Regenerative Agriculture Research Articles

Biomaterials and Regenerative Agriculture: A Methodological Framework to Enable Circular Transitions

Biomaterials, used here to signify 100% biobased and biodegradable materials, can offer a promising solution for transitioning away from fossil-based resources, addressing the climate crisis, and combating plastic pollution. To ensure their environmental benefits, biomaterials must derive from regenerative, non-polluting feedstocks that do not compete with food or feed production. From this perspective, agricultural residues and by-products present a favorable feedstock option for biomaterials production. Although this is an improvement over sourcing them from primary crops, the sustainability of underlying agricultural systems must be considered. Furthermore, the nutrient value of biomaterials for specific soil ecosystems is often overlooked despite their compostability. In this research, we investigate the linkages between biomaterials development and regenerative agriculture, a set of farming practices that can effectively sustain the growing human population while enhancing, rather than degrading, ecosystem health. We explore interdependencies between biomaterials’ production and regenerative agriculture for biomass sourcing and nutrient return and suggest a methodological framework to identify mutual benefits. The extent to which regenerative farms can provide biomaterial feedstocks without compromising crop cultivation and ecosystem health is analyzed together with the potential of biomaterials to deliver beneficial nutrients and services to regenerative systems. Applying this framework to the Great Lakes Region, Michigan, USA, an agricultural hub facing environmental degradation and plastic pollution, reveals synergistic linkages that unlock novel circular economy opportunities, including local production of renewable biomaterials for various applications, enhancing food security and bolstering socio-ecological systems.

Good for the soil, but good for the farmer? Addiction and recovery in transitions to regenerative agriculture

While the ecological benefits of regenerative agriculture (RA) are becoming clearer, its effects on farmers themselves are less well-understood. This paper's aim is to understand how farmers experience transitions from industrial agriculture to regenerative agricultural practices. Drawing on the ‘good farmer’ concept of identity, we provide a qualitative, narrative analysis of 51 farmers in United States' Central Great Plains region, who, at various points in time, began transitioning to RA. We found that transitioning farmers set themselves apart from those practicing industrial agriculture, including their past selves, who constituted an ‘other’ against which they contrasted their emerging identities as ‘regenerative’ farmers. These farmers used the discourse of addiction to describe industrial agriculture, seeing RA as a form of recovery from the chemical-intensive and subsidy-fueled treadmill of production that characterizes industrial agriculture. RA is experienced as a process of recovery that entails shifts in farmers' identities as ‘good’ farmers.

Regenerative agriculture: increasing plant diversity and soil carbon sequestration on agricultural landscapes

Soil carbon sequestration is a proposed method of mitigating climate change by removing atmospheric carbon dioxide and depositing it in soil. Sustainable agricultural systems such as regenerative agriculture are capitalizing on the opportunity for soil carbon sequestration to be a positive outcome of new land management practices. Regenerative agriculture is a soil-focused approach to farming with the goal of supporting soil health by increasing biodiversity and soil-focused practices. This article explores the possibility of regenerative agriculture’s land management practices to impact soil carbon sequestration via the promotion of plant biodiversity restoration. Examining studies testing the effects of three sustainable practices on soil carbon storage: agroforestry, crop diversification, and crop rotation, as well as native restoration efforts, a positive relationship is found between plant diversity and carbon sequestration. Agroforestry benefits carbon sequestration through stable deep-rooting systems and carbon storage in biomass. Crop diversification and rotation practices encourage nutrients to cycle into the soil and diversify soil microorganisms. The overall effectiveness of these practices in different environments, upper limits to carbon sequestration, and increased nitrogen requirements are possible limitations to these practices. However, the opportunity for plant diversity to restore soil health and carbon storage is critical. With Canada’s commitments to its 2030 emissions reduction targets, increasing sustainable agricultural action may present an opportunity to reduce carbon dioxide emissions substantially while remedying issues of biodiversity and food insecurity.

