As concerns about climate change, soil degradation and food security intensify, regenerative agriculture is emerging as a promising solution for building a more sustainable and resilient food system. This farming approach, which emphasizes soil health, biodiversity, and ecosystem restoration, is gaining traction among farmers, scientists and consumers alike.
Regenerative agriculture refers to a set of farming practices that focus on restoring and enhancing the natural resources on which agriculture depends.
According to Kate Congreves (PhD), regenerative agriculture is an ecosystem-based approach to crop and livestock production, “practices that embody reciprocity with the land by supporting soil, plant and animal health, biodiversity, and by counteracting negative impacts of our inputs/influence on the system.”
Kate Congreves
Congreves is an associate professor in the College of Agriculture and Bioresources with the University of Saskatchewan (USask) in Canada, and was recently named Jarislowsky and BMO Research Chair in Regenerative Agriculture at the university. She leads research on understanding nitrogen flows, cycling and losses in crop production systems. Her program supports the adoption of beneficial production and environmental practices necessary for food security.
“As the new chair, Dr. Congreves will strengthen Canada’s agriculture sector by providing leadership in regenerative agriculture, working with producers to identify and evaluate best practices, and creating new teaching and mentoring opportunities for students,” said Angela Bedard-Haughn (PhD), dean of the College of Agriculture and Bioresources at USask.
Benefits of regenerative agriculture Advocates of regenerative agriculture argue that it offers numerous ecological, social and economic benefits. One of the most compelling aspects of this approach is its potential to combat climate change by sequestering carbon in the soil. According to recent studies, healthy soils can store significant amounts of carbon dioxide, which helps offset the greenhouse gases contributing to global warming.
Soil health is another major benefit. Practices that promote diversity (such as diversified crop rotations, cover cropping, integrated livestock) and safeguard the soil (such as reduced tillage) favour building soil carbon, rather than losing it. Healthy soils not only support more productive crops, but they also offer resilience during periods of extreme weather events like droughts and floods – events that are becoming more frequent due to climate change. Practices that promote soil health are also linked to creating more varied ecosystems that support a wider range of pollinators, insects and wildlife. This diversification can help reduce pest outbreaks and lower the need for chemical interventions.
Regenerative agriculture holds promise for creating a more sustainable form of agriculture in the future, one that maintains the interconnectedness of the ecological relationships that work together to create a healthy ecosystem, people and planet.
Congreves explains that “one of the more philosophical shifts that regenerative agriculture brings is its acknowledgment that agriculture is not separate from the environment, but that it is inextricably within it. Unlike traditional agricultural or environmental philosophies, which often treat nature and agriculture as separate entities, regenerative agriculture emphasizes the need to harmonize these elements. Regenerative agriculture could serve as a guiding philosophy, aligning agricultural production with environmental health.”
Challenges abound Despite the promise of regenerative agriculture, the transition to these practices is not without challenges. For many farmers, particularly those on a larger scale, the shift requires significant changes in how they manage their land and operations. For instance, practices like no-till farming or rotational grazing may require new equipment or infrastructure investments. In some cases, farmers may also need to adjust their expectations for short-term yields as the soil adapts to regenerative methods.
“One challenge is that the term is liberally applied, which dilutes the potential for creating authentic, meaningful and widespread change,” says Congreves. “Like other concepts before (i.e., sustainability or soil health), the term must first be clearly defined and carefully considered to enable progress via policy and/or collective action.
“Another challenge is the complexity. Regenerative agriculture embodies reciprocity with the land – not just a simple exchange, but rather a mutual benefit grounded in understanding ecological processing and functioning,” Congreves explains. “So, determining the right degree of reciprocation is rather complex. But, this is where the importance of ecosystem modelling comes in. Good modelling is built upon our knowledge and understanding the processes and interconnections of different ecological components and effects. So, top-notch agroecological science and modelling is necessary to inform the best practices and management on farm.”
