2019/01/07

Regenerative agriculture - Wikipedia

Regenerative agriculture - Wikipedia

Regenerative agriculture

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Biodiversity
Regenerative agriculture (RA) is an approach to food and farming systems which aims to regenerate topsoil, increase biodiversity,[1]improve water cycles,[2] enhance ecosystem services, support biosequestration, increase resilience to climate fluctuation, and strengthen the health and vitality of farm soil, by recycling as much farm waste as possible, as well as adding compost material from outside the farm.[3][4][5][6]
Regenerative agriculture on small farms and gardens is often based on ideologies like permaculture, agroecology, agroforestry, restoration ecology, Keyline design and holistic management, whereas large farms tend to be less ideology driven, and often utilize "no till" and/or "low till" aided by the use of herbicide tolerant genetically modified seed.
Ideally, on a regenerative farm, yield production should grow more ample over time. As the soil deepens, yields may increase and external composting inputs decrease. Actual output is however dependent on the nutritional value of the composting materials, and the nutritional status of the soil. [7] [8]

Hoverfly at work

Roots[edit]


Rodale Institute, Test Garden
Regenerative agricuture is based on various agricultural and agroecologic practices, and a particular emphasis is on minimal soil disturbance and the practice of composting. [9]Maynard Murray (1910–1983)had similar ideas, but with sea minerals. [10] [11] [12] [13] Her work led to other innovations in no-till practices, such as slash and mulch in the tropics. [14]


Field Hamois Belgium Luc Viatour

Agroforestry on a grazing farm, Taylors Run
[15] [16] [17] </ref> The lasagna method feeds the soil biota from above and encourages the soil food web to do the work of aerating and mixing the nutrients into the soil below.[18] [19] They created a video, Farming With Nature: A Case Study of Successful Temperate Permaculture.[20]
Microbiologist Elaine Ingham popularized the importance of soil health and the soil food web.[21]

In the 1980s, the Rodale Institute began using the term ‘regenerative agriculture’.[23] Rodale Publishing formed the Regenerative Agriculture Association, which published books in 1987 and 1988.[24]
By marching forward under the banner of sustainability we are, in effect, continuing to hamper ourselves by not accepting a challenging enough goal. I am not against the word sustainable, rather I favor regenerative agriculture.
— Robert Rodale
However, the Institute stopped using the term in the late 1980s and it appeared sparingly (in 2005[25] and 2008) until they released a white paper titled "Regenerative Organic Agriculture and Climate Change" in 2014.[26] Its summary states, “we could sequester more than 100% of current annual CO2 emissions with a switch to widely available and inexpensive organic management practices, which we term 'regenerative organic agriculture.'” The agricultural practices described are crop rotation, compost application and reduced tillage,[26] similar to most organic agriculture.
From 1990 to 2010, RA was most explicitly practiced within the permaculture community. Influenced by Carol Sanford and the design and development work of Regenesis,[27] the ecological systems approach of permaculture led regenerative agriculture to incorporate whole farm design, multi-story agroforestry and rotational livestock integration.[28]
Author and restorative development consultant Storm Cunningham (b. 1951) documented the rise of what he then called "restorative agriculture" in his first book, The Restoration Economy. He defined it as a technique that rebuilds the quantity and quality of topsoil while restoring local biodiversity (especially native pollinators) and watershed functionality. Carbon sequestration has more recently been added to that definition, to help achieve climate restoration. Restorative agriculture was one of the eight sectors of restorative development industries / disciplines in The Restoration Economy's taxonomy. The other seven were watershed restoration, ecological restoration, fisheries restoration, brownfields remediation, heritage restoration, infrastructure renewal and catastrophe reconstruction. [29]

2010s onward[edit]

