Regenerative agriculture is a holistic approach to farming that aims to restore and maintain soil health, improve biodiversity, and maximize animal health. Conventional agriculture practices, often focus on maximizing yield and profits. Unfortunately, this comes at the expense of soil health and the critters that call the farmland home. We use these regenerative practices to improve the health and productivity of our land over the long term. Healthy land means healthy animals and healthy people. It is impossible to create nutrient dense food out of nutritionally depleted soil!
Some key focuses of regenerative agriculture include:
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- Soil health: Regenerative agriculture practices aim to build soil health and fertility, which is critical for growing healthy crops and livestock. This is achieved through practices such as cover cropping, reduced tillage, and the use of compost and other organic materials to improve soil structure and fertility. For graziers (aka people like us!) this means managing how our livestock impacts the soil. We use a practice called “rotational grazing”. This means we frequently move our cattle to new portions of pasture to ensure that grass is grazed evenly, and one area is overstressed while another is untouched.
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- Biodiversity: We aim to create a healthy habitat for all varieties of species. This includes livestock, plants, wildlife, beneficial insects, and soil microbes. This is achieved through practices such as planting diverse crops, maintaining habitat for wildlife, and eliminating the use of chemicals that can harm beneficial insects and microbes. A sterile environment is desirable only in the medical field! A healthy farm will be teeming with a variety of life.
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- Holistic management: Regenerative agriculture practices are generally based on a holistic approach to farming. This takes into account the interconnections between the soil, crops, livestock, wildlife, and other components of the ecosystem. By considering these interconnections, regenerative agriculture aims to promote healthy farming systems that will be viable and beneficial long term.
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- Minimal inputs: Regenerative agriculture practices aim to minimize the use of external inputs, such as synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and other chemicals. Instead, we rely on natural processes and materials to improve soil health and fertility. By reducing the use of external inputs, the goal is to minimize the impact of agriculture on the natural environment. Nature has been doing this without our help for a long time, it is our job to learn how to minimally disrupt the natural process.
Of course, these are just some highlights, many books have been written about the subject! These practices are simple in theory, but not always easy to apply. It can take a lot of “unlearning” from what conventional agriculture has been practicing for the past decades. For us, there is no other way! Why would we not want to use methods that are healthier for our land, livestock, and family? This is a system that takes a lifetime to master, each season brings new lessons and challenges. But we look forward to the journey and opportunity to improve our management skills.
More resources to learn about regenerative agriculture:
