Regenerate our soil
‘I have realised that the earth has the ability to regenerate, and that the principles which govern regeneration are similar to those which apply to sick human beings. Landscapes, like people, have become sick because of a lack of love…..man has the privilege of being able to make the earth fruitful by allowing love to pour into it, through him. I think it is very probable that, in this way, the earth is dependent on man for its life….What a wonderful thing, that to be a husbandman….one need not first DO anything in relation to nature. One needs to GIVE TO IT in spirit. Then….the right physical treatments become apparent and easy….Faced with a dying world, we either love or perish.’
- Biodynamic Gardener Donald Harvey,
Deep tilling, mono-cropping and an overuse of chemical fertilisers and pesticides have diminished our soil’s natural ability to sequester carbon from the atmosphere, and much of our soil is now just dead dirt. This means that the carbon, normally drawn down into a healthy soil acting as a carbon sink, is now contributing to our warming planet. We have inflicted so much damage to our earth. I believe industrial farming is one of the biggest mistakes we have made.
You may not have heard of regenerative farming, but I sincerely hope that it’s a term that we will become very familiar with in the near future. Regenerative farming involves using cover crops to protect the soil, no pesticides or artificial fertilisers, using grazing cattle and rotating them, without tilling the soil. Nature has a way of balancing carbon levels and it’s only when humans disrupt natural ecosystems that we have problems. Regenerative farming also increases water holding capacity, therefore drought is less destructive; it also protects the purity of groundwater.
The problems with tilling soil is that along with ploughing, soil is eroded and large amounts of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. This kind of farming also strips the earth bare and contributes to compacted soil that creates a hostile environment for the soil microbiome. If farmers can minimise the physical disturbance of the soil then soil organic matter will increase, creating healthier, more resilient environments for plants to thrive. Importantly carbon then stays in the earth where it belongs.
‘Nobody trusts the industrial food system to give them good food.’
And what about animals? Industrial farming will allow ruminants to graze for the first two thirds of life and then move to grain feeding. There are a number of issues associated with the this but we will just focus on environmental consequences of these farming practices. After they have started on grass, ruminants are finished on grain. They are moved from pasture to feedlots to speed up weight gain and get them ready for market the quickest way possible. This is not the best way of managing animals for food or for the environment.
We need animals on pasture as there can be no regenerative agriculture without animals taking part in the ecological cycle. When cattle or other animals are raised on pasture, poop, pee and saliva nourishes the soil; fertilising and building it. Grass is designed to be eaten by herbivores. When grass is grazed, its roots remain underground, adding carbon to the soil. [i] So when we have animals grazing -rotating them often, carbon is pulled from the atmosphere into the soil. Most of the world’s farmland is grass and some can’t be ploughed or irrigated. How wonderful and symbiotic that grazing cows can digest the grass and give us a nutrient rich source of food.
Also the industrial practices of using synthetic fertilisers and pesticides damages delicate ecosystems. Plants photosynthesise carbon. They pull carbon out of the air, pumping around 40 percent of it into the soil to give to microorganisms in exchange for water and minerals. To clarify, plants have a barter system going on with the bacteria living in our soil. The plants give the bacteria organic sugars containing carbon (carbohydrate), in return for nutrients in the soil. [ii] Unfortunately, with the use of pesticides, the bacteria are decimated and with the use of synthetic fertilisers plants don’t need the nutrients from the bacteria. This upsets the well-functioning barter system.
In a regenerative system when grasses are grazed (not all the way down to the ground, which is why pasture rotation for ruminants is vital), energy is used to regrow. During this active regrowth period the grass will suck carbon from the air to store above and below the ground. So, cattle grazing on pasture and being rotated, will speed up carbon storage or sequestration in soil. This model produces healthy soil which is a sink for carbon.If left un-grazed the grass just grows eventually reaching full height, then dies and is broken down or reabsorbed into soil and air. Of importance is that full grown grass doesn’t cycle as much carbon as grass in the active phase.
Regenerative farming not only helps our earth but also our health as it improves nutritional value of our food through healthy nutrient rich soil. The food chain starts in the soil and is a complex relationship with plants that provide nutrients for animals that provide nutrients for humans.
We have destabilised the unique systems that give us life, we now have to support these systems and regenerate the earth.
‘We need to respect the fact that cows are herbivores, and that does not mean feeding them corn and chicken manure.’ -Joel Salatin
[i] W Chen, D Huang, N Liu et al ( 2015). ‘Improved grazing management may increase soil carbon sequestration in temperate steppe.’ Scientific Reports. Vol 5 p10892.
[ii] MD Whiteside,GDA Werner, VEA Caldas et al (2019). ‘Mycorrhizal Fungi Respond to Resource Inequality by Moving Phosphorus from Rich to Poor Patches across Networks.’ Current Biology. Vol 29, (12) pp 2043 - 2050.