Sheep grower, historian, regenerative agriculture consultant and advocate Charles Massy published Call of the Reed Warbler: a new agriculture - a new earth, based on his PhD studies.[30] The book frames regenerative agriculture as a savior for the earth using case studies.[31]
Darren J. Doherty (1967-) founded Regrarians Ltd. in 2013, a non-profit promoting RA.[32]His Regrarians Platform extends Yeomans’ 'Keyline Scale of Permanence', layering social and economic lenses on top of the original agricultural ones.[33] They include climate, geography, water, access, forestry, buildings, fencing, soils, economy and energy.
John Ikerd advocates for the "small" family farm and farmers and for sustainability in the US food system.[34] Ikerd is author of The essentials of economic sustainability,[35] Small Farms are Real Farms: Sustaining People through Agriculture[36] and Sustainable Capitalism (2005).[37]
Vermont farmer and farm consultant Abe Collins created LandStream to monitor ecosystem performance in RA farms.[38]
Mark Shepard founded New Forest Farms in Viola, Wisconsin, and Forest Agriculture Enterprises and wrote Restoration Agriculture: Real World Permaculture for Farmers. He demonstrated how to grow more calories per acre than corn and soy without inputs. He does this through a mix of RA practices, balancing nut crops, livestock and keyline.
Ethan Roland Soloviev and Gregory Landua, cofounded Terra Genesis International (a regenerative agriculture and supply company), published Levels of Regenerative Agriculture (2016). In this paper, they describe a four-fold framework consisting of:
  • Functional Regenerative Agriculture: "humans can do good through their agricultural production"
  • Integrative Regenerative Agriculture: "grow the health and vitality of the whole ecosystem"
  • Systemic Regenerative Agriculture: "farms are woven into an ecosystem of enterprises operating in their bioregion"
  • Evolutionary Regenerative Agriculture: "harmonize with the potential of a place," and "develop a diversity of global and local regenerative producer webs"
Permaculture designer and researcher Eric Toensmeier[39] wrote The Carbon Farming Solution: A Global Toolkit of Perennial Crops and Regenerative Agriculture Practices for Climate Change Mitigation and Food Security (2016).[40] Toensmeier claimed that regenerative practices hold the potential to sequester massive amounts of CO
2 into the soil, all while providing adaptive and resilient solutions given a changing climate.[41]

Principles and practices[edit]

Regenerative agriculture is guided by a set of principles and practices.[5]

Principles[edit]

Principles include:[3][5][42]
  • Increase soil fertility
  • Work with wholes, not parts
  • Progressively improve whole agro-ecosystems (soil, water and biodiversity)
  • Connect the farm to its larger agroecosystem and bioregion
  • Create context-specific designs and make holistic decisions that express the essence of each farm
  • Express the essence of each person, farm and place
  • Make holistic decisions aimed at specific systems change
  • Ensure and develop just and reciprocal relationships among all stakeholders
  • Design for non-linear, multi-capital reciprocity
  • Continually grow and evolve individuals, farms and communities to express their potential
  • Continually evolve agro-ecological processes and cultures
  • Agriculture shifts the world

Practices[edit]

