Without ploughing, regenerative farming encourages glyphosate herbicide use. "92% of readers planned to use glyphosate for weed control this year"
#RegAg #herbicides #pesticides #farming
Is Glyphosate Harming Your No-Tilled Soils? (no-tillfarmer.com)

While I endorse totally #RegenerativeAgriculture being more sustainable agricultural practices a key part of the puzzle on how to solve the multiple crisis we are facing, I am one of the serious looking guys that always call for caution with the hyperbolic claims.

Many people in the #RegAg community grossly exagerate its potential to attract funding and popularity.
It could be argued that this is ok, since RegAg is definitely an improvement compared to what we have now, but there are several biophysical limitations that will not allow RegAg alone to save the world.

a) in order to apply large amounts of compost, first you need to produce a lot of biomass.
b) Soil Organic Matter (SOM) is not a stable thing. It degrades progressi ely after some decades (yes, there are claims that "with RegAg-technique X SOM gets stabilized", but they didn't study this in long-term experiments)
c) in agriculture, there is no one-size-fits-all. E.g. if you wonder why in warmer, drier climates there is little SOM, it might be for some reason and not only because of bad agricultural practices.
d) Regenerative Agriculture needs to strengthen the focus on social and economic issues. Team up with the #Agroecology movement, as only an #ecosocialTransformation will give farmers the structure to achieve #FoodSovereignity while caring the planet.

So, promote Regenerative Agriculture, but be careful with the claims, as it won't help if in some years people will identify us as liars having promised too much.

Sorry for being boring 🤓

@exador23 @donkeyherder

Some days I explain concepts of regenerative agriculture to others. Other moments I feel the regenerative agriculture business bubble as my nemesis. 🤪

Let me explain:
As input-maximised and yield-optimized industrializ agriculture is so horribly bad at preserving the environment, including its own basic requirements (soil & water, biodiversity, climate), the bar for doing things better is really not that high.
Regenerative Agriculture (#RegAg) additionally builds on traditional knowledge, pionering farmer's experience and good science. "Conventional" agricultural science doesn't really collaborate with farmers. At Universities, most stuff is investigated epistemologically, meaning cutting a system into single, tiny, easier-to-handle bits to understand and classify how they work. The sum yields then the whole.
Biology does not work like this. Hypercomplex ecosystems don't work like this. You need a holistic vision and look at the system. The direct benefit from understanding is that you work with nature, not against her. We call this "ecosystem services" and try to quantify the economic benefit of functional biodiversity.
This is complex and it is more difficult to sell stuff (therefore the industry is not so interested) or to write scientific publications (therefore scientists are not so interested).
Every some decades since around 100 years, somebody finds out that the reductionist approach is a very bad Idea and very cool people develop together new ideas.
As the more established researcher institutions have some problems with the newcomers, these alternative fields attract brillant independent researchers and pioneer farmers. This time it is RegAg (the climax of thepermaculture wave seems to be over). However, a new field of endless possibilities attract also entrepreneurs. As the regular systems of control do not work properly because most of the more established academia doesn't want to engage with these new & 'esoteric' techniques, it ibecomes easy for snake oil sellers to make great, hyperbolic promises. Together with charismatic personalities using effective communication techniques they reach a large audience of practitioners that are worried because they notice that industrial agriculture ruined their fields visibly already in their lifespan.
Many of the techniques make totally sense. Others less. Or just in some cases: in agriculture, there is no silver bullet. Even my most beloved combination of techniques (cover crops, reduced tillage & mulching) does not work in many places (too wet, too dry, too cold...).
But most RegAg-ideas are still much better than the conventional techniques. Therefore, I can (and have to) accept a lot of hot air from RegAg prophets. Although many of their claims are totally exxagerated, often they do more good by convincing many people. And real farmers anyway do what they want and adapt their systems.
I just hope that not too many will get frustrated when the expensive courses and great promises don't play out as expected.

