What is regenerative agriculture?

RE: What is regenerative agriculture?

David Black — Mon, 08 Jun 2020 22:32:56 GMT

Well done Marie for getting this started.

As a vet in practice I see many examples of methods that would come under the umbrella of regenerative agriculture and man farmers who are actively interested in being proactive towards positive environment change. Unfortunately the term "regenerative agriculture" can be intimidating to some who may not have the same understanding of it as others and who have variously farmed under different subsidy schemes, not always to the benefit of them, their farms or their animals.

I would like us as vets to get more involved with our farming clients to understand together what methodologies can be put in place to improve the efficiencies and therefore sustainability of farming. As Rob says medicine use, and antimicrobials in particular is a great example, as is selecting and breeding animals with improved immunity.

Let's face it, we will not combat climate change without farmer - they are key to this - but we must change the message from a negative "livestock farming is bad" to "bet zero will be impossible without farmers" - efficient livestock farming can be a contributor to global cooling if we can only improve ruminant efficiencies by 5%

RE: What is regenerative agriculture?

Robert Howe — Sun, 31 May 2020 08:38:02 GMT

Hi Halcyon, fantastic that you are about to graduate and are enthusiastic about regenerative ag. I am a farm vet working in practice with a few plates spinning in this area. Feel free to get in touch. I may be able to help you get involved in some projects at the very least! Rob

RE: What is regenerative agriculture?

Robert Howe — Sun, 31 May 2020 08:34:37 GMT

Great to see this thread started!

Regenerative agriculture is a broad term and I totally agree best thought of as a methodology that reverses the damage our activities in agriculture can and do have, largely by taking advantage of natural processes. This often means the use of fewer inputs (and costs) and in the longer run make many systems work far better for the people running them, including margins and profits as well as outcomes for animals and the public.

There is a lot of heat on the agricultural sector at the moment, with much of it coming from the worst effects of practices in other places where techniques and environmental protections create far greater problems for animal health and the environment. British farming is streaks ahead in so many instances and I wish to shout about that! Beef produced in the UK is 2.5 times more carbon efficient than the global average for example. That isn’t to say there aren’t problems, but they are often far more complex than is presented in the media. Biodiversity in the UK is particularly depleted for example and listed 189^th/218 in the world for ‘biodiversity intactness’. With farmed land comprising ~70% of the UK landmass, those of us involved in agriculture have a large part to play and become the solution. It’s a an exciting time and heartening thought!

Vets (particularly farm vets) are ideally placed to help drive understanding around these issues on farm and have a great track record in responding to crises surrounding sustainability. Antibiotic use has decreased 53% since 2014 for example. That has been a voluntary industry led drive we should be very proud of.

Please encourage others to get involved in this. I wholeheartedly recommend events such as Groundswell, where I met Alex Tomlinson as well as many other incredible people doing great things. I would also advocate reading Gabe Brown’s “Dirt to Soil” – A farmers experience of regen ag and a leading light from the US.

RE: What is regenerative agriculture?

Alexandra Tomlinson — Tue, 26 May 2020 15:27:12 GMT

Hi Halcyon - great to hear your interest. I'll drop you a message so we can communicate about getting involved etc. As Marie says there are many routes in - and this is the time to jump in!

RE: What is regenerative agriculture?

Marie Richardson — Mon, 25 May 2020 17:11:17 GMT

Glad to hear you enjoyed the webinar.

I’m not aware of any defined consultancy routes in regen. ag currently but there are farm vets out there doing some interesting projects. It seems to be getting involved in the 'scene' and taking or making opportunities from there. People seem to find their way in via different routes. Studying wildlife, agroecology further training, there are various companies such as FAI, Wilderculture and Sankalpa who work in this area and then FWAGS and charity type roles also. Currently, most of the information is farmer led and it’s really a case of gathering knowledge as and where possible. I'm sure as interest grows in this area more opportunities will become available. At the moment, I would say talk to as many people as possible- go to the shows- Groundswell/ ORFC etc (when we can) and I’m sure opportunities will open up.

RE: What is regenerative agriculture?

Halcyon Hayward — Tue, 19 May 2020 21:14:47 GMT

Thanks for the webinar! I'm a vet student hoping to graduate next year. I would love to work towards being a 'consultant' of sorts for regenerative agriculture in relation to livestock health whilst being a farm vet. Does anyone have any examples or insights into how to do this? Would vet practices be supportive?

RE: What is regenerative agriculture?

