Regenerative agricultural practices
Regenerative agriculture or carbon farming is an approach which focuses on improving and revitalizing soil health by restoring the soil’s carbon content and supporting the soil’s essential microbiology. Healthy soil equals a healthy human microbiome and a healthy planet. Download the primer on carbon farming from NOFA, the Northeast Organic Farming Association: Soil Carbon Restoration: Can Biology Do the Job? (December 2020).
For Drawdown’s primer, read the report with lead author Eric Toensmeier: Farming our Way Out of the Climate Crisis (December 2020). This is a 48-page pdf of the team’s research findings on regenerative agriculture and carbon sequestration.
Holistic Planned Grazing
Planned livestock grazing is another holistic method which can restore ecosystems Biodiversity for a Livable Planet.
The website features a review article by Lynne Pledger, “Regenerative Grazing: A Compelling Climate Strategy” (2023). In it, she details the critical role of mycorrhizal networks and the key greenhouse gases addressed by holistic grazing.
“A Regenerative Secret” is Kiss the Ground’s 8-minute introduction to regenerative farming. It shows that our meat does not have to come from Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations or CAFOs.
In the film, Allen Williams, PhD., is profiled. His regenerative ranching efforts in Alabama turned degraded fields into rich soils able to hold nutrients, water, and carbon, by raising healthy cattle.
More Resources
- Videos: View this playlist of regenerative farming research and practice from the “greats” in the field, including Drs. Christine Jones, Elaine Ingham, Walter Jehne, Suzanne Simard, Paul Stamets, Gabe Brown, and more.
- Facebook posts: Soil4Climate (Thetford, VT) provides an excellent overview of soil health principles in a series of lessons (you must log in to Facebook to view the posts on their page.
- Print: Visit this Annotated Bibliography from Regeneration International.
- Local: Read this article about local silvopasture initiatives, written by one of our members, Rema Boscov.
- Read about what’s wrong in traditional farming from “Industrial Agriculture, an Extraction Industry Like Fossil Fuels, a Growing Driver of Climate Change” (1/25/19) by Georgina Gustin, Inside Climate News. Learn how some farmers are bucking agribusiness and instead taking a ‘climate-friendly’ approach.