What is regenerative agriculture? According to the Oxford Dictionary, « agriculture » is « the science or practise of farming, including cultivation of the soil for the growing of crops and the rearing of animals to provide food, wool, and other products ».Considering that the adjective « regenerative » is used « relating to something growing or being grown again », it could seem like a bit of a pleonasm to use them both in the same expression. Indeed, the terms « regenerative agriculture » sound redundant since agriculture is supposed to regenerate nature/soil/agri-culture by definition. So, why is the tendency calling for that specific enhanced term in the agricultural field? We should also observe here that there have been various other similar approaches praised before, such as « biodynamic, sustainable intensification, sustainable agriculture, and agroecology », while the conservation agriculture movement has been advocating reducing tillage and improving soil […]

You may well wonder why anyone would suggest using less oil… The current price (17/06/20) of Brent crude is very low at US$41 and we are told that known oil reserves are sufficient to last over 50 years. However, it is important to take a longer term view in terms of your own particular farming business. Regardless of the oil reserves and the price, the coronavirus crisis has served to reinforce the increasing pressure of the last several years to use cleaner, natural energy in order to care for the environment, including people’s health. Before the crisis governments across the world were already developing policies to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and this will certainly continue. As of February 2020, 189 countries have signed up to the November 2016 Paris Agreement on climate change, which focuses on the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. Since then countries have been developing their […]

CSR covers the ethical and moral obligations of a business (farm or nonfarm) concerning the environment, its employees, the local community, competitors, the economy and any other factors that its business operations impact. CSR is an integral component of sustainable agriculture, which, among many other definitions, has been defined as progress with respect to four goals: Producing enough to satisfy human needs Enhancing environmental quality and protecting the natural resource base Being profitable Increasing the quality of life for farmers, farm workers, and society as a whole. It is clear from this definition that sustainable agriculture is actually not feasible without the active implementation of CSR. CSR has many benefits In terms of Large Scale Farming (LSF) there is much to be gained from the development of a realistic and practical CSR strategy, which is then integrated into your farm business operations. Targeting optimal long-term profits through wise resource management, […]

When deciding whether it would be to your advantage to change your farming model, it is probably helpful to briefly consider some of the factors that impact current and future farming practices. You need to determine why you might change your model and, if yes, to what exactly. Agriculture worldwide is succeeding in terms of production; however, this is not the case for sustainability. The production success, utilising conventional farming methodology, is harming the environment and public health and is not sustainable in the long term. Excess use of pesticides has actually caused a plague of resistant weeds, fertiliser runoff produces dead aquatic zones and monoculture systems diminish soil health. Across the world government support for agriculture is increasingly moving towards those activities which nurture the environment and, if your farm business is not already incorporating practices that facilitate environmental improvement leading to increased productivity. Perhaps now is the time […]