Editorial

Should organic certification be the basis for Regenerative Agriculture (RA)? This question is being raised in organic circles, and in response to this Regeneration International, which emerged from the IFOAM movement, is arguing against it and in doing so has stated that there are four conditions that must exist in organic production. They are:

• Health. Organic agriculture should sustain and enhance the health of soil, plant, animal, human and planet as one and indivisible.

• Ecology. Organic agriculture should be based on living ecological systems and cycles, work with them, emulate them and help sustain them.

• Fairness. Organic agriculture should build on relationships that ensure fairness with regard to the common environment and life opportunities.

• Care. Organic agriculture should be managed in a precautionary and responsible manner to protect the health and well-being of current and future generations and the environment.

The IEA would subscribe to all four benchmarks and indeed so would the permaculture and biodynamics movements. Whether Holistic Management would is questionable but in essence there is common ground on these goals within the other organisations mentioned. However, the IEA would go further and assert that what emerges on the paddock is related directly to what is happening in farmers’ thinking. In this context the IEA maintains that RA argues for a holistic and systemic approach to decision-making with a focus on producing healthy ecosystems. The term regenerative is an inclusive term and therefore the organics movement doesn’t do itself a service by wanting to own the term. The word regenerate is a verb which offers an umbrella to all holistic forms of agricultural production that exist in Australia and around the world. Consider this dictionary entry:

Regenerate: revive, revitalize, renew, restore, breathe new life into, revivify, rejuvenate, reanimate, resuscitate, reawaken, rekindle, kick-start, uplift, change radically, improve, amend, reorganize, reconstruct, renovate, overhaul; informal: give a shot in the arm to.

Regenerative is an adjective describing a form of agriculture that seeks to regenerate. As I’ve written previously, the IEA is focused on the term ecological in our name believing that this term is central to our purpose. We often use the term Ecological (Regenerative) Agriculture to indicate we are regenerative because we are ecological.

It is always time for the IEA to review the directions it has set for itself, including now. Perhaps this is a question worth pondering: might we progress more convincingly in tandem with our fellow travellers? The presence of the term RA does allow the movements that have a stronger focus on holistic science to operate as one, not that the intent would be to lose the distinctiveness of a particular farming approach (e.g., organics) under the umbrella of regenerative agriculture. Each movement’s distinctiveness would continue. But by gathering under the one flag – holism – we would, collectively, add considerable bite, politically, on behalf of the regenerative approach. Such a move would assuredly impact on the unified body attracting a greater share of the research dollar and could add momentum to creating an educational course that specialised in regenerative agriculture.

Ecological agriculture is distinct from industrial agriculture in that it prioritises ecology as the foundational principle for producing food and fibre. The ecology of farming via a more ecological approach embraces the importance of the natural environment and its sensitivity to modern farming techniques involving chemicals. This form of agriculture is also known as Regenerative Agriculture. In these modern interpretations emphasis is placed on systems that connect and form patterns of inter-dependency. Our focus is on food production – but not food production that diminishes the ecosystem – and also on biodiversity, and the richness it provides to all forms of life.

We are committed to critically questioning the ecological integrity of human land use practices and the values and assumptions that shape the way we impact on the environment. We express concern for a declining environment and the harm done from current land uses on farmland and natural ecosystems. We foster holistic science and ecological thinking pathways as ways of improving the ecological well-being of the landscape. Our vision is of an ecological agriculture that is systemic, holistic and ethical, expressing bio-diverse landscapes with biologically enriched soils. Broadly speaking our focus is the environment as it applies to farming but as well to the natural landscape.

Your comment on this suggestion would be welcomed!

A voice from the UK on Regenerative Agriculture

The regenerative label is common in Australia and NZ but in the UK it isn’t or at least wasn’t. In a recent letter received from the President of the Sustainable Food Trust its Chief Executive Patrick Holden writes about Regenerative Agriculture being the future of agriculture rather than sustainable agriculture.

