Introduction to Regenerative Agriculture

Regenerative agricultural practices are designed and restore and enhance soil health. World’s cultivated soils have lost between 25 to 75 percent of their original carbon stock (Lal, 2018, 2004; Lorenz and Lal, 2018). Regenerative Agriculture has at its core the intention to improve the health of the soil, ultimately establishing self-sustaining farming systems.

There practices are guided by six-key principles:

• Minimal disruption of biodiversity through reduced use of agro-chemicals
• Zero or minimal tillage
• Organic mulching
• Diversity of cropping systems
• Live cover crops and crop rotation.
• Integration of animal husbandry

Graphic representation of the six principles

These principles work collectively to rejuvenating soil health by enriching it with soil organisms that provide valuable services to crop and the environment. The overarching goal of regenerative agriculture is to build soil carbon reserves, which facilitate a reciprocal relationship between plants and soil organisms.