Earth has natural resources such as soil that provide life on the planet, without which there will be no food to fuel the existence of living beings. However, there is an impending doom attached to these resources because they may deplete at one point. In that case, regenerative agriculture is the practical solution to prevent the ensuing crisis. Many eco-friendly and adequate farming means are boosted by digitising organic practices.
Learn more about practices that protect the planet’s natural resources by discovering the regenerative agriculture school that teaches you the implementation of the method’s principles. Get an overview of the principles from the information below.
What is Regenerative Agriculture?
Regenerative agriculture is a farming process that focuses on revitalising and regenerating soil health through crop rotation, cover cropping, and reduced tillage. It includes merging all the sustainable farming methods to boost and restore the farmland’s ecosystem. Regenerative agriculture is intended to regenerate natural resources and heal the Earth.
Depletion due to industrialised agriculture has always been among the most concerning environmental issues. Other factors, such as climate change, have also affected this factor. Rainfall is a big part of agriculture, and it has been affected by fluctuating precipitation patterns led by altered water cycles and rising temperatures. The planet’s ecological balance is further disturbed because intensive farming contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Thus creating the urgency of spreading awareness about regenerative agriculture among people. Let’s discover these things in the regenerative agriculture school and learn all the methods that help combat such situations.
Five Important Principles of Regenerative Agriculture: An Overview for Students
Regenerative agriculture is primarily based on principles below that enunciate how the process works.
1. Decreased Soil Disturbance
Issues such as soil erosion are accelerated because of several industrial agricultural practices, which call for reducing soil disturbance and minimising tillage. Regenerative agriculture aims to increase the soil’s ability to retain nutrients and water while promoting the growth of beneficial microorganisms. It leads to improved soil health and increased crop yields. Regenerative agriculture also helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sequester carbon in the soil, which addresses climate change.
2. Cover the Soil
Protect the soil surface from being washed away or affected by harmful frost and sun rays by adding a layer of green crops. Enhancing the soil’s water retention capacity will accelerate a better nutrient cycle. Regenerative agriculture emphasises the building and maintaining soil armour, which becomes an organic matter layer that protects the soil surface. Understand the on-hand process in the regenerative agriculture school that demonstrates how to cover crops, reduce tillage, rotate the crops and other practices. These help decrease soil retention, promote the growth of beneficial microorganisms and retain moisture.
3. Live Roots in the Soil
A significant principle of regenerative agriculture is ascertaining live roots in the soil the entire year. It is possible to improve and protect the soil between the main crops using planted cover crops. The cover crops are picked for their benefits, such as suppressing weeds, improving soil structure, and fixing nitrogen. Below are all the things that the continuous existence of live roots in the soil does.
- Improve soil structure that leads to increased water-holding capacity and better drainage.
- Promoting the growth of microorganisms.
- Promoting soil aggregation and reducing erosion.
- Increase the soil’s organic matter.
- Enhancing the soil’s ability to retain nutrients and water.
4. Integrate Livestock
The integration of livestock into farming systems is a part of regenerative agriculture. It means raising animals such as chickens, sheep, or cattle in a way that benefits the people, land, environment, and animals. Amplify the benefit of all the principles by incorporating livestock into the existing farming practices. Animals also help with compost, which breaks the capped soil and disperses the seeds, facilitating gaseous exchange.
5. Crop Diversity
Practising crop diversity means growing several varieties of crops on a farm instead of relying on the yield of a single crop. Achieve this principle by using crop rotation, cover crops, and intercropping. Monoculture in farming promotes soil erosion and strips it of all the nutrients. Create a balance among the nutrients to have a balanced diet for the soil. Explore the benefits of crop diversity given below.
- Improve nutrient cycling by giving different nutrient requirements.
- Improve soil structure by providing different root systems.
- Improve water infiltration and reduce erosion.
- Enhance soil health by adding different types of organic matter.
- Reduce disease and pest buildup.
Conclusion
Regenerative agriculture is a useful process and concept that focuses on improving the environment in every way possible. It includes many practices such as organic cropping, no-till farming, integrating animal grazing, and more. You can learn these things by joining the regenerative agriculture school that helps you learn about the farming network and expand your food systems. Learn directly from soil scientists, farmers, and local food policymakers to understand how to enable and scale climate-friendly food systems.
