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Should Regenerative agriculture be our first

primary alternative to food provision?
Food is essential for our survival, a fundamental requirement of life and the provider of strength, vitality
and energy. It is also the keeper of our cultural traditions and indispensable to our social lives – think of
any celebration and it will involve food.1

To feed the increasing world population, more food needs to be produced from agricultural land
systems. Agriculture is the practice of cultivating natural resources to sustain human life and provide
economic gain. It combines the creativity, imagination, and skill involved in planting crops and raising
animals with modern production methods and new technologies.

Agriculture is also a business that provides the global economy with commodities: basic goods used in
commerce, such as grain, livestock, dairy, fiber, and raw materials for fuel. For example, fiber is a top
crop in U.S. according to The Balance Small Business, and a necessary commodity for the clothing sector.

Unfortunately, agriculture is the leading source of pollution in many countries. Pesticides, fertilizers, and
other toxic farm chemicals can poison fresh water, marine ecosystems, air, and soil. They also can
remain in the environment for generations.

The large-scale, conventional farming system is not sustainable in the long term because it is
detrimental to the environment. It is important to promote more environmentally friendly farming
practices that are less harmful to the planet.

Agriculture in India is heavily dependent on rainfall. Even a small change in the distribution of rainfall
can lead to big problems like unemployment, waterlogging, salinity, acidity, and pests. 2

Thus, agriculture can provide us with sufficient food supply and many other. However, the problem of
agriculture is it’s huge negative impact on landscape. To find a solution to this issue, people around the
world debate on the topic “The regenerative agriculture is the most eco-friendly, sustainable food
resource”.

So what is regenerative agriculture? Regenerative agriculture focusses on working with nature, limiting
costly artificial inputs and mimicking natural ecosystems within an agricultural setting. It draws its
practices from Agroecology, Permaculture and Conservation Agriculture; its objective is to restore soil
health. It is highly dependent on working with the unique environmental conditions of each farm.

By limiting soil disturbance and introducing other agricultural practices such as cover cropping and direct
drilling, the soil ecosystem can develop and provide key ecosystem services. The adoption of cover
crops: temporary crops seeded between the main rotations, represents a cost effective, natural way to
avoid bare soil. Covering the soil also prevents soil erosion and runoff entering water systems. By re-
integrating crops and livestock through planned grazing and manure application, we can increase soil
fertility whilst reducing the need for artificial fungicides, pesticides and fertilisers.
1
5 ways to transform our food systems and save the planet | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)

2
What are the advantages and disadvantages of agriculture? - Agruculture Lore (agriculturelore.com)
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Reintroducing perennials into the agricultural system is a quick way of re-establishing year round living
root systems which also has the added benefits of reducing disease and providing a home for nature. 3

So this is how regenerative agriculture works, in such a traditional way of farming. Like as mentioned
before, there is debate going on. Trying to make sure if it is really safe continuously use it as our major
food source in the future.

First, let us consider the perspective, “Regenerative agriculture should not be our primary alternative to
food source in the future”. A source which identifies with this perspective is the article “Regenerative
agriculture may not be the transformation our global food system needs” by Anja Bless, PhD candidate,
University of Technology Sydney and University of Technology Sydney provides funding as a founding
partner of the Conversation of AU.

Bless’s main arguments are that ,Most importantly, it originated in the rich, industrially developed
Global North. This means the movement often fails to credit Indigenous practices it draws from. It also
tends to overlook the needs of farmers in the Global South and broader power inequality in the food
system. Companies using regenerative agriculture to “greenwash” their image. For example, experts
warn corporations could be using the term to repackage existing commitments, rather than substantially
improving their systems.4

One must also take into consideration the provenance of the article, which is valid source because of its
political and economics background, thus making it relevant. Additionally, I believe this source is worth
of evaluating for this particular perspective as it explores wide range of impact of regenerative
agriculture, such as environmental, political and financially efficient. At the same time, her article
highlights that Despite regenerative agriculture’s popularity and its focus on sustainable food
production, it fails to tackle systemic social and political issues. As a result, the movement may
perpetuate business-as-usual in the food system, rather than transform it.

Her article has both strength and flaws. She has clearly stated her perspective on the issue, quite early
on in the article, by stating “Regenerative agriculture is one alternative creating a lot of buzz, especially
in rich, industrially developed countries. Today, regenerative agriculture is promoted strongly by
multinational food companies, advocacy groups and some parts of the farming community. And the
Netflix documentary Kiss the Ground features celebrity activists promoting the regenerative agriculture
movement. But as our new research shows, regenerative agriculture may not be the transformation our
global food system needs.”5 Her stated claims did not included enough evidences to prove that rich,
prosperous countries using it not to make positive change, reducing the emission of green house gas,
but also want a huge amount of profit from it, substantially improving their systems. And this is not yet
false because Ricardo Salvador, with the Union of Concerned Scientists, had also said "They're invested
in the system which generates greenhouse gas emissions, and essentially they are trapped by the need
to continue to not only be profitable, but to grow their profits." 6 She could have used other sources to
try to making sure that her statements reliable, instead she just introduced her research results based
upon only her point of view.