@ramonita @un_blaze

#RegAg #RegenerativeAgriculture #Agroecology #NoTill #Mulching #Horticulture #ElaineIngham

@Eceni
:ecoanarchism_heart:
#AgroEcology #PeasantFarming #PeasantAgriculture #Greenwashing #Danone #RegenerativeAgriculture #RegAg

The Stock-based Regenerative Agriculture claim is that de-intensifying animal agriculture is 'good for the environment'. No. At scale, it requires more space, more loss of wild habitat, and alters ecology with fake animals. The answer is not eating meat.

#RegAg #Stock #Farming #PlanetaryHealth #Greenwashing #BiodiversityLoss #Extinction #ClimateChange

Tofu will trump any kind of beef production for carbon emissions.

Grass-fed cows grow slower and burp methane and crap in the environment for longer.

All cattle occupy land from nature and often from indigenous people.

Animals convert food to muscle inefficiently.

Less land is taken up by plant crops grown to be eaten directly eaten by people instead of this unnecessary intermediary stage. That includes soy.

#TofuEatingWokerati #GoVegan #FakeAnimals #RegAg #Greenwashing

Greenwashing regenerative farmers claim they need livestock for poo to improve soils.

So, let's start asking them whether they'll remove the animals when that job is done, or whether they're making the land dependent on fake animals, and people dependent on cancer-causing meat (refs available).

#greenwashing #CircularReasoning #RegAg #Farming #Agriculture #ClimateCrisis #BiodiversityCrisis #Extinction #Carbon #Pollution #Disease #SoilHealth

Stock-based (so-called) 'regenerative' agriculture advocates say "But lots of land has poor soil. It needs cows and manure. It's like a desert. All that grows is native grasses.' Bullshit! Use them and respect traditional landowners.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d42473-022-00428-z?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=SSCR_BRCON_ENGM_GL_CEAP_UnvQL_CF-spinfx&fbclid=IwAR34I-gAp-r0F7Nw3fG5Bk8XSUYq92dfKlIlnluQGEgbEKWdRnkWDZCCkpc

#BiodiversityLoss #RegAg #RegenerativeAgriculture #Pollution #Sustainability #FirstNations #FirstPeople

Research on stock-based regenerative agriculture: the carbon cowboys.

https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/tran.12555

#RegAg #Farming #regenerativeagriculture #veganic
#ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #Biodiversity #BiodiversityCrisis #BiodiversityLoss #Extinction

Arguing cattle replace bison is poor. They were never present on most of the globe. Hooves are different. We almost hunted bison to extinction and stock-based '#regenerative' #farming now seeks to maintain this unnatural environment. #regag #meat #vegan #climate #biodiversity

Stop this stock-based regenerative farming greenwashing. Stop bullshitting about cows replacing bison. If you wanted to replace bison, you'd argue for bison. You want a reason to keep farming meat while making it sound cosy and green. It's not. Tell the truth.

#RegAg #meat #plantbased #vegan #farming #veganic #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #Biodiversity #BiodiversityCrisis #BiodiversityLoss #Extinction

The pro-stock regenerative agriculture movement doesn't mention much about cattle burping significant amounts of the potent greenhouse gas, methane.

They say cattle sequestrate 'the carbon' in soils via manure. The methane was freed long before.

As for carbon in the soil, much of this is released by ploughing, even after many years in the soil, undoing benefits. No-till methods are not usually on offer anyway.

#permaculture #ClimateCrisis #RegAg #farming #sustainbility #soil

Regenerative agriculture might look good compared with industrial farming but:

- withholds land from nature.
- burping cattle > methane emissions > climate change.
- water use & pollution.
- medications in the environment, affecting wildlife.
- parasites & zoonotic diseases affecting wildlife.
- if roaming, grazing of wild plants.
- poo pollution.
- delaying systemic change to plant-based living.

You can't polish a turd.

#ClimateCrisis #RegAg #Nitrogen #Biogeochem #Plantbased #Environment