Exploring the Definition and Nuance of Regenerative Agriculture at Wolfe’s Neck and Beyond
Written by Julie Bobyock
Regenerative agriculture encompasses practices that create healthier ecosystems, increase farm resiliency, and improve soil health–as opposed to practices that, for example, may extract nutrients from soil or use fertilizer that contaminates the environment. But regenerative agriculture strategies might appear differently depending on a farm or ecosystem type.
Just like ecosystems all over the world–from tropical forests to deserts, grasslands, and tundras–no two agriculture or farm systems function the same. Because there are multiple factors that affect the characteristics of farmland (such as geography, climate, ecosystem type, soil, and crop type), regenerative agriculture does not have an official definition; one practice that works on one farm may not work on another.
For instance, regenerative agriculture could look very different on an almond farm in California that has different soil, climate, and crops compared to a dairy herd in Maine. With different purposes (i.e., growing crops vs. raising cows), the farmers’ strategies each have unique strategies to keep the environment healthy. The dairy farm may practice rotational grazing to prevent soil and grass degradation, the almond farm may use recycled wastewater for irrigation to reduce water stress. Even though they’re both very different practices, both aim to build resilience and minimize environmental impact.
Regenerative agriculture can help sustain the use of farmland to prevent additional land clearing, can help keep carbon stored in the soil (as opposed to releasing it as carbon dioxide), and create an agroecosystem that is more resilient to climate change. But with such a loose definition, it can often be hard to measure and implement.
“Regenerative agriculture is largely born from the negative outcomes of conventional and industrial agriculture practices,” said Cortlandt Myerson, Founder of Why Regenerative. “Pesticide use, monocropping, tilling…these are some examples of conventional practices that degrade soil health and contaminate nearby ecosystems. Regenerative agriculture works to reverse this damage, or make sure it doesn’t happen in the first place.”
Why is it difficult to measure regenerative agriculture?
Unlike organic farming, which has strict and regulated rules, regenerative agriculture is based on principles (e.g. “minimizing soil disturbance” or “reducing fertilizer”). Without numerical guidelines or a clear definition, measuring the output of regenerative agriculture has proven to be challenging.
Another difficulty is that important aspects of regenerative agriculture, like soil carbon or soil nutrients, are notoriously hard to measure. One square inch of soil may differ completely in carbon and nutrients than another square inch a foot away, and these soil carbon and nutrient measurements could also change depending on the time, day, or season. So piecing together accurate and helpful soil metrics for a multiple-acre farmland takes an incredible amount of time and effort.
Since ecosystem function is context-specific and closely tied to geography, one technique that works well in, say, the Tropics might not work well–or even at all–in New England. This adds to the difficulty of measuring and defining regenerative agriculture, as each farm has a unique array of effective strategies and results. That’s why Wolfe’s Neck partners with regional farms to figure out how to best adopt regenerative agriculture systems that work for them.
What does regenerative agriculture look like? What does it look like at Wolfe’s Neck?
Many regenerative agriculture strategies focus on improving soil health, but there are practices that are relevant to protecting and improving all aspects of farmland and the surrounding environment.
For instance, to limit nutrient contamination of nearby ecosystems, a farmer may avoid chemical fertilizers and add nutrients to the soil in other ways–like adding nitrogen-fixing legumes to their farmland. This simultaneously reduces environmental impact and benefits soil health. Rotational grazing allows grass and soil to regenerate to prevent soil degradation and erosion. Growing different kinds of crops increases crop diversity, advancing farm resiliency as each type of crop uses and provides different nutrients and has different strengths and weaknesses.
Here at Wolfe’s Neck, we’ve adopted a systems approach to regenerative agriculture that is holistic, place-specific, and associated with improved agricultural, ecological, social, health, and economic outcomes. And we help farmers in the northeast do the same.
Our Northeast Farmers Fund is designed to support adoption of regenerative agricultural practices by local producers. By contracting with regional farms, we help farmers and managers see what regenerative agriculture could look like for them. For example, we might work with a local apple orchard to help strategize how to reduce waste from unsold apples or add specific nutrients into the soil without chemical fertilizers. Our experts also help identify and combat financial challenges that often come with large-scale changes to farm practices.
“The Northeast Farmers Fund really works to meet farmers where they are at when it comes to incorporating regenerative practices,” explained Maddie Delaney, Senior Manager of Market Development at Wolfe’s Neck.
“Our work with individual farmers can be in the field on the soil, figuring out what specific farming strategies may be beneficial to them, or helping them receive a specific organic or regenerative certification. It often focuses on market development as well, ensuring that their products are profitable. You could do all the good work in the world, but if the work isn’t communicated or doesn’t have market opportunities, then the money to continue the good work isn’t there. We want to make regenerative agriculture a practical reality that people want to and are able to choose.”
Demonstrating the potential and effectiveness of regenerative agriculture strategies is a critical component to helping them be adopted. Wolfe’s Neck’s fruit and vegetable production allows us to demonstrate a number of core regenerative agriculture practices in our greenhouses and small orchards. By showing the results of our strategies like crop rotation, integrated pest management, cover cropping and more, we visibly display the effectiveness of regenerative agriculture to farmers and the public.
Although regional agriculture may be very different from farm to farm, our goal is to meet farmers where they are at with an understanding that differences in geography and resources impact farmers’ connections to regenerative agriculture and to bring together stakeholders to share information and further knowledge in this area to advance the field.