Climate Change, Food, and National Security: Reforming Farm Subsidies to Incentivize Regenerative Agriculture Practices to Increase U.S. Food System Climate Resilience

The agriculture sector is critical to global security, as it provides food security and employment across the world. However, the sector is both vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and one of the biggest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions. As such, all countries must consider the urgent need to respond to climate change and build a resilient and sustainable global food chain and food supply. As one of the largest economies in the world, the US has a large role in the global food chain, and therefore, has a responsibility to fortify its food system against the increasing threats of global climate change. US agricultural policy is largely determined by the Farm Bill, which will be reauthorized this year for the next five years. Thus, Congress has the unique opportunity to improve US agriculture policies that determine the costs of US production, farm earnings, agricultural contributions to global climate change, and ultimately dictate what we eat. This paper is targeted to those legislators tasked with the 2023 Farm Bill reauthorization, namely the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry, and will address how two of the biggest components of the Farm Bill, Agriculture Risk (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs, can be reformed. Ultimately, we recommend capping the ARC and PLC award per farm and reinvesting the savings in regenerative agriculture practices. Supporting regenerative agricultural practices would help the US food system become more resilient, thereby strengthening global food security and sustainability, setting a powerful example for the rest of the world.

The Impact of Cultivation Systems on Weed Suppression and the Canopy Architecture of Spring Barley

Under the pro-environmental principles of agricultural production, soil cultivation and organic fertilization are of particular importance as strategical elements in reducing weed infestation in the context of sustainable agriculture. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of long-term practices that are used in regenerative agriculture (reducing soil tillage, cover crop management, and mineral nitrogen fertilization) on canopy weed infestation and the elements of spring barley architecture. Understanding the impact of the studied factors influences decision-making regarding weed infestation control, and thus may contribute to a reduction in herbicide use. A two-factor field experiment was conducted using the split-plot method. The main factors were four cultivation methods: 1. conventional tillage without a cover crop, 2. conventional tillage + cover crop, 3. reduced tillage + cover crop, and 4. no tillage + cover crop. The subplot factor was differentiated via nitrogen fertilization, at 40, 80, or 120 kg N∙ha−1. The research covered canopy weed infestation and the parameters of spring barley canopy architecture. The species composition; the number and weight of weeds; and, for barley, the leaf area index (LAI), density, length, and tillers were determined. The test results were statistically analyzed (ANOVA) in a series of experiments while using Tukey’s test for a significance level of p = 0.05. Additionally, simple linear regression analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), and data clustering (CA) were utilized. The study showed that simplified tillage contributed to reducing the number of weeds in the barley tillering stage, while also contributing to an increase in weed infestation during grain harvest. Plowing in the cover crop did not reduce the presence of undesirable plants in the canopy, while increasing doses of nitrogen fertilization contributed to a reduction in the number of weeds without affecting their mass. Weed infestation was also affected by meteorological conditions. Increased rainfall in the early stages of barley development benefits the number of weeds, especially in terms of traditional cultivation. Simplified tillage resulted in a reduction in barley density, height, and LAI, as well as an increase in the branching of the tested cereal. A significant negative correlation was also found between the weed infestation of the barley canopy and the characteristics of the canopy architecture. The PCA showed that the highest tillering of barley was provided at the lowest intensity of weed infestation. In turn, the CA indicated that the significantly higher LAI that resulted from a higher density and length of barley was attributed to the simplified cultivation treatments and the practice of direct sowing. It is a comprehensive method that can favor barley growth and development conditions while weakening weed infestation potential.

Effect of Straw Compost (Oryza sativa L.) on Crop Production

Agricultural productivity depends mainly on soil fertility, particularly in intensified-paddy fields. Heavily relying on synthetic agrochemicals in intensified agriculture could be changed to regenerative agriculture utilizing cultivation wastes to achieve sustainable food production. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the effectiveness of rice (Oryza sativa L.) straw compost for intensified-rice cultivation. Rice straw compost from the previous planting season was composted on the field (in situ). The composting used “Effective Microorganisms version 4” (EM-4), which contains Lactobacillus sp., Rhodopseudomonas sp., Actinomycetes sp., Streptomyces sp., yeast, and cellulose-decomposing fungus. The test field used 4 tons of straw compost and treatments adopted from the local farmers’ planting style named Legowo 4:1. Observations on these treatments include the plant nutrients, plant contents, rice components, and yield production. The differences in the results were analyzed using the paired t-test. The results show that the application of straw compost provides a significant increase in dry grain weight, panicle length, and the number of grains per rice plant. However, the treatment did not give significant results on the clumps number and rice grain weight. Besides improving rice production, straw compost improved the C-organic, total N, and K levels in the soil. Based on this study, rice straw compost brings benefits for paddy cultivation as well as the reuse of agricultural waste in a simple way, especially in tropical lowland areas of Indonesia.

