Farming for People and Planet: Why Regenerative Agriculture is the Answer

Gabe Brown is a farmer in North Dakota. He had a farm that was conventionally-managed—and struggling. The soil was eroded and depleted. But after embracing regenerative agriculture, he transformed his farm into a healthy, biologically rich, productive operation. His story is highlighted in a new brief, Regenerative Agriculture and Climate, from the Funders for Regenerative Agriculture (FORA).

The Mighty Arrow Family Foundation is a proud member of FORA, and we’re excited about an upcoming series of briefs, examining a number of issues connected to regenerative agriculture, that will be released in the coming months.

Regenerative agriculture is farming and ranching in harmony with nature. If industrial agriculture is solely focused on production and profit with a monoculture crop rotation, regenerative agriculture is aimed at nourishing people and the earth—protecting ecosystems, cultivating biodiversity and promoting equity—for long-term, sustainable benefits.

FORA’s first brief explains the connections between climate change and agriculture—and why regenerative agriculture is the climate-smart solution:

“Taking its cues from nature, regenerative agriculture creates the conditions for life above and below ground. Using photosynthesis and biology, it can restore and maintain the carbon cycle on land. Any amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) absorbed by trees, plants, and soils and subsequently stored has been removed directly from the atmosphere and will help alleviate climate change. It can also reduce methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from livestock production. Regenerative agriculture’s multiple co-benefits, including growing nutritious food, increasing soil health, and improving water, mineral, energy and nitrogen cycles, will play a significant role in adapting our food system to climate challenges.”

Solutions to climate change are solutions to a more holistic and healthy life for all of us.  Upcoming briefs will focus on other critical issues including Soil, Water, Racial Justice, and Rural Economic Health and Community Resilience. As FORA publishes them, you will be able to find them here. 

We hope you will check out this important series and be part of the transformational change we need in our food and agriculture systems. Gabe Brown is not alone in realizing our land management practices need to change.  We need his lessons from North Dakota to spread far and wide. Our Mighty Partners; the Ecdysis Foundation, Mad Agriculture, and the Regenerative Organic Alliance, are working to share technical skills with farmers across the US for a regenerative transition. 

We hope you will check out this important series and be part of the transformational change we need in our food and agriculture systems.