improve whole agroecosystems (soil, water and biodiversity).
- Create context-specific designs and make holistic decisions in relation to each farm.
- Ensure and develop just and reciprocal relationships amongst all stakeholders.
- Continually grow and evolve individuals, farms, and communities.
The Regenerative Agriculture practices are the following:
- No-till farming & pasture cropping
- Organic annual cropping
- Compost
- Biochar & Terra Preta
- Holistically managed grazing
- Animal integration
- Ecological aquaculture
- Perennial crops
- Silvopasture
- Agroforestry
According to different reports from organizations such as FAO, IPCC and EAT Forum, it is stated how important is the European transition to regenerative agriculture, which is a way to achieve some of the objective of European Union in the fight against climate change and sustainable development.
A global shift to regenerative agriculture can help to achieve the following:
- Feed the world.
- Decrease GHG emissions. According the IPCC and its latest report on climate change, the 24% of the total global GHG emissions are directly related to agricultural production.
- Reverse climate change.
- Improve yields. Yields on organic farms are significantly higher than conventional farms during periods of extreme weather and climate change.
- Create drought-resistant soil. Regenerative organic agriculture builds soil organic matter, which increases the water holding capacity of the soil.
- Revitalize local economies. Family farming represents an opportunity to boost local economies.
- Preserve traditional knowledge. It is possible to discover important ecological clues for the development of regenerative organic agricultural systems.
- Nurture biodiversity.
- Restore grasslands. It is possible to restore the degraded grassland by using holistic planned grazing.
- Improve nutrition.
In order to bring Regenerative Agriculture to Europe and promote the practices, the EIT focused its effort in the following three main areas:
- Support European farmers in the transition to regenerative agriculture. EIT Food offers training programs for farmers in Southern and Eastern Europe to apply the principles of regenerative agriculture on their farms.
- Spread and promote the benefits for health and the planet when implementing regenerative agriculture practices. Share and spread the benefits from such agriculture practices in order to show to the European public how important it is for the environment, our planet and our health. It is essential to understand how the aggressive methods with pesticides, other chemicals affect and aggressive oil practices affect the environment, the soils and the animals.
- Cooperation and work with agrifood companies to boost the transition to regenerative agriculture. In order to achieve the transition, it is essential to promote the change and help the change in the supply chain and help companies to change their food sourcing strategies.