Beyond Sustainability: Transforming Agriculture through Regenerative Practices

Emerging as a ray of hope in the face of rising environmental issues such as climate change, soil degradation, and the loss of biodiversity is the practice of regenerative farming. An examination of the transformational potential of regenerative practices in agriculture is presented in this article. Particular attention is paid to the role that these activities play in the restoration of ecosystems, the improvement of soil health, and the protection of sustainable food systems. It offers a persuasive argument for the adoption of regenerative farming as a cornerstone of sustainable agriculture, drawing on research that has been conducted in recent times.

Экономика, организация и управление предприятиями, отраслями, комплексами

The article studies the concepts of sustainable agriculture and the factors of internal and external systems influencing its formation. Having surveyed the principles of sustainable agriculture, the author clarified that the agricultural sustainability largely depends on the efficient management of natural systems and resources. The work presents a conceptual model for sustainable agriculture and rural areas defined as a socio-economic-natural complex system that includes three subsystems as agrarian-economic, rural-ecologic, and rural-social subsystems. The purpose of the integrated system is to coordinate the interaction and interconnection between the rural subsystems and their components to achieve harmony between agricultural production, the rural environment, and the well-being of peasants and rural residents. The modern methods of sustainable agriculture, and therefore sustainable resource management, mean the resource-saving, organic, biodynamic, climatically optimized, regenerative agriculture, relate to sustainable intensification and resource-saving agriculture. To form the agricultural sustainability in the northern region, the author proposes new approaches to its development such as the integrated farming system, agroforestry, site specific crop farming, integrated nutrient management and integrated pest management.

Contextualising farmer perspectives on regenerative agriculture: A post-productivist future?

Within agri-food scholarship, longstanding debates have focused on the empirical applicability and conceptual utility of differing agricultural paradigms. These have often dovetailed with considerations around the future of agriculture in countries such as the UK given a shift in emphasis away from the central tenets of a high-input, yield-oriented productivism. Alternative diagnoses, particularly in notions of a post-productivist paradigm, have proven influential in capturing broad changes in the restructuring of agricultural activity. Whilst debates around the characterisation of these paradigms continue, they highlight distinct contestations in broader (and shifting) questions around what agriculture should be ‘for’, e.g. whether environmental ‘goods’ should be valued more highly than material production. Situating our paper within these ongoing debates, we draw on farmer perspectives in examining the adoption of regenerative agricultural practices in two farmer clusters in the East and South-West of England respectively. As a diverse array of practices which appear favourably positioned in a post-Brexit policy environment, we explore the ways in which regenerative agriculture can be understood as seeking to reconcile productivist and post-productivist tendencies. Drawing attention to the tensions, contradictions and uncertainties at play in these farmer perspectives, we highlight: the environmental and emotional appeal of regenerative agriculture compared to its adoption for more pragmatic (economic) reasons; the parallels and differences between regenerative agriculture and organic production; and the multiple sources of trusted information drawn upon by farmers in an uncertain policy environment. We conclude the paper by reflecting on the need to better contextualise and conceptualise contemporary interest in regenerative agriculture within longer theoretical lineages, in which the voice of farmers themselves must be central.

Review: Healing Grounds: Climate, Justice, and the Deep Roots of Regenerative Farming, by Liz Carlisle

Review: <i>Healing Grounds: Climate, Justice, and the Deep Roots of Regenerative Farming</i>, by Liz Carlisle

Do agronomic approaches aligned to regenerative agriculture improve the micronutrient concentrations of edible portions of crops? A scoping review of evidence.

Regenerative Agriculture (RA) is used to describe nature-based agronomic approaches that aim to build soil health and crop resilience, minimize negative environmental outcomes, and improve farmer livelihoods. A benefit that is increasingly attributed to crops grown under RA practices is improved nutritional content. However, we do not know the extent to which RA influences crop nutritional quality and under what management approaches and context, can such effects be realized. A scoping review of recent literature (Web of Science, 2000-2021) was carried out to assess the evidence that RA approaches improve crop micronutrient quality. Papers included combinations of agronomic approaches that could be defined as Regenerative: "Organic Inputs" including composts and manures, cover crops, crop rotations, crop residues and biochars; "Reduced Tillage", "Intercropping", "Biostimulants" e.g. arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; plant growth promoting bacteria, and "Irrigation", typically deficit-irrigation and alternate wetting and drying. The crop types reviewed were predetermined covering common sources of food and included: Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), Rice (Oryza sativa L.), Maize (Zea mays L.), Pulses (Fabaceae), Alliums (Allium spp.), and "other" crop types (30 types). This scoping review supports a potential role for RA approaches in increasing the concentrations of micronutrients in the edible portions of several crop types under specific practices, although this was context specific. For example, rice grown under increased organic inputs showed significant increases in grain zinc (Zn) concentration in 15 out of 16 studies. The vitamin C concentration of tomato fruit increased in ~50% of studies when plants were grown under increased organic inputs, and in 76% of studies when plants were grown under deficit irrigation. Overall, the magnitude and reproducibility of the effects of RA practices on most crop nutritional profiles were difficult to assess due to the diversity of RA approaches, geographical conditions, and the limited number of studies for most crops in each of these categories. Future research with appropriate designs, improved on-farm surveillance and nutritional diagnostics are needed for better understanding the potential role of RA in improving the quality of food, human nutrition, and health.

