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Before you remark that Agriculture is only for farmers, here’s a fact check. To slow down environmental damage from overgrazing and desertification (farming processes that have been used to produce for us: meat, dairy, leather handbags, timber-framed houses), let’s look at Regenerative Agriculture… and make a decision to invest in products that are made using these environmentally-clean farming processes.
Regenerative Agriculture is the process that increases biodiversity in our soil.
There are 3 common forms of Regenerative Agriculture:
-No-till farming
Regenerative grazing
-Agro-forestry (and the concept food forests)
No-till farming
Soil contains organisms that are helpful for plants: some convert plant nitrogen into plant usable form; some bring water to plants as some plants do not have deep root systems; and others loosen the soil to increase water absorption and encourage plant roots to penetrate deeper.
When soil is turned over by machinery, many of these organisms are destroyed. Crops must then rely on chemical-based fertilizers to grow which ends up leaking into our waterways (and ingested into our body).
No-till farming has surface plants and their roots break up the soil, thus encouraging worms who aerate the soil to create more nutrients. The organic matter is then used as mulch that will overtime break-down and create further nutrients. Doesn’t it sound lush!
Regenerative grazing
As cattle eat grass, naturally, they release methane (gas, poop etc) into the air. Methane strips oxygen from the air and traps heat in our atmosphere! Cattle grazing is greatly destructive to our planet’s health and future.
If cattle grazing is carried out properly, it can have carbon sequested into the soil, soil can be built and desertification can be reversed in a matter of years.
When you look at the growth of grass (peaks and slows), and during the mid point of grass growth and acceleration, grass accrues the most biomass efficiently. When cattle are eating they are disrupting grass from reaching that mid point, and the effects include drought, over grazing and many more problems.
One of the processes of Regenerative Grazing is observing and staging your paddock into quadrants, allowing cattle to eat through one segment while the others areas have a chance to grow and like all plants, it strips carbon from our air (clean air!)
Furthermore, as each quadrant has been trampled and pooped on, it creates an ideal condition for top soil.
Agro-forestry
Agro-forestry is geo-dependent and every condition is unique.
By observing a local forest and all the relationships in it: from plant life, to fungi and animals, soil and natural conditions.
Food forests comprise seven components:
1. Roots
2. Ground cover
Ecology should be object lessons that the world sees, that explains in a visceral, physical way, the attributes of God.
3. Herbs
4. Shrubs
5. Low tree
6. High tree
7. Vines
Creating food forests is crucial to agro-forestry.
The high level commonalities between regenerative agriculture and traditional farming:
Traditional farming seeks to create the most crop while regenerative agriculture seeks to create the most relationships between plants, animals and things.
Whether you live in an urban environment or a regional setting, we are each accountable for the health of our plant by the way we choose produce for our kitchen and feed our families; to the products we use on our skin; to the bio packaging those products use and how we recycle them.
Presented by Eco News Anchor, Bethanie Ashton
SHARE
Before you remark that Agriculture is only for farmers, here’s a fact check. To slow down environmental damage from overgrazing and desertification (farming processes that have been used to produce for us: meat, dairy, leather handbags, timber-framed houses), let’s look at Regenerative Agriculture… and make a decision to invest in products that are made using these environmentally-clean farming processes.
Before the age of 10, Bethanie was already developing as an artist with writing classes, illustration, dance, theatre and piano. Later, clients from fashion, real estate and corporate sectors rounded her creative, technical and social media writing skills. Naturally, her artistic interests transposed onto film and production. Today, Bethanie hosts and produces interviews with international lifestyle brands and contributes to SNEZNY travel magazine.