Additionally, the science around regenerative agriculture, while growing, is still evolving. While some studies have shown promising results in terms of carbon sequestration and soil health, more research is needed to quantify the long-term impacts and understand how regenerative practices vary across different regions and climates.
Despite these challenges, the regenerative agriculture movement is gaining momentum worldwide. In addition to large corporations, non-profits and governments are increasingly investing in research and development to support regenerative practices. In the U.S., the Department of Agriculture (USDA) has launched several initiatives aimed at promoting regenerative techniques, including grants for farmers transitioning to sustainable practices. And countries such as Australia, Canada and the UK are also exploring regenerative agriculture as part of their climate and environmental strategies. In some regions, farmers are working together to form cooperatives and share knowledge and resources as they adopt these methods.
Is there an economic cost to implementing regenerative agriculture? “Enumerating the economic cost or benefit depends on the timescale we look at, how we delineate economic units, and what we consider as having monetary value,” notes Congreves. “Because regenerative agriculture is an ecosystem-based approach to crop and livestock production, it likely considers the monetary worth of non-market ecosystem processes.”
Back at USask, the Jarislowsky and BMO Chair in Regenerative Agriculture was established by a CA$4 million endowment with a donation of $2 million from the Jarislowsky Foundation, $1 million from BMO, and $1M from the USask Greystone Heritage Trust to significantly expand research capacity in regenerative agriculture at USask.
During the chair’s five-year term, Congreves’ research will inform sustainable nitrogen (N) management for healthy agroecosystems. As well, she will explore interdisciplinary collaborations with agricultural researchers in other areas of expertise such as water, livestock and health, and with social scientists, economists and philosophers to develop evidence-based recommendations.
“A promising strategy to design regenerative agroecosystems is the diversification of cropping systems,” says Congreves.
Understanding how diversification can tighten the N cycle for sustainable soil management and regenerative agriculture is a major focus. Congreves’ work explores the controls on soil N supply, N transformations, plant N uptake and N losses, and is aimed at better understanding the flow of N and its cycling in diversified agroecosystems.
While the movement is still in its early stages, it’s clear that regenerative agriculture has the potential to reshape the way food is produced, making agriculture not only more sustainable but also more restorative. The challenge now is to continue scaling regenerative practices, ensuring that farmers have the resources, knowledge and support they need to thrive in this new paradigm. With continued research, policy support and consumer advocacy, regenerative agriculture could play a pivotal role in creating a more resilient and equitable global food system. ●
By Lindi Botha
Chitin is a natural polymer found in the shells of crustaceans, which acts to protect and strengthen the fragile bodies of these organisms. Agronomists have for many years proven the benefits of including chitosan, a derivative of chitin, in crop production since the ingredient acts as a biostimulant and offers protection against harmful fungi, bacteriaand nematodes.
Now, two Argentinian scientists have taken chitosan one step further by developing it into micro-nanoparticles designed to improve the efficiency of agrochemical delivery. By their account, including this product in agricultural remedy formulations will make them so much more effective, that application rates can be reduced by 80 percent. This is since the chitosan micro-nanoparticles prime the remedy for optimal uptake, allowing the plant to fully absorb the full doses of inputs, be it fertilizeror pesticides.
Seeking a startup that could help them develop the product commercially, the two scientists, Claudia Casalongue and Vera Alvarez, partnered with business development specialist Matias Figliozzi. They founded Unibaio, the company that is seeking to bring their revolutionary product, Supercharge, to market within the next two years.
Prof. Dr. Claudia Casalongue
Waste to treasure Argentina’s coastline produces ample shrimp, and with it, ample waste once meat is extracted and the shells discarded. These shells are rich in chitin, from which chitosan is extracted, and has been used for decades in developing biostimulants for crops, water treatments, cosmetics, textiles and biomedicine.
Despite its ample use, shrimp waste in Patagonia and elsewhere continues to be a problem. Running out of raw material is therefore not a concern. Casalongue notes that Argentina alone consumes enough shrimp annually to provide the global herbicide industry with enough Supercharge for a year. “We could potentially create the demand to make Argentina’s shrimp waste disappear.”
