A lot of people don’t know what regenerative farming is. I’ll be honest, I only learned about it a couple of years ago, but I’ve been hooked on it ever since. I realize that sourcing all of our food from these types of farms is nearly impossible for most of us, so please don’t take this as some judgment of how or where you get your food. However, I believe regenerative farming is essential in supporting the health of our soil and sustaining our food supply, so I would encourage you to seek out regenerative farmers in your area to source what you can, as you can.

Regenerative farming is the perfect example of something old being new again. Regenerative farming, also known as regenerative agriculture, is the most basic form of farming & agriculture. It’s how farmers maintained their land thousands of years ago, long before the Industrial Revolution and our modern-day farming practices of tilling and churning the soil.

You may have heard the statistic that we’ve degraded our soil so much that we only have 60 harvests left. Unfortunately, that stat was given about a decade ago, so now we only have about 50 harvests left. I don’t know about you, but that scares the you-know-what out of me. Think about what that means: Our soil, the substance we rely on to grow the food that sustains life (our life), is so depleted we won’t be able to grow anything in 50 years. Whether you only eat processed foods or organic foods, there will be no food if there is no soil. My kids will only be in their 50s at that point, which makes my heart ache for them and their children.

If that doesn’t resonate with you, maybe this will: if you’re reading this and you are 30 or older, think about how quickly that time has gone. Can you believe you’re already 30? 40? 50? The next 50 years will go by just as fast, and then your food source is gone. What then?

This isn’t meant to scare you, but it is scary and also important, and sometimes being scared is what we need to make a worthwhile change. This stuff terrifies me, so I am motivated to learn more and try my best to do my part.

My biggest hope is that anyone reading this will take a minute and look into regenerative farms in your area. A simple Google search can give you somewhere to start. I challenge you to learn more about regenerative farming and what you can do to support it; I have included some resources at the end of this post that provides more information. And if regenerative farming isn’t possible for you, look into other local farms, they’re another great option!

Modern Farming vs. Regenerative Farming

While modern farming has allowed farmers to grow more crops and grow them faster resulting in short-term profits (for the farmers & big corporations anyway), the long-term results have had severe consequences. Fortunately, some farmers recognize this problem and are working hard to reverse the detrimental effects modern farming has had. To do so, regenerative farmers know the importance of:

No-till methods. This minimizes soil disruption, which means the soil isn’t as loosened up and prone to blowing away in the wind or washing away in heavy rains.
Biodiversity. This means regenerative farmers aren’t focusing on just one or two types of crops; instead, they have a wide variety of products. This helps keep disease at bay, as different crops attract different insects that naturally take care of pests.
Livestock. Plants and animals need each other to survive, so why not let them work together? Livestock naturally grazes and helps maintain things like grass and weeds, thereby reducing the need to get heavy machinery in there to disrupt the earth. Additionally, those plants are the foods these animals should be eating anyway, not mass-produced grain and antibiotics.
Rotating crops. Regenerative farmers replenish the soil naturally by rotating what’s planted each year. What one plant may take from the soil another can put back in.
No chemicals. This is probably my number one reason to search out local regenerative farmers; it is also, in my opinion, the culmination of everything else regenerative farmers take into consideration. Because of their other farming practices, they don’t need chemicals!

How Does Soil Become Depleted?

Natural erosion and changing weather patterns naturally deplete the soil. While the wind was problematic during the Dust Bowl and caused the soil to blow away, heavier rains are now washing the soil away instead. Today, in addition to these natural means of depletion, chemical farming, constant tilling, and deforestation have significantly and drastically expedited the problem. Not only do these practices remove the soil, but heavy chemicals also poison it. These methods strip the soil of its natural nutrients, killing healthy bacteria and removing vitamins and minerals, eventually making it unusable to grow anything.

Today, one-third of the world’s soil is depleted. Unusable. No longer able to sustain life. Still worse, it takes 1,000 years to generate just three centimeters of topsoil, which plants need to grow and thrive. It’s a grim reality of the world we are living in. I mean, if left ignored & untreated, it will be fatal to all living things on this planet. But I digress…

Why Soil Health Is Imperative & Why I Seek Out Regenerative Farms

You may think that dirt is dirt so what’s the big deal? But soil is full of healthy bacteria, organisms, vitamins & minerals that have the amazing ability to turn dead matter into the nutrients plants need to grow (this is one of the reasons it’s now popular to leave your fallen leaves in the fall because they decompose and become a great, natural fertilizer). Not to mention soil has vitamins and minerals that plants absorb into their stems, leaves, and fruit. These plants, in turn, sustain animals, and animals & plants together sustain humans. If the soil loses these nutrients, the plants do too.

In addition to the nutrients that soil provides, it also has an important role in climate change. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that is contributing to the warming of the planet. However, plants need carbon dioxide to grow their stems and leaves, so they pull it out of the air and store it in the soil. So not only does soil feed the plants we eat, but it’s also doing its part to naturally regulate the temperature of the planet.

In the end, it kills me that organic food in general is so expensive and unattainable for so many people. And I know, a conventional apple is better than no apple at all; but if that apple is covered in toxins and with each harvest it has fewer and fewer nutrients, how much better is it? We don’t eat 100% organic and I am by no means suggesting you should. However, I think that it’s important to be aware of where and how our food came to us, and the greater impact it had on the planet. I think it is equally important that we support the people who are doing the really hard work of trying to restore our soil, and in turn our health and the health of future generations.