3
What is regenerative agriculture? — regenagri
4
‘Regenerative agriculture’ is all the rage – but it’s not going to fix our food system (theconversation.com)
5
‘Regenerative agriculture’ is all the rage – but it’s not going to fix our food system (theconversation.com)
6
Food corporations commit to more sustainable farming before climate meeting : NPR
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Secondly let us consider the perspective, ”Regenerative agriculture can replace agriculture for food
supply in the future.” A source which advocates this perspective is the article “Regenerative Agriculture
Protects Farmland for Healthier Food Systems” by Heather Terry, founder and CEO of GoodSAM Foods,
a regenerative agriculture food company growing products like chocolate, coffee and nuts on the same
land. In 2019, she joined BeyondBrands as a consultant to work on her first project, which sparked the
developed GoodSAM7, on one assume that she will be concerned about the future of food system, thus
given the source significant provenance.

Terry’s main arguments are that regenerative agriculture is a way to play an active role in protecting
against climate change and reducing carbon emissions released into soil system. She goes on to say that
regenerative agriculture contributes a lot to the quality of food supply circle.

Since University of Technology Sydney has openly stated its agreement to regenerative agriculture. For
example, China’s agricultural production is now responsible for 13% of global GHG emissions. 8
Agriculture is the leading source of pollution in many countries. Pesticides, fertilizers and other toxic
farm chemicals can poison fresh water, marine ecosystems, air and soil.9 From 2008–2018, billions of
dollars were lost as a result of declines in crop and livestock production in the aftermath of disasters.
USD 49 billion was lost in Asia10. On the other hand, Agriculture is at the mercy of natural systems –
natural systems that happen to be changing. Shifts in temperature and water availability are negatively
impacting crop yields and livestock productivity, which is in turn jeopardising the economic security of
farmers. A domino effect that ploughs through every part of the food chain. Extreme weather events
such as floods and droughts are causing significant economic losses for farmers in Southern Europe.
Poorer harvests and higher costs are impacting the price, quantity and quality of produce. By 2050,
yields of crops like wheat, corn and sugar could decrease by up to 50%. We need to build resilience from
the ground up to ensure farmers are well-positioned down the line. Regenerative agriculture is key to
making this possible. 11

Terry’s article has both strength and weakness. According to Terry, Soil needs to be healthy to produce
high quality products, and with that regenerative agriculture is the best option. In order to get good
food resource, by eliminating any chemicals. And one of regenerative agriculture’s advantage is that it
does not need agricultural chemicals to grow plant.12 So that she has already pointed out this idea quite
few times in her article, which is enough related to the topic question as same as I expected.

The fact that she also explains “Farmers are being raked over the coals, deprioritized, taken advantage
of and marginalized.” They are the ones, who take care of the farming process, deserves to get more
streams of income so that life can be better for them. This approach to farming is a return to what some
might brand as traditional agriculture. But it also represents a very modern opportunity for farmers. A
BCG study found that regenerative farming is up to 60% more profitable than other farming methods

7
Regenerative Agriculture Protects Farmland for Healthier Food Systems - Quality Assurance & Food Safety
(qualityassurancemag.com)
8
China’s future food demand and its implications for trade and environment | Nature Sustainability
9
Impact of Sustainable Agriculture and Farming Practices (worldwildlife.org)
10
Damage and loss (fao.org)
11
What is Regenerative Agriculture and How Does it Benefit Your Farm? | Climate Farmers
12
Advantages And Disadvantages Of Regenerative Agriculture - CropForLife Agriculture
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after six years.13 With this source, her statement of the need of equality to farmers turns out to be
reliable. Also helpful to people, not only just to the environment.

Nonetheless, there are multiple occasions where she has given advantage to the opposing perspective
by saying “Without farmers, if you're running a food company, you could potentially have nothing,”.
Which will be an advantage to the opposing perspective. Because in this single sentence, she exactly
showed her intention towards financial gain instead consuming regenerative agriculture to try to replace
agriculture, reducing its negative affect on surroundings. Thus, the regenerative agriculture would be
only available for prosperous and rich countries and others will still use agriculture.

After evaluating the arguments put forward by either side, I believe that the perspective “Regenerative
agriculture should be our first primary alternative to food provision” is the most convincing for many
reasons. The sources, which are provided to support the main source, are denying the opposing sources
by bringing up the vulnerable section from the main source to use it against it. I believe that these
perspectives used statistical and informative basis, which allows us to believe that the information
provided is reliable.

Thus, after reflecting on the proposed question, my view on regenerative agriculture was neutral
because of its persuasive flaws and benefits. Yet, after completion of this essay based on thorough
analysis of a wide range of sources, I have come up to this conclusion with the idea of shifting into
regenerative agriculture from normal agriculture. Because of its impact on environment, filtering and
refreshing the soil water and also the soil itself. Putting CO2 back into the deep of soil will simplify
dealing with greenhouse gas. Providing the population with high quality of nutrients. But it could be also
quite controversial. The reason for this, is that the cost of regenerative agriculture is relatively high for
those poor developed countries, which might leads them to still use agriculture as their provider of food.
Maybe in the future with the help of enormous empires, the world itself can make regenerative
agriculture as its major supplier.

13
What is Regenerative Agriculture and How Does it Benefit Your Farm? | Climate Farmers