Regenerative Annual Cropping
Building on conservation agriculture with additional practices, regenerative annual cropping can include compost application, green manure, and organic production. It reduces emissions, increases soil organic matter, and sequesters carbon.
Introduction
Regenerative agriculture enhances and sustains the health of the soil by restoring its carbon content. This improves productivity and removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Project Drawdown defines our Regenerative Annual Cropping solution as any annual cropping system (excluding rice production) that includes at least four of the following six regenerative practices: compost application, cover crops, crop rotation, green manures, no-till or reduced tillage, and/or organic production. These practices sequester carbon in soils and reduce emissions at modest rates, but have wide adoption potential and thus impressive mitigation potential.
Our regenerative annual cropping solution replaces conventional annual cropping as well as conservation agriculture. It incorporates the best of both conservation agriculture and organic/agro-ecological annual cropping. Conservation agriculture becomes more ecological with the addition of elements such as compost application, while organic agriculture is striving to move away from its strong emphasis on tillage. Both may be converging on the approach modeled here.
Scientists estimate that at least 50 percent of the carbon in Earth’s soils has been released into the atmosphere over the past centuries. Bringing that carbon back home through regenerative agriculture is one of the greatest opportunities to address human and climate health, along with the financial well-being of farmers.
Project ideas to get started
Traveling exhibition targeting farmers on the benefits of regenerative agriculture
Brand a local farmers market that only sells 100% regenerative agriculture produce
Map out local regenerative farms via a website or an app
Awareness campaign on defining regenerative agriculture