While the company does not handle the raw waste itself, and does not source its ingredients from Argentina currently, they are working with a local company, and one in Australia to develop a commercially viable shrimp waste processing company to ensure stable, and partly local supply.
There is no residual waste afterthe process of extracting the chitosan, as any remaining material from chitosan production is soldas byproducts, like protein feedfor salmon.
The value of nanotechnology Casalongue has dedicated much of her life’s work to researching the benefits of chitosan in food production. One of her research projects proved the efficacy of chitosan microparticles in mitigating nitrogen deficiency. The study, conducted on tomatoes, showed that by including chitosan applications on tomatoes grown in nitrogen deficient soils, yield and quality levels remained on par with crops that had received optimal nitrogen applications. This is because the chitosan aids the plant to better absorb the nutrients that are available.
Chitosan also boosted chlorophyllin the tomato plants, improved seed germination, vigour index, and root and shoot biomass in tomato seedlings.
But to achieve the benefit inherent in Supercharge, Casalongue and Alvarez had to reengineer the chitosan to develop a micro-nanoparticle in powder form that could be added to agricultural remedies. The process to redesign the particle to get to the maximum reaction in the plant took over 10 years.
Well worth the effort, the resulting product solves a host of problems beyond the profitability benefit that comes with reducing inputs. Figliozzi believes that Supercharge is the answer to global pressure to reduce agrochemical use. “Governments world-wide are seeking to reduce or even eliminate the use of crop protection chemicals and herbicides like glyphosate. For many farmers, achieving an acceptable maximum residue level (MRL) means leaving crops unprotected. Since there have not been any new products on the market that can protect crops while maintaining acceptable MRLs, and it takes up to 10 years to develop new products, we need another solution.”
Matias Figliozzi
That solution, says Figliozzi, is Supercharge. “If we can reduce chemical applications by 80 percent, we reduce MRLs by 80 percent because it allows for a lower quantity of active ingredients to be used while maintaining the same efficacy. This reduction in chemical use directly translates to lower residue levels, helping farmers comply with stringent food safety regulations.”
Supercharge itself of course comes at a cost but Figliozzi states that its cost would not erode the gains made by using fewer chemicals. “Beyond reducing the quantity of traditional agrochemicals required, Supercharge can also save farmers money in labour costs by reducing the frequency of application times. Additionally, it helps to minimize yield losses and prevent deficiencies caused by reduced efficacy of traditional pesticides. This comprehensive approach ensures that even if products containing Supercharge is priced higher, the total cost of is still favourable due to overall input reduction, improved crop health, and labour efficiency.”
Commercial expansion While the product can be used on all crops, to improve uptake of all inputs, Unibaio is currently primarily focusing on fungicides for specialty crops as initial recommended uses for Supercharge. Figliozzi explains that these segments have been selected due to their high value and complex formulation needs, making them ideal for demonstrating the benefits of the technology.
Supercharge is primarily formulated as a powder that can be added to a farmer’s mixing tank. But Unibaio is also chasing a far bigger goal: product formulation integration. The company is collaborating with agrochemical companies to include Supercharge in product formulations from the get-go, reducing the need for a farmer to make an additional purchase and mix it himself.
Figliozzi says that including Supercharge in agrochemical product design, would scale the business much faster than going farmer by farmer. “When we reach an agreement with one of these big companies, overnight, we become part of sales worth billions of dollars.”
But reducing applications means reducing sales for agrochemical companies. Figliozzi however notes that with increasing global pressure to reduce chemical applications in agriculture, agrochemical companies are eager for sustainable solutions. “Chemical companies are seeking more sustainable versions of their pesticides that comply with increasingly stringent regulations and meet consumer demand for safer, more environmentallyfriendly products.”
Reducing inputs while maximising output is the holy grail in any business. For farmers, the pressure is growing to reduce their chemical footprints while producing ever more food for a growing population. Any solution allowing them to produce more with less couldn’t comesoon enough. ●
