Planetpro: What is regenerative agriculture?

While there is no single, globally recognized definition for regenerative agriculture, this holistic approach to farming is gaining interest for its potential to lower input costs, capture carbon, improve soil health, and boost farming systems’ resilience.¹

It contributes to put carbon back in the soil and it is based on 5 pillars that interact and work together to contribute to environmental and economic benefits:^2,3

1. BIODIVERSITY: promoting habitats for more species above and below the ground. It supports pollinators, improves resilience to crop failures or boosts soil nutrients.

2. WATER QUALITY & SECURITY: reducing farming chemicals and water waste. It keeps water cleaner, prevents water waste, reduces run-off or limits evaporation.

3. DIVERSE CROPPING SYSTEMS & LIVESTOCK INTEGRATION: planting trees, cover crops, intercrops or rotating crops, while sharing land between plants & animals. It feeds animals, cycles waste into soil, creates new habitats, provides protection from sun and wind and may create additional revenue streams.

4. SOIL HEALTH: Using mulching, low tillage, and less chemical inputs. It encourages good microbes and fundi, cycles nutrients back to soil, and adds organic material.

5. COLLECTIVE & LANDSCAPE ACTIONS: adopting community- wide strategies. These practices can look beyond individual farms to entire landscapes to help protect endangered natural resources. The benefits can be felt not just by farmers, but entire communities in terms of welfare, profitability, and reduced emissions.

Also, protecting soil and water safeguards farmers’ livelihoods, lowers chemical input costs, and could earn them higher prices, and therefore contributes to stronger farming communities.