The Method

REGENERATIVE AND CARBON-NEUTRAL AGRICULTURE

What is Regenerative Agriculture?

Regenerative agriculture is a collection of practices that focus on regenerating soil health and the full farm ecosystem.

These farming practices work with nature, rather than against her. Among other benefits, regenerative agriculture rebuilds soil organic matter and restores biodiversity – resulting in both carbon drawdown and improving the water cycle.

Strategies of Regenerative Agriculture

VEGETATIVE

COVER

Keep the land covered with living vegetative cover, crop residues or mulch year-round. Using diverse and nitrogen-fixing cover crops drawdown carbon, return nutrients to soil, control pests, prevent erosion, and decrease weeds.

Livestock rotate through paddocked pastures to return nutrient-rich manure to topsoil. With adequate pasture rest, they remove old vegetation and stimulate plant root exudation and the soil microbiology.

ROTATION & DIVERSITY

Planting different crops sequentially on the same plot of land to improve soil health, optimize nutrients in the soil, and combat pest and weed pressure. The more diversity aboveground allows for more diversity below-ground.

Livestock rotate through paddocked pastures to return nutrient-rich manure to topsoil. With adequate pasture rest, they remove old vegetation and stimulate plant root exudation and the soil microbiology.

MINIMAL SOIL DISTURBANCE

Tillage equipment and plowing destroys the structure of the soil and the soil microbiome. Minimal soil disturbance maintains soil biology, structure, and aggregation, retains water, prevents erosion, and carbon loss.

Livestock rotate through paddocked pastures to return nutrient-rich manure to topsoil. With adequate pasture rest, they remove old vegetation and stimulate plant root exudation and the soil microbiology.

LIVESTOCK

INTEGRATION

Adding compost to the land boosts soil health and super-charges carbon sequestration. Microbe rich compost can improve soil structure, suppress diseases, increase water holding capacity, and support soil biodiversity.

COMPOST

CYCLING

Land is spared from toxic chemicals and soil ecology is sustained; fertility and pest-control are achieved by composting, companion planting, and rotating in beneficial plants, animals, and insects.

NO SYNTHETIC CHEMICALS

Inspired by Regenerative Organic Alliance

Effects of Regenerative Agriculture

INCREASES

Crop Resilience

Quality & Nutrition

Profitability in long-term

Intrinsic Land Value

Natural Capital

Crop Offerings

Climate Resilience

DECREASES

Costs in long-term

Artificial Inputs

Need to Irrigate

Harvest Volatility

Topsoil Loss

Soil Degradation

Run-Off & Drought

List inspired by Soil Heroes Foundation

78%

Regenerative agriculture is 78% profitable than conventional farming

(NCBI)

20k

Gallons of water retained per acre for every 1% increase in soil organic matter

(NRDC)

1B

Tons of Carbon could be sequestered by the world's agricultural soils each year

(Frontiers)

Herman Fillmore via Stanford University

History of Regenerative Agriculture?

Both the term “regenerative agriculture” and the practices that define it are not modern creations. Regenerative agriculture practices draw from Indigenous wisdom and practices -- a history that deserves recognition and respect.

"[These practices] are regaining currency in an American West stressed by drought, diminishing resources and climate change." (Article)

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