Practices include:[5][3][43]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Our Sustainable Future - Regenerative Ag Description". www.csuchico.edu. Retrieved 2017-03-09.
  2. ^ Underground, The Carbon; Initiative, Regenerative Agriculture; CSU (2017-02-24). "What is Regenerative Agriculture?". Regeneration International. Retrieved 2017-03-09.
  3. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Regenerative Agriculture". regenerativeagriculturedefinition.com. Retrieved 2017-03-07.
  4. ^ "Regenerative Agriculture | Regenerative Agriculture Foundation". regenerativeagriculturefoundation.org. Retrieved 2017-03-09.
  5. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k "Definition — The Carbon Underground : The Carbon Underground". thecarbonunderground.org. Retrieved 2017-03-07.
  6. ^ "Regenerative Organic Agriculture | ORGANIC INDIA". us.organicindia.com. Retrieved 2017-03-09.
  7. ^ Falk, Ben (2013). The Resilient Farm and Homestead: An Innovative Permaculture and Whole Systems Design Approach. Chelsea Green Publishing. p. 280. ISBN 978-1-60358-444-9.
  8. ^ "Dr. William A. Albrecht - IFOAM". www.ifoam.org.
  9. ^ Hensel, Julius. Bread From Stones: A New and Rational System of Land Fertilization and Physical Regeneration. Republished by Acres USA, Austin, Texas, 1991. 102p.
  10. ^ Murray, Maynard. Sea energy agriculture. 2nd ed. revised. Austin, TX: Acres, USA, 2003. vii, 109p. Nauta, Phil. Building soils naturally. Austin, TX: Acres, USA, 2012. xvi, 303p.
  11. ^ Howard, Sir Albert. An Agricultural Testament. London: Oxford University Press, 1943.
  12. ^ Balfour, Lady Eve. 9,600 Miles Through The U.S.A. in a Station Wagon. London: The Soil Association, 1954.
  13. ^ Stout, Ruth. Gardening without Work.
  14. ^ Yeomans, P.A. The Australian Keyline Plan. Sydney: P.A. Yeomans, 1954. [Source: The Holistic Agriculture Library and The Challenge of Landscape - The Development and Practice of Keyline. Sydney: Keyline Publishing PTY, Ltd., 1958. [Source: The Holistic Agriculture Library]
  15. ^ Fukuoka, Masanobu et. al. The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural FarmingNew York Review Books, 2009 and Natural Way of Farming: The Theory and Practice of Green Philosophy. Other India Press, 1985. 284p.
  16. ^ Hamaker, John D. and Donald Weaver. The Survival of Civilization. Hamaker-Weaver Publishers, 1982. 234p. Reprinted, 2002.
  17. ^ Whatley, Booker T. How to Make $100,000 Farming 25 Acres. Emmaus, Pennsylvania, Regenerative Agriculture Association, 1987. 180 pages.
  18. ^ Lanza, Patricia. Lasagna Gardening: A New Layering System for Bountiful Gardens: No Digging, No Tilling,No Weeding, No Kidding! Rodale Books, 1999. 256p.
  19. ^ Holzer, Sepp. Sepp Holzer's Permaculture: A practical guide to small-scale, integrative farming and gardening. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2011. xix, 246p.
  20. ^ ecofilm (15 August 2009). "PERMACULTURE - CULTIVER AVEC LA NATURE - Sepp Holzer TRAILER" – via YouTube.
  21. ^ Ingram, Elaine. (2000) Soil Biology Primer. USDA.
  22. ^ Mollison, Bill. Permaculture: A Designer's Manual. Tagari Publications, 1988. 576p; Holmgren, David. Permaculture: Principles and Pathways beyond Sustainability. Holmgren Design Services, 2002. 320p. .
  23. ^ "AFSIC History Timeline | Alternative Farming Systems Information Center| NAL | USDA". Retrieved 2017-03-09.
  24. ^ "Tracing the Evolution of Organic / Sustainable Agriculture (TESA1980) | Alternative Farming Systems Information Center| NAL | USDA". Retrieved 2017-03-09.
  25. ^ "A truly regenerative agriculture | Rodale Institute". rodaleinstitute.org. Retrieved 2017-03-09.
  26. ^ Jump up to:a b "Regenerative Organic Agriculture and Climate Change | Rodale Institute". rodaleinstitute.org. Retrieved 2017-03-09.
  27. ^ Regenesis Group, 2016. Regenerative Development and Design: A Framework for Evolving Sustainability: Wiley Publishing, Hoboken, NJ.
  28. ^ Mollison, B. 1988. Permaculture: A Designers Manual: Tagari Press, ISBN 0-908228-01-5.
  29. ^ Cunningham, Storm. The Restoration Economy. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2002. 340p.
  30. ^ Massy, Charles (2017). Call of the reed warbler: a new agriculture- a new earth. Queensland University Press.
  31. ^ "Author talk with Charles Massy call of the reed warbler". Trove.
  32. ^ "Darren J. Doherty CV – Regrarians". www.regrarians.org. Retrieved 2017-03-06.
  33. ^ "The Regrarians Platform® – Regrarians". www.regrarians.org. Retrieved 2017-03-06.
  34. ^ "Home". www.johnikerd.com.
  35. ^ The essentials of economic sustainability Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2012.
  36. ^ "Small Farms Are Real Farms". Acres USA.
  37. ^ Sustainable Capitalism: A Matter of Common Sense. Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2005.
  38. ^http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/sites/harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/files/grazing/Collins_Harvard%20Forest%202.pdf
  39. ^ "» Books, Articles, and DVDs". Perennial Solutions. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
  40. ^ "Book Review: The Carbon Farming Solution - Ecological Landscape Alliance". www.ecolandscaping.org. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
  41. ^ Toensmeier, Eric (2016). The Carbon Farming Solution. White River Junction, Vermont: Chelsea Green. ISBN 978-1-60358-571-2.
  42. ^ Soloviev, E. and Landua, G. Levels of Regenerative Agriculture. Terra Genesis International, High Falls, NY, 2016.
  43. ^ "The 9 Most Important Techniques In Regenerative Agriculture". Archived from the original on 2017-03-08. Retrieved 2017-03-07.
  44. ^ "Mark Shepard's Proven Technique - "Sheer, Total, and Utter Neglect"". 7 June 2013.
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Living Soils Symposium - About



