Activity 3.2 – Regenerative Agriculture Part 1.

 1.0 Introduction to Regenerative Agriculture

Regenerative agriculture focuses on the enhancement and restoration of the soil through sustainable farming. It is meant to use all aspects of farming to create conditions where the soil is kept as fertile as possible by relying on the earth's natural equilibrium. Through regenerative agriculture animal health, biodiversity, healthy soil, and sustainability can increase. By using regenerative agriculture we can also decrease greenhouse emissions which further helps our environment.

2.0 Explore the Facts

The way we are currently farming is causing detrimental damage to all life on earth. Normal cycles like the water cycle or carbon dioxide cycle aren't able to function as they usually would. Regenerative agriculture would be able to help take the stress off these cycles. Regenerative agriculture can restore previously dried-out lands by sustainably concentrating regrowth. This type of agriculture goes against what many farmers are taught, which is that you need to keep animal and plant farming separate.

3.0 Outline the Causes

One of the problems that prevent environmentalists from using regenerative agriculture on a large scale is because of resources. To encourage farmers to start regenerative agriculture, not only would they need the proper education. Along with education, they would also need new resources to switch out the current ones they are using. Resources like non-chemical fertilizers or organic feed for their animals often cost more than what a normal farmer can manage. Another issue is time, it would take the farmers some trial and error before being able to effectively use regenerative agriculture techniques.

4.0 Identify and Describe the Effects of the Causes

Without education, farmers might not be able to fully grasp the concept and be able to apply it to real-world situations. Poorly informed people could also worsen the environmental crisis instead of bettering it. Finding higher quality sources also has its own set of problems, oftentimes higher quality resources are very expensive especially when you're buying them in bulk as a farmer does. Currently, farmers use cheap products to sustain their businesses. 

5.0 Investigate Priorities

I would say the most pressing problem would be the cost of resources and time. I'm sure if farmers could buy higher quality and more sustainable resources they would. However, they can't afford to buy quality products because of their need to constantly produce goods. Time is also a big challenge because there's nothing you can do to control it, you can only hope to manage it wisely. It takes time to educate people and find better resources.

6.0 Delineate Application

I contribute to the problems above by the choices I make. I could buy directly or locally from farmers to ensure they are gaining as much profit as they can. I could have also started my small farm at home so that I wouldn't need to buy from a big corporation as much to sustain myself. However, I usually don't, which contributes to the reason why farmers can not afford higher-quality resources. This in turn means I can only buy lower-quality food because of the lack of beneficial resources farmers could've used to grow to produce.

7.0 Challenge to Your Thinking

My mindset has changed a little after watching the videos and learning more about regenerative agriculture. I initially thought it would be easier for farmers to grow following the regenerative method but then I realized that it takes a lot of time and resources that the majority of farmers don't have access to. I also assumed that regenerative agriculture was a “ low maintenance” farming style but I realized that it's a lot harder than it sounds. Moving forward I plan on buying from locally sourced farms to help the people within my community first as well as starting research into what types of plants or products are native to texas and start growing them in my backyard.


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