As I discussed in my previous post, I believe that regenerative agriculture holds the potential to address some of the most pressing issues of our time. Environmental concerns such as climate change, soil erosion, drought, flooding, animal welfare, and mass extinction. Human health challenges such as obesity, sky-rocketing cancer rates, famine, and poor nutrition. Healthy soil can play a major role in tackling these very serious problems by sequestering carbon, holding water, producing abundant, nutrient dense food, and creating a resilient ecosystem.

Conventional farming methods damage and deplete the soil, adding to the problem instead of playing a role in fixing it. Tilling, mono-cropping, chemical sprays and synthetic fertilizers have allowed farmers to produce at scale but at a great cost. If current rates of soil degradation continue all of the world’s top soil could be gone within sixty years.

We know that soil health is vital in addressing climate change in particular, but what is a healthy soil and what methods have been proven to work in restoring soil health?

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What is Healthy Soil?

What are we aiming for when we talk about rebuilding soil health?

Primarily when improving the health of soils, we need to be looking at two main indicators, soil organic matter and soil biology.

Soil Organic Matter

Soil organic matter is organic material that has been decomposed by microorganisms in the soil, creating humus. This organic matter acts as a vessel for nutrients and water in the soil, increasing fertility, water holding capacity, and also the structure of the soil.

Soil Biology

Microorganisms play a vital role in soil health. Firstly by converting organic material into organic matter. Secondly, and less well understood, they engage in a transfer with the root systems of plants, exchanging nutrients and minerals for sugars provided by the plant in the form of sequestered carbon.

Fungal networks allow plants to communicate with one another, alerting them to dangers, and even sharing resources with one another. Together the microbial life and fungi allow for healthier, more nutritious, and more resilient plants.

Regenerative Methods to Improve Soil Health

Regenerative systems, inspired by both scientific research and traditional farming techniques, focus on five main areas to improve the health of their soils.  Each of these five areas work by either protecting the soil, feeding it, or both.

Minimize Soil Disturbance

Minimizing soil disturbance protects the soil and allows soil biology to thrive. Tilling, spreading synthetic fertilizers, or spraying chemical herbicides, pesticides, and insecticides all serve the effect of harming, or completely destroying soil organic matter, microbial life and fungi, which are the foundation of good soil health. 

Soil Armor

Examples of armor include pasture, a cash crop, or cover crop. Armor serves multiple purposes but primarily protects the soil from exposure to the detrimental effects of the elements (sun, wind, rain), preventing soil erosion, maintaining a more stable soil temperature, and acting as protection against weeds.

Diversity

Different plants and animals serve different purposes, the collective impact of which is to bring balance and resilience to the eco-system. With regards to the soil, this diversity uses the different species unique characteristics (sizes, leaf shapes, root depths, grazing habits, mineral and nutrient content for example) to protect and feed the soil to maximum effect.

Continuous living root

Maintaining a living root ensures that there is always photosynthesis and therefore carbon capture occurring, providing the soil biology with a year round source of food. A constant living root also ensures that there is constant ground cover, providing all year protection for the soil.

Livestock integration

Manure and grazing activity feeds the soil by adding more soil organic matter with improved water-holding capacity, and recycling nutrients, adding fertility to the soil. Livestock integration is managed to mimic the roaming patterns of herds in the wild to avoid overgrazing.

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In effect, by utilizing these methods, regenerative farmers are mimicking nature. Keeping a diverse range of living plants growing all year round, that are trampled, eaten, and fed by constantly moving herds of animals, that, in time, builds layers upon layer of organic material, which enhances the soil organic matter and the life beneath the soil.

This is what happens naturally. Industrial methods aim to fight nature, to overpower her. Regenerative agriculture seeks to harness the power of nature by replicating her with a human hand to guide.