(4) Living Soils Symposium - About
Our Work Ahead of Us

LIVING SOILS SYMPOSIUM·THURSDAY, 4 JANUARY 2018
Instagram.
It all started there.
I saw the evolution of this photo sharing site morphing into another networking tool with a freedom of communication that many other social sites didn’t have.
I started following people from all walks of agriculture- vegetables, orchards, cannabis, organic, regenerative, permaculture, homestead, advocates, whatever and whoever……
The amazing ability to connect with agriculturists across the country or even the world blew my mind.
“Let’s bring those people together in one room together and continue the conversation offline.”
The synergy would be unreal, I hoped.
That’s how the Living Soils Symposium was born.
Currently we have two Symposiums under our belt and we are looking forward to the third.
We feel like we have grabbed the attention of a really amazing community of people. We want to use that attention and push our creative skills forward to grow the community and find more folks that can collaborate with us as presenters and participants. Both are equally important in our eyes.
Over the coming months, you’ll see us grow our online presence experimenting with all of the social avenues to reach out and figure out what the “story” of this Living Soils movement really is.
And that is a small (yet immense) detail that I want to point out-
The Living Soils movement is not a movement at all. It’s just how things are. We’re just looking to describe, grasp, understand, share, and find what it’s really about- the story beneath us. In the soil. In our lives. In the plants. Those intricate interactions are what drive and support each of us on this planet daily.
That’s what our LSS team is going to be hunting for and documenting throughout the year and then presenting with others at the 2018 symposium.
📷Blue Fox Farm — Applegate, Oregon
Besides the narrative of the LSS team, you will also hear my voice from the viewpoint of my life on my farm in Oregon, of my travels around the country working with other farmers and business people, and in some new amazing arenas that are just starting to unfold. All told with the idea that for there to be a healthy biotic soil layer continuing beneath our feet, we have to find solutions that are regenerative in nature.
This term- regenerative- you will see pop up a lot in our narrative. It may be (and probably is) the hottest and newest catchphrase out there. And many will end up using it as a catchphrase that is used solely for marketing and to drive another layer to our already over-labeled lives.
The beauty of true regeneration is that it has no final destination, metric, or definition. It is and will be a continuing evolving process of learning how we can actually approach our lives and our stewardship with the land beneath us in a systematic way that can be a win-win for everyone.
True regenerative agriculture is accepting that farming and agriculture is not about reaching a destination but being forever on the journey. This journey is one of trial and error, continued iterations of cropping techniques, ongoing observation, scientific reasoning, cursing, laughter, continuing education, social awareness, community involvement, and the list goes on.
The answers will always be nuanced. But if we keep in mind that the soil must remain intact and holistically alive, then we have a chance to see a net positive result in our lifetimes.
I am really excited to see what we as a community can do with these tools set in front of us.
Chris Jagger Founder, Living Soils Symposium
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Seeking meaning, not happiness, will make you happier



Seeking meaning, not happiness, will make you happier


Seeking meaning, not happiness, will make you happier

Antidotes for ChimpsFollow
Dec 16, 2018

Photo by Peter Lloyd on Unsplash

One of the most stinging ironies of our species is the pursuit of happiness, an idea that is tragically self-defeating. Like the donkey being pushed forward by a glistening carrot that will forever elude him, pursuing happiness will position it just out of reach, but close enough for us to continue striving. It’s right there to be taken — so near and yet so far — if our grasping mitts were just a little longer.

As it turns out, happiness is incidental. It cannot be obtained by striving, and by doing so you’re making an ass of yourself. This is known as the paradox of hedonism, the idea that seeking happiness/pleasure only serves to hinder it, and in fact, you’re more likely to be happier if you quit your foolish efforts.

An example from Wikipedia illustrates the concept perfectly:
“Suppose Paul likes to collect stamps. According to most models of behaviour, including not only utilitarianism, but most economic, psychological and social conceptions of behaviour, it is believed that Paul collects stamps because he gets pleasure from it. Stamp collecting is an avenue towards acquiring pleasure. However, if you tell Paul this, he will likely disagree. He does get pleasure from collecting stamps, but this is not the process that explains why he collects stamps. It is not as though he says, “I must collect stamps so I, Paul, can obtain pleasure”. Collecting stamps is not just a means toward pleasure. He simply likes collecting stamps, therefore acquiring pleasure indirectly.
This paradox is often spun around backwards, to illustrate that pleasure and happiness cannot be reverse-engineered. If for example you heard that collecting stamps was very pleasurable, and began a stamp collection as a means towards this happiness, it would inevitably be in vain. To achieve happiness, you must not seek happiness directly, you must strangely motivate yourself towards things unrelated to happiness, like the collection of stamps.” — Wikipedia, The Paradox of Hedonism

