Back to The Land: Why Regenerative Agriculture Is Saving Planet and People

“Grandpa, why must we kill things to grow things?” asked Dr. Charles Massy’s seven-year-old grandson as they drove by a farmer spraying his paddock with pesticides. Massy would go on to become a renowned regenerative agriculture farmer, scientist, and author.

What is regenerative agriculture?

While it’s a current eco-buzzword, regenerative agriculture is nothing new. It’s what happens when farmers come to a critical realization: it’s much easier to work with nature than against it.

Picture animal migrations. Mammals, birds, fish, and insects take part in an annual, epic journey over thousands of kilometers to find warmer temperatures, food, shelter, and reproduction opportunities.

In doing so, they continue the cycle of nutrients around the earth, manage the distribution of pollen and seeds, maintain a healthy global ecosystem, and influence human economies.

So how can agriculture harness this natural process to improve how humans work with the land?

Rebuild, regenerate, and rebirth

Through processes such as crop rotation, intercropping different plants, using natural systems to restore the soil, and combining animal husbandry with the growing of plants, among others, regenerative farmers harness the power of nature to rebuild, regenerate, and rebirth, to deliver healthier soil, greater yields, and less need for pesticides, artificial fertilizers, or tilling.

Those who practice regenerative farming can also enjoy:

• Better grazing for farm animals;
• Less soil and nutrient loss through soil erosion; and
• Improved retention of water in dry

Then there’s the direct benefit to the planet: regenerative farming that leads to healthier farmland is the best way to pull down more carbon and sequester it in the soil. Roots and other plant tissues use carbon dioxide to grow, which prevents carbon from re-entering the atmosphere.

According to an article published by The New York Times, research suggests that widespread use of these practices can store up to 8 billion metric tons of carbon annually.

Regenerative farming is usually run by families, not corporations

“By contrast,” says Massy, “industrial agriculture tends to simplify, dominate, and control. It typically ends up destroying natural systems and their cycles. It’s further driven by some of the world’s biggest multinational pharmaceutical companies operating under an economic rationalist philosophy of growth and greed.”

Some key practices of industrial farming include:

• Monocultural cropping;
• The application of synthetic fertilizers, weedicides, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals;
• The manipulation of plant and animal genomes; and
• The factory farming of animals

Ancient roots

Hundreds of years ago, the Aztecs of South America had to devise a way to produce enough food to feed thousands of people, in a landscape covered by big lakes and boggy islands, without sufficient land for expansion.

Their solution: chinampas. They built long, narrow strips of land over shallow lakes by stacking healthy soil onto reeds and sedges. After raising them to an efficient height, they attached them to the shallow lake floor using a willow-tree fence. The result was efficient, self-sustaining, floating gardens on which they could raise crops and animals.

Fine sediments from the lake and animal droppings helped to refertilize the soil, and the system irrigates itself, making it independent of rainfall and productive year-round.

Likewise, the Maya people of ancient South America practiced a polyculture technique called milpa, which was commonly known as the Three Sisters method. They intercropped plants such as maize, beans, and squash, so the individual benefits of each crop could support the growth of the others. Maize, the tallest of the three, forms a trellis on which the climbing beans can grow. Meanwhile, the squash leaves grow along the soil and prevent weeds from taking over the ground.

No to GMO

This symbiotic growing practice helped to regulate soil moisture and keep pests away from the crops. No pesticides, artificial fertilizers, damage to the soil, GMO manipulation of plants or animals, or factory farming were needed, and these methods successfully kept great ancient civilizations fed for hundreds of years.

Regenerative farming today

Massey’s family has been farming in New South Wales, Australia, for five generations. But when he took on the responsibility of his family’s farmland in the 1970s, he was young and inexperienced, and followed the advice of local farmers and the Australian Department of Agriculture.

“I remember overgrazing and ploughing beautiful, native grasslands,” he says.