Here is the link to that letter:

A video treat

The following presentation offered through Emergence magazine expresses a message of connection and its importance to each one of us.

Recorded live at Shifting Landscapes exhibition in London last December, a conversation between Marshmallow Laser Feast’s creative director Ersin Han Ersin and Emergence’s Executive Editor Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee takes us inside the process of creating the immersive installation, Breathing with the Forest. Exploring the ways MLF projects bring together science and imagination to illuminate the hidden connections within the living world, Ersin speaks to the power of sensory engagement, wonder and awe to broaden our perception of more-than-human experiences.

Give yourself a treat and take this immersive journey. There are two pathways into this sensory imagining.

Pathway 1. Read the interview transcript in order to understand Ersin, the artist’s thinking behind the design of the audiovisual; then immerse yourself in the Breathing the Forest audiovisual.

Pathway 2. View Breathing the Forest first; then go back and read the transcript if you wish to know the backstory from the artist.

Emergence magazine produces an excellent series of podcasts on environmental matters not dissociated from philosophy. Sign up here. Or subscribe to their newsletter here.

Accreditation and the IEA

The link between sustainable agriculture and regenerative agriculture needs to be clarified. Whilst sustainable agriculture had its place in the 1980s and beyond, the value of the tag became diminished as organisations without any conscience about the environment and its health declared that they are sustainable as well. Think of Monsanto and Bayer, for example, and their claims of being sustainable. Perhaps they were in a financial sense but only if they could find ways of selling more chemicals. This trend led to the term greenwashing and the need to preserve the integrity of sustainable agriculture’s replacement term – regenerative agriculture.

As a means of insuring that greenwashing doesn’t get a foothold on regenerative agriculture, the Institute has developed an accreditation program that will ensure that educators and consultants/advisers provide advice that reflects the values and intellectual integrity associated with the regenerative approach. If you are interested in knowing more about the content and processes associated with accreditation, go to our website: https://www.ecoag.org.au/accreditation.

The Institute presently has 16 applicants intending to seek accreditation.

Chemicals in soil, plants, and a food wake-up call

As if there aren’t enough chemicals pouring into our soils and waterways and bodies, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has forecast sharp increases in the levels of 2,4-D in American food after regulators there approved new genetically modified (GMO) crops that tolerate being sprayed directly with 2,4-D. The agency said it expected use of 2,4-D ‘to triple’ after the introduction of these GMO crops. (The FDA report, Pesticide Residue Monitoring Program – Fiscal Year 2017 Pesticide Report, is available here.) Also, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved Dow Agroscience’s Enlist Duo, a mixture of glyphosate and 2,4-D for use on GMO corn, cotton and soybean seeds that Dow developed to tolerate the chemicals.

To appreciate the relationship between 2,4-D and human health go to the following link and scroll to the section on how 2,4-D measures up health wise.

A new broad spectrum bio-herbicide launched

A Victorian business is confident its new broad-spectrum bio-herbicide will lower reliance on conventional herbicide products. Bio-herbicides are based on living organisms such as bacteria or fungi, and proponents say they offer a less toxic means of weed control.

Contact Organics is launching its new product FireHawk in response to demand for non-toxic and effective herbicide products. Contact Organics Chief Executive Officer Frank Glatz said the product acted as a desiccant. ‘FireHawk works by stripping away the waxy outer layer of the weed sprayed and breaking its cell walls to desiccate and kill the plant. In addition to being an effective broad spectrum contact herbicide it is fully biodegradable, beneficial to soil microbiology and fertility, and does not allow weeds to develop resistance.’ Dr Glatz hopes to lower Australian agriculture's reliance on synthetic pesticides. ‘Using this product allows us to grow enough crops to not only feed the nation, but export goods which are an estimated $31.6 billion of Australia's agricultural output annually.’ However, Dr Glatz said there are alternatives being developed that are far more environmentally friendly. ‘At Contact Organics we are rethinking crop management and finding solutions to areas the industry is struggling with like cost structures for non-toxic weed crop management tools. At this stage smaller scale agricultural sectors such as viticulture are using it where it can be applied at a cost of around $100 a hectare. While there will also be a focus on home and garden applications Dr Glatz said there are there could be uses in the regenerative agriculture space and as an alternative in areas where there were weeds resistant to common conventional broad-spectrum herbicides such as glyphosate.’