Social psychologist Daniel Gilbert discovered that we’re notoriously bad at predicting what will make us happy — a term known as affective forecasting. Our ability to perform these projections is significant because it shapes our decisions, including those concerning our happiness. We’re like incompetent gamblers, hoping to hit the happiness jackpot, but ending up disappointed and in debt. We cannot attain this state of mind by aiming for it.
“Happiness is like a cat, if you try to coax it or call it, it will avoid you; it will never come. But if you pay no attention to it and go about your business, you’ll find it rubbing against your legs and jumping into your lap” — William Bennett

Some experts go even further to claim that chasing happiness can actually make you depressed. Brock Bastian — a social psychologist based in Melbourne — identified higher depression rates in countries that place a premium on happiness, a effect created by the damaging idea that negative emotion can be forever evaded. When such feelings occur, a person might feel that there’s something wrong with them. This is exacerbated by the nauseating look at me I’m always happy illusion of social media, in which everybody appears to be better off than you, but in reality are suffering just as much.

It’s critical to understand that happiness is not our birthright, despite the bleatings of Thomas Jefferson. Our emotional range is to be fully traversed — end to end. It’s an unbreakable scale in which sacrificing sadness would mean doing the same for happiness — their existence is only possible because of the contrast between them. There’s no happiness without sadness; no lightwithout dark; no up without down.
“What if pleasure and displeasure were so tied together that whoever wanted to have as much as possible of one must also have as much as possible of the other — that whoever wanted to learn to ‘jubilate up to the heavens’ would also have to be prepared for ‘depression unto death?’ — Friedrich Nietzsche
“Sadness isn’t a disorder that needs to be cured.” — Alain De Botton

In addition to being naturally varied, our emotions are also fleeting. Happiness cannot be purchased and battened down to prevent its escape, but instead enters our emotional fray, hugs us for a little while, and then leaves without warning. Our emotional state is in a constant state of flux, and ironically, the sooner we realise that happiness cannot be coveted, the happier we’ll be.
“Most people think that happiness is something we attain, like a possession, and that once we have it, we get to keep it. But happiness is not a place we can live. It is a place we can visit” — Daniel Gilbert

We’re not the only one’s suffering — our planet is having a bad time too, being pushed to its limits in part by our greedy, rapacious materialism. Irony strikes once again — amassing mountains of stuff does nothing to increase our happiness or well-being. As we suffocate the world, we also suffocate ourselves.

So what should you focus on, if not happiness? How can we obtain happiness indirectly?

The answer lies in our estimation of what is meaningful; the parts of our lives that we personally deem to be valuable. For Paul, this was stamp collecting, a simple hobby in which he unearthed happiness; a hobby that others might find insufferably boring. We are the authors of our own fate, with a selection of tastes and values that are unique. Our personal sense of meaning will be different to someone else’s, and we’re blessed with the freedom to pursue our values. This is one of the most beautiful aspects of Liberalism — the idea that each of us is wonderfully unique, which should be recognised, celebrated, and encouraged.

In Emily Esfahani Smith’s book The Power of Meaning, she analysed hundreds of scientific studies on meaningfulness, concluding that the characteristic features of a meaningful life are connecting to something greater than yourself, rather than a misplaced notion of hunting happiness. What we consider to be worthy can make us happy.
“Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself.” — Viktor Frankl
“Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” — Helen Keller

In addition to offering happiness, research has shown that having purpose and meaning in life can enhance your mental and physical health, resiliency, self-esteem, and reduce the possibility of depression. Meaning is a solid, long-lasting base on which to build your life. Happiness, by contrast, vanishes quicker than a genie after a third wish.
“You don’t become happy by pursuing happiness. You become happy by living a life that means something” — Harold S. Kushner
“You use your highest strengths and talents to belong to and serve something you believe is larger than the self.” — Martin E. P. Seligman

What is it that you personally value; that you find meaningful? What is it that draws you in, not because you assume it’ll make you happy, but because you consider it to be worthwhile?

Figuring this out might be the most important thing you ever do.


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