Digging into Regenerative Agriculture.
What started as a movement to maintain the condition of agricultural land through sustainable farming practices has picked up steam and transitioned into restoring and improving the land’s condition. As Field to Market defines it, “regenerative agriculture sequesters carbon in the soil and intentionally improves soil health, biodiversity, water quality and air quality while ensuring the viability of farm production.” But at CFE, we simply call it leaving the land better than we found it.
Many practices fall under regenerative agriculture, and they vary from region to region and from one grower to another. Across CFE’s territory, growers are implementing these methods and more to help protect and restore the soil, water and air. Regenerative agriculture also preserves the bottom line for farmers.
In any farm operation, practices and products all must deliver a positive return on investment, which regenerative agriculture often does, for both the farmer and the land. In fact, many early regenerative agriculture practices were first adopted by farmers looking to cut costs and increase profitability.
Financial savings from regenerative agriculture can come in the form of reduced fuel costs and labor, natural nutrient sources and creating additional forage. Cover crops naturally fix nitrogen and scavenge residual nutrients from the soil, cutting down on input cost and passes through the field for fertilizer applications. In some cases, cover crops can also be used as livestock feed, saving on feed costs and further improving soil nutrients through manure left behind in the field.
These impacts all come down to strategic management. By minimizing tillage, farmers are minimizing the soil compaction that comes with it, and by eliminating tillage entirely, farmers save valuable investments in labor and fuel. Opting for more specific nutrient applications as opposed to broad applications helps avoid unnecessary input and application costs.
Additionally, regenerative agriculture aligns closely with carbon markets. Many regenerative agriculture practices may qualify a grower to receive payments for implementing climate-smart efforts. CFE Carbon can help you determine your eligibility and earn additional income for your efforts.
These changes can have a direct impact on the land you leave behind for future generations. With each crop planted, grown and harvested, we have the opportunity to add to or subtract from the land. Regenerative agriculture helps ensure we stay on the positive side of that equation.
CONSERVATION IN ACTION
Examples of Regenerative Agriculture Practices:
Conservation Buffers: One regenerative agriculture practice is to include buffer strips, windbreaks or field borders on your land. When strategically placed, these in-field management practices can significantly reduce erosion, increase biodiversity by attracting beneficial insects and pollinators and improve soil health, as well as sequester a large amount of carbon.
Cover Cropping: In the off-season, planting crops like rye, oats, radish or turnips helps minimize erosion, fix nitrogen, reduce compaction and retain water. Beyond soil health benefits, certain cover crops can also serve as an additional feed source if you are grazing livestock.
Crop Rotation: Many growers practice this, and may not even be aware that it is considered a regenerative agriculture practice. Growing the same crop on repeat reduces the biodiversity of the land, increases disease and pest issues and leads to the overall downfall of soil health. Simply switching up the crop can offer great benefits.
Grazing Livestock: Letting livestock graze your cropland is another way to practice regenerative agriculture. You can best take advantage of this by intentionally moving livestock from one section of pasture to another, which can prevent overgrazing, increase the quality of forage and help maintain soil health.
Manure Application: Spreading or injecting manure on your land offers positive impacts for your operation. Manure improves soil structure, retains water to be tapped into during drought season, adds organic matter to the soil and can also cut down on input costs.
No-Till/Reduced Tillage: Reducing tillage or not tilling farmland reduces erosion, avoiding sediment runoff and helping maintain the soil’s natural structure. According to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, no-till farming can reduce soil erosion by more than 80 percent, which also helps protect water quality by keeping sediment on the land and out of water.
Nutrient Management: Paying special attention to the nutrients applied to land is something that can greatly reduce nutrient run-off or leaching. Growers are able to use nitrogen stabilizers and perform split application or in-season application to make sure that the nutrients are there when the plants need them most. <<