Oral administration of vermicompost tea ameliorates eczema skin inflammation via regulation of Th2 immune response

ABSTRACT Vermicompost tea (VCT) is the effluent or leachate with a honey-brown colour collected during vermicomposting, an ecologically significant process essential to today’s organic and regenerative agriculture. Dried earthworm, a.k.a. dilong (DL, meaning “earth dragon”) in traditional Chinese herbal medicine, has long been used as a key component to treat diverse skin diseases, including eczema. In the present study, we hypothesized that VCT might have a positive influence on eczema therapy. It was found that the oral application of 50% VCT in mouse model reduced the ear allergic scores and alleviated the histological changes caused by eczema. Furthermore, the levels of Th2-associated and pro-inflammatory cytokines (namely IL-4 and IL-13 in serum) and IgE (in serum and ear tissues) were significantly reduced by VCT. Therefore, oral administration of 50% VCT exerts immunomodulatory effects on the development of eczema, suggesting its potential as a nutraceutical candidate for eczema treatment.

Assessing the adoption of regenerative agricultural practices in Eastern Africa

Food security remains a challenge for Africa and regenerative agricultural practices can play an important role in building resilience while sustaining agricultural production and preserving diversity of ingredients and rich biodiversity. This study conducted surveys in eight regions in East Africa, four in Rwanda and four in Kenya, to understand how circular principles are applied in agriculture, potential drivers of the adoption of regenerative agriculture and its contribution to household food security. A binary logistic regression model was used to capture the influence of independent variables on the adoption of regenerative agricultural practices and determining factors of household food security. The findings suggest that farming households engage in less than four different practices, mainly in less labor-intensive practices such as crop rotation and intercropping. Household food security increased with an increased number of regenerative agricultural practices applied by the household and increased frequency of farm visits by extension agents. Regenerative agriculture practices, when applied in combinations, have the potential to increase household food security. This study recommends designing scaling-up pathways to accelerate the transition to regenerative agriculture and build a more resilient food system in East Africa.

Perm Research Institute of Agriculture is 110 years old. The past and the present

Perm Research Institute of Agriculture is the legal successor of the Perm Provincial Experimental Station, founded in 1913. The article presents a brief outline of the Institute history, as well as the overview of the Institute research for the period since 1913 to the present. The main direction of the Experimental Station work, later the Institute, was the cultivation of poor sod-podzolic soils of the Urals. The bases of scientific research are long-term stationary experiments included to Russian Geographical Network of experiments with fertilizers. At present, the institute is moving to complex interdisciplinary research aimed at developing regenerative farming systems, developing a new direction in fodder production – the use of biologically active feeds, application of precision farming technique, the development of new technologies using methods and means of agrobiophotonics to increase the productivity of crops, monitoring and control of pathogens and pests, strengthening the environmental aspect in research.

Effects of tillage patterns and stover mulching on N2O production, nitrogen cycling genes and microbial dynamics in black soil

