Terra - Earth

The most meaningful indicator for the health of the land is whether soil is being formed or lost. If soil is being lost, so too are the economic and ecological foundations on which production and conservation are based.

― Dr. Christine Jones

Eric and I own Soul Food Farm, a small, diverse farm in Northern California. My dreams and work as a farmer have been grounded in the ever-deepening awareness of how fragile and resilient the natural world is. Ever since moving onto this land, I’ve had a growing apprehension that a shift was occurring in nature. Over the last twenty years, I’ve noticed weather patterns changing. Our olive harvest has shifted from early December to early October over the past 15 years.

The lavender plants that first budded in July moved into June, and in 2023 flower buds began to appear in early May. What was shrugged off as an anomaly 25 years ago is now acknowledged as climate change and its sister companion, biodiversity degradation. I have looked on in dismay as world governments and corporations promote the use of herbicides, pesticides, and inorganic fertilizers to control and modify nature. This corporate investment in agriculture relies on technological, scientific, and artificial “solutions” that divorce humans from the natural world. A separation we can now acknowledge is destroying our planet and human health. Our disregard for nature and attempts to force it into submission have left us to bear witness to the loss of species, the contamination of crops, the depletion of soils, the disappearance of natural waterways, and desertification. Tragically, these are just a few of the concerns citizens of the world must face. Secondary fractures of these pressures are wars, mass migration, and food insecurity.

The disturbing reality is that there is no future if we continue to mismanage our lands and ecosystems. As a human species, we are confronted with the undeniable fact that we are more tied to the earth than we have been willing to admit. As the world has become more cosmopolitan, technical, and consumer-centric, we have forgotten that nature still dictates our longevity as a human species. I believe deeply that instead of succumbing to fear and inaction, we can view this moment in history as an opportunity to overcome and change the dominant paradigm in favor of a holistic cultural shift that can redefine health for human populations and the planet.

The ability of Regenerative Agriculture to restore grasslands and return carbon to the soil is our best hope to move forward and save the planet. The salvation of the world is possible, and the answer lies beneath our feet.

What is Regenerative Agriculture?

“Regenerative Agriculture is a holistic land management practice that leverages the power of photosynthesis in plants to close the carbon cycle and build soil health, crop resilience, and nutrient density.”

— The Carbon Underground and Regenerative Agriculture Initiative, February 16, 2017

In short, a way of farming that restores soil, water, and ecosystems by working with nature instead of against it.

Here are some of the outcomes of Regenerative Agriculture:

• Restoring grasslands from annual grasses to perennial deep-rooted grasses

• Incorporating new grazing knowledge and techniques to repair degraded soils

• Using the power of grazing ruminants to build soil health

• Teaching herders and grazers new skills that directly connect to regenerative practices

• Sequestering carbon back into the soil

• Restoring streams and creeks by building soil health and tilth, which creates effective rainfall

• Educating communities with a new perspective centered on regenerative practices

• Rebuilding species habitats

As climate shifts continue to defy our targeted expectations, we are suddenly grasping through good science, research, and observation that there is a deep relationship between nature and ourselves. In other words, we cannot ignore the changes in our climate and landscapes and not connect those changes directly to our own well-being, health, safety, and livelihood. And also take responsibility for the collapse of our ecosystems and the loss of species. The degradations we are seeing in the natural world is of our own making.

We need to reclaim the label of “scientific progress” from those who seek to circumvent and exploit nature. Our best hope is to apply the scientific method to better understand and explore the harmony between plants, animals, and the natural world that surrounds us—using that knowledge to restore abundance. Nature has a remarkable ability to heal itself when provided with the right conditions. Regenerative Land Management or Regenerative Agriculture practices are powerful tools that can achieve just that.

In Smithsonian Magazine, there was a compelling article about how forests “live in cooperative, interdependent relationships, maintained by communication and a collective intelligence similar to an insect colony.”

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-whispering-trees-180968084/

In The Scientist, we read how “plants engage in regular conversation… alert each other to threatening pathogens and impending droughts, and even recognize kin, continually adapting to the information they receive from plants growing around them.”

https://www.the-scientist.com/features/plant-talk-38209

From insights such as these, we can only marvel at what they reveal about the world around us. This moment in time, with all its challenges and obstacles, offers an opportunity for great achievements. By recreating new management approaches with empirical data gathered from decades of regenerative agriculture practices, we can begin to reverse much of the damage humans have done to the Earth.

We are running out of time to continue the debate of whether climate change is real or not. The time for action is now. Modern-day advances allow us to harness the connective power of technology to bring the world together on a massive scale to quickly implement much-needed environmental changes and generate the capital to make decisions swiftly and decisively.

Each individual effort has an impact. From large-scale agribusinesses redesigning their land management practices to cattle ranchers worldwide reversing grassland degradation, and from customers who demand ethically farmed food and fiber, we can make progress toward reversing the man-made damage that is destroying our basic resources. We need clean air, water, and healthy soils; without these fundamental human needs, we will have squandered the greatest gift we were given, Earth.

Written in 2023.