With some explanation help from memes. Although are they even cool anymore?
Regenerative agriculture is all about two main goals:
To reach these ambitions, regenerative farmers and gardeners use several key methods:
These practices allow farmers to repair the Earth and fight climate change. They believe in the power of regenerative agriculture and carbon sequestration. Their farms are part of the solution for a healthier planet.
If you take only one piece of information away from this article, let it be that building soil organic matter is the key to sequestering carbon.
Regenerative agriculture and gardening practices aim to increase the organic matter levels in soil through as many avenues as possible.
It comes down to what’s inside of this organic matter.
According to Nature, organic matter is composed of soil microbes and decomposed organic materials.
Microbes and decomposed organic materials are very carbon-rich. The more organic matter present in the soil, the higher the soil carbon levels (CSU).
Let’s talk about them for a minute, because they’re a big part of the carbon sequestration picture.
The soil microbes have a mutually beneficial relationship with plants.
As plants photosynthesize, they provide some of their sweet sweet carbon sugars from the atmosphere to the microbes. The microbes eat the carbon, and in reciprocity, provide plants with nutrients and extra hydration.
The microbes also feed on decomposing matter, such as roots left behind after annual plantings and organic mulch (J Sci Food Agric).
If the soil that contains the microbes stays undisturbed in the depths of the soil, the carbon that they eat stays buried (Front. Environ. Sci).
Soil microbiota are the unsung heroes of carbon sequestration. In fact, ****they are the largest factor of soil carbon storage levels.
And the carbon then goes on to enrich the quality of the soil and support more plant life. There’s a win-win situation here: the more carbon we sequester, the more fertile the soil is.
So a common theme that you’ll see throughout this article is how the practices of regenerative agriculture and gardening build soil organic matter, and that supports and increase in carbon capture.
Home gardeners and large-scale farmers alike can utilize the carbon sequestration powers of cover crops and mulching.
Not only do these two practices enrich the soil and boost soil health, but they also…you guessed it….sequester carbon.
Cover crops are kind of like the essential night shift worker, getting the important work done and sequestering carbon when the “cash crops” are at home sleeping (likely in the pantry).
When fields would otherwise have nothing growing - which means, no photosynthesis, no well-fed microbes - these plants step in.
Here's how cover crops help sequester carbon:
Cover crops also help prevent soil carbon release:
Mulching is like tucking the soil in with a cozy comforter. It's a simple act with profound implications for carbon conservation.
Mulch helps with carbon sequestration by:
Mulch also prevents soil carbon release:
Perennial crops play a key role in regenerative agriculture and carbon sequestration to create a greener future.
Since perennials live for many years instead of a single season, they have more carbon sequestration potential when compared with annuals.
Not only do they live longer, but their roots also expand deeper into the soil, which helps store carbon in more secure soil levels.
In fact, a recent study showed that perennial plants, when compared with annuals, stored 16-23% more carbon in the soil.
One way that regenerative farms utilize perennial crops is through agroforestry. This is a way of getting the best of both worlds - perennial trees and shrubs mingle with annuals in crop fields.
This allows farmers to grow their cash crop annuals, while also capturing more carbon in the soil. As a bonus, they can also get a cash crop out of the perennials that they plant.
A study found that the transformation from grasslands to agroforestry systems resulted a carbon sequestration increase of 37%.
Similar in principle to agroforestry, silvopasture integrates trees with livestock grazing areas.
A recent review paper shares how silvopasture can help to benefit livestock, farmers, and the planet - all at the same time.
Researchers found that carbon sequestration of silvopasture in the eastern US has the potential to be up to 25.6 Tg CO2 per year.
They looked at different systems, such as timber, nut crops, and fodder for livestock.
For example, pecan, chestnut, and walnut trees can be grown amongst livestock for edible harvests.
Mulberry and willow trees can be planted and branches harvested feed livestock, reducing feed costs and emissions at the same time.
Polyculture is the antithesis of monoculture. Instead of long lines of the same crop in large fields, polyculture mixes up plantings.
Recent findings show that when many different crops are interplanted together, more carbon is actually sequestered in the soil.
Polyculture has other benefits too: with increased biodiversity comes less pest pressure, less disease, and a more robust soil microbiome.
The process of making compost in and of itself reduces the amount of methane emissions that your food waste would create if sent to the landfill.
It also has another benefit fo your garden - it’s that amazing microbe-rich organic matter we’ve been talking about!
As organic matter increases, the plants are able to grow better and actually sequester more carbon.
In fact, a 19-year study found that in semi-arid soils, compost addition was a major component of carbon storage potential.
A study published in 2022 found that a transition from traditional livestock grazing methods to rotational grazing showed the biggest soil carbon sequestration potential on actively farmed land.
Like most things in regenerative agriculture, it starts with an increase of soil health. The USDA explains that rotational movement of livestock through different pasture sections means that areas of the land can rest and recover.
During this recovery period, the pasture can happily engage in photosynthesis while also extending their roots deeper into the soil. These two actions mean that more organic matter is integrated into the soil over time, which leads to an increase in sequestration potential.
The “rest” time period also means that the soil on any given area is not continuously being walked on by heavy livestock. MSU explains that this causes less soil compaction and less soil erosion, so less carbon is emitted.
Tilling and digging in the garden is the epitome of disturbing the soil, disrupting the soil microbiome, and exposing captured carbon back into the atmosphere.
This is why no-till farming and gardening is an essential part of carbon-smart strategies.
No-till gardens have other advantages, too - more water retention, robust fertility, and more soil microbial life.
Soil erosion is also caused by tillage practices. In fact, tillage was the main cause of the Dust Bowl nearly 100 years ago. So we are able to retain soil and prevent nutrient run-off when we go no-till.
Conventional farming utilizes synthetic inputs that contribute to climate change in major ways. With 300 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide is released into the atmosphere with the application of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers.
Organic inputs are kinder to the atmosphere, waterways, and landscape as a whole.
Also, organic inputs work WITH our soil microbe heroes to deliver nutrients to the plants. In contrast, synthetic inputs bypass the microbes all together, and as the microbes become unnecessary, their populations decrease.
Regenerative Tips for Small Gardens and Urban Settings:
Regenerative agriculture weaves together the threads of ancient wisdom and modern understanding to bring about significant change. As regenerative gardeners, we become stewards of the soil, and harvesters of atmospheric carbon.
Our individual efforts contribute to a collective impact on carbon sequestration and climate mitigation. This is more than just a farming trend—it's a vital movement toward healing our planet. Together, our local actions have a global effect, and pave the way for a regenerative revolution—one that begins with the very ground beneath our feet.