Stover-covered no-tillage (NT) is of great significance to the rational utilization of stover resources and improvement of cultivated land quality, and also has a profound impact on ensuring groundwater, food and ecosystem security. However, the effects of tillage patterns and stover mulching on soil nitrogen turnover remain elusive. Based on the long-term conservation tillage field experiment in the mollisol area of Northeast China since 2007, the shotgun metagenomic sequencing of soils and microcosm incubation were combined with physical and chemical analyses, alkyne inhibition analysis to elucidate the regulatory mechanisms of NT and stover mulching on the farmland soil nitrogen emissions and microbial nitrogen cycling genes. Compared with conventional tillage (CT), NT stover mulching significantly reduced the emission of N2O instead of CO2, especially when 33% mulching was adopted, and correspondingly the nitrate nitrogen of NT33 was higher than that of other mulching amounts. The stover mulching was associated with higher total nitrogen, soil organic carbon and pH. The abundance of AOB (ammonia-oxidizing bacteria)-amoA (ammonia monooxygenase subunit A) was substantially increased by stover mulching, while the abundance of denitrification genes was reduced in most cases. Under alkyne inhibition, the tillage mode, treatment time, gas condition and interactions between them noticeably influenced the N2O emission and nitrogen transformation. In CT, NT0 (no mulching) and NT100 (full mulching), the relative contribution of AOB to N2O production was markedly higher than that of ammonia oxidizing archaea. Different tillage modes were associated with distinct microbial community composition, albeit NT100 was closer to CT than to NT0. Compared with CT, the co-occurrence network of microbial communities was more complex in NT0 and NT100. Our findings suggest that maintaining a low-quantity stover mulching could regulate soil nitrogen turnover toward proficiently enhancing soil health and regenerative agriculture, and coping with global climate change.

Ways of (un)knowing landscapes: Tracing more-than-human relations in regenerative agriculture

In the face of diverse socio-ecological crises, regenerative agriculture promises to enliven rural landscapes by positioning farmers as key actors in mitigating the ‘carbon problem’ on the one hand, and adapting to it on the other. This article troubles ways of knowing regenerative agriculture through soil-and-carbon centered representational knowledge practices. Conceptually, we build on relational scholarship and use the concept of (un)knowing landscapes to suggest that agricultural landscapes both become, and become (un)known in and through diverse more-than-human relations. Empirically, we draw from ethnographic fieldwork independently conducted at farms in Finland, Norway and Italy practicing diversified regenerative agriculture. By focusing specifically on the practices of composting and processes of decomposition, we show how farmers come to know and reciprocate the aliveness of their landscapes through both proximate and distant relational dynamics: balancing between control and cohabitation, caring for and taking care of, and attending to multiple rhythms of (re)production. We argue that placing a deeper focus on soils — even when representing them differently — not only risks making proximate relations in diversified regenerative agricultural landscapes unknown, but also permits these landscapes to become known primarily through relations of distance. This, in turn, enables the commensurability of regenerative agricultural landscapes into tradable units for carbon markets. We conclude that transformation towards ecological livelihoods requires a radical reevaluation of, and accounting for, diverse more-than-human landscape relations.

Efficient multi-objective metaheuristic algorithm for sustainable harvest planning problem

The shift towards sustainable and regenerative agriculture is being propelled by global farmers due to increasing awareness of social inequalities and climate change. To make this transition a reality, farmers should consider various sustainability factors including all economic, environmental, and social factors, and tackle the complexity of the harvest planning. This study introduces a new multi-objective optimization approach that employs fuzzy logic and multiple objectives to facilitate sustainable harvest planning in the face of various sources of uncertainties such as changes in commodity prices, weather conditions, crop ripening patterns, and productivity fluctuations. The model seeks to optimize profit while minimizing greenhouse gas emissions and wastes generated by harvesting machines as the economic and environmental dimensions. To incorporate social sustainability, we define the farmer's working days on each block as a constraint set in our model. To address the complexity of this optimization model in large-scale networks, this paper proposes a revised version of the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) using the genetic engineering concept, called the non-dominated sorting genetic engineering algorithm (NSGEA). This article showcases the outcomes of a case study that employed the blueberry industry in Canada. The findings indicate that the NSGEA algorithm, which was proposed in the study, is effective in addressing our multi-objective optimization model in comparison to other metaheuristic algorithms and the epsilon constraint method. This paper concludes by discussing theoretical contributions and managerial insights that emphasize the advantages of the proposed multi-objective harvest planning problem for achieving sustainable blueberry agriculture in Canada.