Source: Farm Weekly and journalist Gregory Heard

Five stage conversion towards regenerative agriculture using agroecology principles

Agroecology is a way of redesigning food systems, from the farm to the table, with a goal of achieving ecological, economic and social sustainability. Through transdisciplinary, participatory, and change-oriented research and action, agroecology links together science, practice and movements focussed on social change. But what are the steps that are needed to transform food systems toward the ultimate goal of sustainability, and away from the negative environmental and health of impacts modern industrial agriculture?

In the journal, Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, Volume 40, 2016, Issue 3, Steve Gliessman, sets out five critical steps. Well worth a look. Read the article, ‘Transforming food systems with agroecology’ here.

And speaking of agroecology, here is a book worthy of more than a second glance. The book is Deep Time and the implications for a Sustainable Agriculture. Upon reviewing the book Miguel Altieri, Professor of Agroecology at the University of California, Berkeley declared:

This book is an urgent call to scale up innovative sustainable and resilient systems capable of providing food to the world population while preserving nature by restoring health of soils, the pillar of life in farms across the Earth.

The book’s author is Chris Alenson, former Lecturer in Organics at Charles Sturt University, Orange. He can be contacted on calenson[at]bigpond.com. (Replace bracketed text with the at symbol.)

News in brief

This is a new section that invites you to send information regarding news that our readers might like to see. Let’s keep the news flowing so the community of regen-interested people are kept informed.

1. Regen WA has released dates for its next major conference as the 18-19 September, 2025. The conference is held every two years for their members and wider industry, and provides open access to farmers and other practitioners across the industry forging the way in discovery and adoption of regenerative agriculture thinking and practices all over WA, Australia and beyond. Follow Regen WA on social media or head to their website for updates.

2. Regen10 is an exciting emerging global program to follow. Through their framework, they aim to establish food systems that are people-, nature- and climate-positive, with a clear method that can measure progress and assess whether the agricultural production transformation we need is on track. Browse the initiatives underway around the world on their Regenerative Landscapes Initiatives Map. Find out more here.

3. Pollination and Transformational Investing in Food Systems (TIFS), with support from The Rockefeller Foundation, have released a foundational guide for mobilising and scaling capital for the regenerative transition. Canvassing the market of available options for financing regenerative agriculture solutions, Financing Regenerative Agriculture offers insights from key market participants and provides interested stakeholders with a broad catalogue of the innovative regenerative financing instruments currently being deployed globally. Find out more here and here.

4. Student tour: Sixty regenerative agriculture students from Southern Cross University were out on farm recently as part of their field work learning about regenerative agriculture thinking and practices. More here.

If you have any newsbriefs about ecological (regenerative) agricultural thought or practice that you would like to share with our readers, send them to the Editor at kcochrane[at]ecoag.org.au. (Replace bracketed text with the at symbol.)

Join the Institute of Ecological Agriculture

If you are interested in joining the Institute, then the pathway to doing so is simple. Just go to https://www.ecoag.org.au/membership and fill out the form.

If you are not sure about joining but would like to receive the Newsletter, go to https://www.ecoag.org.au/news and fill out the form.

If you are not sure about the IEA and need reassuring, best go to our Position Statement and see what it says: https://www.ecoag.org.au/position-statement.

If you are interested in becoming accredited within the framework of ecological or regenerative agriculture, please visit the following: https://www.ecoag.org.au/accreditation.

Sharing the good oil!

The Newsletter needs to circulate through the Australian rural community. It provides a different and important worldview on farming. Help the organisation to grow by circulating it to your friends or to people whom you think would benefit from it!

Editor: Kerry Cochrane
Design & Presentation: Tony McKenzie