page_title: Regenerative agriculture
section_title: Roots
hierarchical_section_title: Regenerative agriculture / Roots
caption_attribution_description: English: Summer field in Belgium (Hamois). The blue flower is cornflower and the red one a corn poppy. Français&#160;: Un champ en été en Belgique (Hamois). La fleur bleue est un bleuet des champs et la rouge un coquelicot. Nederlands: Een zomers veld in Hamois, Provincie Namen. De blauwe bloem is een korenbloem en de rode een klaproos.
context_page_description: Regenerative agriculture is a conservation and rehabilitation approach to food and farming systems. It focuses on topsoil regeneration, increasing biodiversity, improving the water cycle, enhancing ecosystem services, supporting biosequestration, increasing resilience to climate change, and strengthening the health and vitality of farm soil. Practices include recycling as much farm waste as possible and adding composted material from sources outside the farm.
  Regenerative agriculture on small farms and gardens is often based on philosophies like permaculture, agroecology, agroforestry, restoration ecology, keyline design, and holistic management. Large farms tend to be less philosophy driven and often use "no-till" and/or "reduced till" practices.
  On a regenerative farm, yield should increase over time. As the topsoil deepens, production may increase and fewer external compost inputs are required. Actual output is dependent on the nutritional value of the composting materials and the structure and content of the soil.
context_section_description: Regenerative agriculture is based on various agricultural and ecological practices, with a particular emphasis on minimal soil disturbance and the practice of composting. Maynard Murray had similar ideas, using sea minerals. Her work led to innovations in no-till practices, such as slash and mulch in tropical regions. Sheet mulching is a regenerative agriculture practice that smothers weeds and adds nutrients to the soil below.
   
  In the early 1980s, the Rodale Institute began using the term ‘regenerative agriculture’. Rodale Publishing formed the Regenerative Agriculture Association, which began publishing regenerative agriculture books in 1987 and 1988.
  By marching forward under the banner of sustainability we are, in effect, continuing to hamper ourselves by not accepting a challenging enough goal. I am not against the word sustainable, rather I favor regenerative agriculture.
  — Robert Rodale
  However, the institute stopped using the term in the late 1980s, and it only appeared sporadically (in 2005 and 2008), until they released a white paper in 2014, titled "Regenerative Organic Agriculture and Climate Change". The paper's summary states, “we could sequester more than 100% of current annual CO₂ emissions with a switch to common and inexpensive organic management practices, which we term 'regenerative organic agriculture.'” The paper described agricultural practices, like crop rotation, compost application, and reduced tillage, that are similar to organic agriculture methods. 
  Storm Cunningham documented the beginning of what he called "restorative agriculture" in his first book, The Restoration Economy. Cunningham defined restorative agriculture as, a technique that rebuilds the quantity and quality of topsoil, while also restoring local biodiversity (especially native pollinators) and watershed function. Restorative agriculture was one of the eight sectors of restorative development industries/disciplines in The Restoration Economy.
caption: Field Hamois Belgium Luc Viatour
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