Enabling Regenerative Agriculture Using Remote Sensing and Machine Learning

The emergence of cloud computing, big data analytics, and machine learning has catalysed the use of remote sensing technologies to enable more timely management of sustainability indicators, given the uncertainty of future climate conditions. Here, we examine the potential of “regenerative agriculture”, as an adaptive grazing management strategy to minimise bare ground exposure while improving pasture productivity. High-intensity sheep grazing treatments were conducted in small fields (less than 1 ha) for short durations (typically less than 1 day). Paddocks were subsequently spelled to allow pasture biomass recovery (treatments comprising 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 months), with each compared with controls characterised by lighter stocking rates for longer periods (2000 DSE/ha). Pastures were composed of wallaby grass (Austrodanthonia species), kangaroo grass (Themeda triandra), Phalaris (Phalaris aquatica), and cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata), and were destructively sampled to estimate total standing dry matter (TSDM), standing green biomass, standing dry biomass and trampled biomass. We invoked a machine learning model forced with Sentinel-2 imagery to quantify TSDM, standing green and dry biomass. Faced with La Nina conditions, regenerative grazing did not significantly impact pasture productivity, with all treatments showing similar TSDM, green biomass and recovery. However, regenerative treatments significantly impacted litterfall and trampled material, with high-intensity grazing treatments trampling more biomass, increasing litter, enhancing surface organic matter and decomposition rates thereof. Pasture digestibility and sward uniformity were greatest for treatments with minimal spelling (3 months), whereas both standing senescent and trampled material were greater for the 15-month spelling treatment. TSDM prognostics from machine learning were lower than measured TSDM, although predictions from the machine learning approach closely matched observed spatiotemporal variability within and across treatments. The root mean square error between the measured and modelled TSDM was 903 kg DM/ha, which was less than the variability measured in the field. We conclude that regenerative grazing with short recovery periods (3–6 months) was more conducive to increasing pasture production under high rainfall conditions, and we speculate that – in this environment - high-intensity grazing with 3-month spelling is likely to improve soil organic carbon through increased litterfall and trampling. Our study paves the way for using machine learning with satellite imagery to quantify pasture biomass at small scales, enabling the management of pastures within small fields from afar.

Sustainable soil management in the United Kingdom: A survey of current practices and how they relate to the principles of regenerative agriculture

AbstractSustainable soil management is essential to prevent agricultural soil degradation and maintain food production and core soil‐based ecosystem services. Regenerative agriculture, one approach to sustainable soil management, is rapidly gaining traction in UK farming and policy. However, it is unclear what farmers themselves consider to be sustainable soil management practices, and how these relate to the principles of regenerative agriculture. Further, there is little insight into how sustainable soil management is currently promoted in agricultural knowledge and innovation services (AKIS). To address these knowledge gaps, we undertook the first national‐scale survey of sustainable soil management practices in the United Kingdom and complemented it with targeted interviews. We found high levels of awareness (&gt;60%) and uptake (&gt;30%) of most sustainable soil management practices among mixed and arable farmers. Importantly, 92% of respondents considered themselves to be practising sustainable soil management. However, our analysis shows that farmers combine practices in different ways. Not all these combinations correspond to the full set of regenerative agriculture principles of reduced soil disturbance, soil cover and crop diversity. To better understand the relationship between existing sustainable soil management practices in the United Kingdom and regenerative agriculture principles, we derive a “regenerative agriculture score” by allocating individual practices among the principles of regenerative agriculture. Farmers who self‐report that they are managing soil sustainably tend to score more highly across all five principles. We further find that sustainable soil management messaging is fragmented and that few AKIS networks have sustainable soil management as their primary concern. Overall, our study finds that there are multiple understandings of sustainable soil management among UK farmers and land managers and that they do not correspond to regenerative agriculture principles in a straightforward way. This diversity and variety in sustainable soil management needs to be taken into account in future policy and research.

Rural politics in undemocratic times: Exploring the emancipatory potential of small rural initiatives in authoritarian Hungary

Constructing environmentally sustainable and democratic political regimes constitutes the most important political project of our times – an era characterised by the proliferation of authoritarianism and the growing effects of climate change. Through the case of Hungary, an example of a modern authoritarian regime, this article discusses how agricultural initiatives such as Community Supported Agriculture, permaculture, and small-scale and regenerative farming can help situate questions of sustainable rural politics into a broader agenda of democratic governance. Building on qualitative interviews conducted in Hungary and the literature on socio-environmental transformations, authoritarian populism, authoritarian neoliberalism, and emancipatory politics, our aim is to envision emancipatory rural politics grounded in democratic societal projects and sustainable ways of producing and living with the land. After laying out what we identify as the three rural pillars of the Hungarian authoritarian regime – unequal land relations, agricultural subsidies and agricultural commodity sales –, we argue for attention to what could become the rural pillars of sustainable democracy: emancipatory alliances, counter-knowledge claims, and emancipatory subjectivities. Efforts at building the latter aspects can help Hungarians (and others) reimagine democracy from the countryside, establish new collective relations, and embrace the unavoidable ambiguities of emancipatory rural politics.