Only later, when he encountered regenerative farmers, did he realize the benefits not only to their landscapes, but also to their finances, the health of their families, and their mental health.

“The breakthrough came because I was forced to reflect on my own early journey. I realized I’d been landscape-illiterate. I didn’t know how it was functioning. I didn’t realize that it should’ve been in the hospital, in intensive care. It needed healing.”

He started studying regenerative farming, switched to its methods, and watched his overgrazed land start to recover. He also began teaching the principles of regenerative agriculture and wrote several books reflecting his experiences.

Supporting the soil

Regenerative farming places a much greater focus on soil health and biodiversity than conventional farming. Stock is moved more regularly, so there’s a long rest period, to protect the grass and ground cover.

Other ways to support the soil include minimizing soil disturbance, employing minimum tillage practices, composting, using biochar, incorporating agroforestry (the integration of trees into agricultural systems), and using aquaponics to grow plants.

In the latter, plants are grown alongside fish, which ensures the plants can feed on nutrient-rich waste in the water, eliminating the need for pesticides or herbicides. In this way, food can be grown throughout the year. Vegetables that commonly grow well with fish include greens such as Swiss chard, Chinese cabbage, collard, lettuce, and watercress, but cucumbers, beans, broccoli, peas, spinach, and tomatoes also do well in this system. Fruits such as watermelon, strawberries, and cantaloupe have also been shown to grow well alongside fish.

Meanwhile, in the north west…

About an hour’s drive from Johannesburg, you’ll find Jasmyn Boerdery, and sister company Food Fair, a family-run, hormone-free farm that’s using only natural methods to assist nature’s inherent circular processes.

Instead of using artificial fertilizer for their pecan-nut grove, they plant food for their Jersey herd between the rows of pecan trees. When the dairy cows are sent into the grove to graze, their droppings and urine provide excellent natural fertilizer, and the farm saves money on cattle feed.

Consequently, the farm can produce a healthy nut harvest, while its herd produces thousands of liters of fresh milk every day. They also deliver cheese, yogurt, butter, and other dairy products to the Jasmyn Plaasprodukte market, which attracts scores of visitors to the area daily, and helps to support local farmers and producers. 

Be inspired by these farmers

Whatever the animals leave behind returns to the soil and contributes to rebuilding the ecosystem of the field. After harvesting a section of land growing fruit or vegetables, the cows are sent into the harvested field to restore its balance and protect the health of the soil. 

The farm also grows its own fruit and vegetables – watermelons, figs, pumpkins, baby marrows, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, sweetcorn, lettuce, peppers, herbs, onions, and edible flowers – on a rotation basis.

Nothing is wasted. All excess fruits and vegetables are bottled as jams and preserves in the jam factory. The edible scraps that can’t be consumed in this way are used as feed for the pigs. While spraying on fruit and vegetables can’t be removed from the equation entirely, Jasmyn’s farmers do employ friendlier methods of pest control. They aim to strengthen the plants that produce their fruit and vegetables as much as possible, through soil health, using quality seeds for planting, and planting plants together that function in a symbiotic way.

Farming earthworms

They also increase the natural sugars in the plants as much as possible, as high glucose is detrimental to insects.

Planting bright, yellow flowers alongside rows of vegetables has also proven to be an effective way to keep pests away from the plants, because insects opt for the flowers instead.

Finally, the farm boasts its own earthworm facility. All animal manure and worm castings are returned to the earth and used as fertilizer for vegetable planting.

Saving the planet, one regeneration at a time

In short, regenerative agriculture is a way for humans to replicate nature’s inherent, seasonal processes, such as animal migration, supporting the growth of native tall grass to combat floods and soil erosion, and the regeneration of natural biodiversity.

In a video excerpt for Australian Story, Massy explains that he was visiting a friend who’d successfully regenerated a creek on his property.

“The day I was there, we heard a reed warbler calling in this small patch of reeds that had just started to grow. That was probably the first time in 150 years that [this particular bird type] had returned to that denuded valley.”

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