Marie Richardson — Fri, 15 May 2020 23:31:35 GMT

Absolutely Mark! Vegetable production can cause devastating effects on the planet and wildlife populations if it's not done carefully, just as farm animals can contribute beneficial enhancements, bringing life back to soil and ecosystems, if used well. "It's not the cow it's the how"

RE: What is regenerative agriculture?

Mark Craig — Thu, 14 May 2020 09:36:13 GMT

Regenerative agriculture provides a means by which we can try to extracate ourselves, at least to some degree, from the mess we have created for ourselves. It is good to see the veterinary profession becoming involved. We need to improve the profile of meat and provide sound valid arguments as to why veganism will not save the planet.

RE: What is regenerative agriculture?

Jill Butterworth — Tue, 12 May 2020 15:18:28 GMT

No, I haven't been, but it sounds interesting

RE: What is regenerative agriculture?

Alexandra Tomlinson — Mon, 11 May 2020 10:02:31 GMT

Hi Jill, I was lucky enough to go to Groundswell last year - it was fantastic. Started out as a no-till arable focussed event I believe, but livestock integration into arable, and livestock per se, with a focus on managing them to restore biodiversity to soil and pastures, were all part of it. Met some great people and really enjoyed it. Shame about this year.

RE: What is regenerative agriculture?

Marie Richardson — Sun, 10 May 2020 20:24:12 GMT

Yes, I've heard many good things about Groundswell but not made it myself. Have you been? Sadly, with Covid-19 it's been cancelled this year. Oxford Real Farming Conference is the other one that has a lot of people with a simular interest. Definately good diary dates for next year, hopefully!

RE: What is regenerative agriculture?

Jill Butterworth — Fri, 08 May 2020 16:40:04 GMT

Have you heard of the Groundswell show? it's run by a farmer who is fanatical about preventing soil erosion. It's a kind of Glastonbury CPD event for farmers, you would have captive, receptive audience

RE: What is regenerative agriculture?

Marie Richardson — Fri, 08 May 2020 00:31:13 GMT

[quote userid="8858" url="~/001/veterinary-clinical/farm-animal/regenerative-agriculture/f/discussions/29052/what-is-regenerative-agriculture/222365"]Is it a kind of macro version of permaculture? [/quote]

Good question. I don’t know a lot about permaculture but it seems to me that regenerative agriculture and permaculture share a lot of principles. It does seem, as you’ve said, that permaculture has more of a leaning toward smaller systems but also housing systems, whereas regenerative agriculture has grown from working with larger enterprises. While human health is integral to regenerative agriculture it perhaps isn’t emphasised as much in a ‘communities’ sense compared to permaculture. I wonder, I'm sure there are elements in both that would compliment the other.

Anyone out there with permaculture knowledge? Would love to hear your views.

Think Ahead- Brilliant campaign btw

RE: What is regenerative agriculture?

Marie Richardson — Fri, 08 May 2020 00:18:59 GMT

Absolutely Laura, a lot of the techniques involved and ideas have been used for a long time and now the scientific evidence in this field is fast growing. Definately, there are still a lot of unknowns, as you've said- how this would look as a mainstream system is a big one and the role of technology.

How to define it is an interesting one. It seems commonly regenerative agriculture is defined by its goals of farming for health at every level of the ecosystem. To me viewing it as a methodology brings the need to understand ecological processes to the forefront, which is definitely useful. This allows for context specific approaches to be developed and allows the flexibility to respond to natural changes in transition and long term management.

I think making this easy to engage with and accessible to all is still a huge challenge though. Certainly a movement in it's early stages of evolution I feel.

RE: What is regenerative agriculture?

Jill Butterworth — Thu, 07 May 2020 08:22:50 GMT

Is it a kind of macro version of permaculture?

RE: What is regenerative agriculture?

Laura Higham — Wed, 06 May 2020 21:05:30 GMT

Thanks for starting us off Marie! I'm really interested in the regenerative agriculture movement, which seems to be taking off in the UK, NZ and other parts. For me its about using new scientific evidence to validate some of the principles of agroecology and livestock management that have been used by some communities for centuries. What is definitely new is applying these principles to mainstream agriculture alongside data and technology.

I am interested in the application of regenerative - - can it be defined by what you do on a farm, or by the outcomes that it generates? This will have a bearing on how easy it is to get appropriate practices implemented on farms.

My feeling is that is is more of a methodology - a method for assessing what is appropriate to a specific context, then for measuring the outcomes to make sure it is having the impact we need it to. Any other thoughts?