Regenerative agriculture — the practices involved and its position within modern agricultural systems

Abstract

Agriculture alone produces 10% of UK greenhouse gas emissions, despite constituting less than 1% of gross domestic product (GDP). Climate mitigation targets set by the United Nations Paris Climate Agreement look to land management strategies to limit global warming below 2°C. At present, it is estimated that a minimum of 40% of earth's farmed land is poorer in quality than it was in the 1970s. Simultaneously three quarters of the earth's species are being lost within a short geological time frame described as the sixth, mass extinction event. Unlike the past five mass extinction events, the cause this time is exclusively the result of human activities, of which land use change associated with agriculture is one. Increasingly the argument for changing how we farm is gathering momentum. This article aims to provide a review of regenerative agriculture practices, and a reasoning as to why it should play a part in a sustainable farming future. The green revolution enabled the planet to keep feeding an expanding global population with production of cereal crops often tripling with only a 30% increase in land use; what is now needed is an ability to maintain production while providing part of the solution to the twin global threats of climate change and biodiversity loss.