Regenerative AG and the future

Two Steps Back to get three steps forward?

This is a pretty important contribution on the Regenerative Ag front:

https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/content/end-of-the-brown-field-regenerative-agriculture-practices-bring-ecological-benefits/

An important question that emerges in looking at a regenerative vs extractive system is "can you feed everyone with a regenerative system?”

The God’s honest answer is at best “maybe.” We do not understand what the full capacity of a global food system with regenerative bells & whistles looks like. An interesting riposté to that is, at some point, the extractive system WILL fail. There is a simple reality of topsoil loss if we just want to make this a single issue focus. Now, Diana and I dispelled the myth that we have “60 harvests left” in Sacred Cow…the reality is topsoil loss will affect different areas at different rates, but it will be “a thing.”

Regenerative ag can not just forestall this process, it can roll it back! Making new/more topsoil and fostering a ridiculous number of benefits along the way.

Regenerative practices are to the land largely what good food, sun and exercise are to the body: gives far more than it takes.

But we DO still have some unknowns in total capacity. It appears we can at least meet, perhaps beat current production levels, but here is the kicker:

Regenerative practices ALWAYS mean some amount of disruption, loss, and need for learning. It ALWAYS means an initial loss of productivity, before systems optimize and a long running, healthy process, finds anew equilibrium.

I think about this a bit like remodeling a house. Often, a remodel does not HAVE to be changed today. It’s livable, although it may be dirty, poorly laid out and it may have problems that will compound at some point. So, looking ahead, and wanting something better for the future, one embarks on improving that structure, with the full knowledge that shit is going to suck before it gets better.

This will be one of the challenges of adopting regenerative practices. If “we” are not ok with doing something new and experiencing some short term upheaval, we will never change what we have.

This concept MIGHT have some broader applications….