Regenerative Agriculture

Learn Regenerative Agriculture

Improve the asset value, profitability and sustainability of a farm.

Learn to design a regenerative response to mitigate different problems on degraded agricultural land.

Who is this Course for?

• Farmers, Farm managers, Property owners
• Agriculture Professionals - including consultants, media professionals, etc
• Professionals from related industries -Environmental sciences, land management etc
• Teachers, academics, farm industry services
• Anyone else with an interest or passion for the subject

Lesson Structure

There are 10 lessons in this course:

1. Scope and Nature of Regenerative Agriculture
   • Environmental impacts of traditional agriculture
   • Pollution - land and water
   • Greenhouse gas emissions
   • Decreased biodiversity
   • Why regenerative agriculture matters
   • Sustainable agriculture versus regenerative agriculture
   • Principles of Regenerative Agriculture
   • Corporate initiatives
2. Functional and Integrative Level Systems
   • Functional regenerative agriculture
   • Improving soil health
   • Soil microbiome and soil health
   • Regenerative practices
   • Cover crops
   • Zero tilling
   • Rotating crops
   • Organic composts
   • Synthetic inputs
   • Carbon sequestration
   • Organic carbon
   • Integrative regenerative agriculture
   • Design and redesign
   • Permaculture ideas embedded in a system of regeneration
   • Energy flow
   • Imbalances
   • Wildlife habitat considerations
   • Increasing biodiversity
   • Increase biodiversity below ground
   • Increase biodiversity above ground
3. Integrative and Evolutionary Level Systems
   • Introduction
   • Systemic level
   • Case study
   • Humans in the ecosystem
   • Social impact
   • Antifragility concept
   • Adaptive and agile
   • Creating a microclimate
   • Capital inputs
   • Evolutionary level
   • Storying land
   • Supply chains/ Supply webs
   • Supply webs and big agriculture
   • Defining a bioregion
   • Defining an agroecosystem
   • Connect the land to its larger agroecosystem and bioregion
4. System Inputs: Climate, Topography, Nutrients
   • Climate
   • Pressure, temperature, rainfall
   • Soils and climate
   • Topography - soils and slopes
   • Broad ranging topography
   • Soils and parent material
   • Soils and nutrition
   • Nitrogen
   • Nitrogen cycle
   • Nitrogen fixation
   • Ammonification
   • Nitrification
   • Phosphorus
   • Potassium
   • Fertilisers - synthetic, organic
   • Organic materials
   • Plant material
   • Dead animals
   • Manure
   • Garbage
   • Hay, straw, paper, sawdust
   • Carbon
   • Biochar
   • Mineralisation
   • Chemoautotrophic organisms
5. Soils and Soil Regeneration
   • Introduction
   • Soil types
   • Soil classification
   • Soil horizons
   • Organic matter
   • Soil absorption
   • Soil desorption
   • Introduction to soil health
   • Presence of organic matter
   • Facilitate water resilience
   • Permeability
   • Balance & Diversity in the microbiome
   • Life forms
   • Monocultures and threat to soil and crop health
   • Approaches to regenerate soil and improve soil health
   • Cover crops
   • Limited disturbance - no or low tillage
   • Controlled traffic farming
   • Carbon retention
6. Livestock and Grazing Management
   • Introduction
   • Integrating livestock
   • Habitat restoration
   • Assisting carbon sequestration through grazing and increasing photosynthesis
   • Pest control
   • Reducing impacts - soil compaction, tillage, animal control
   • Effects of regenerative grazing on biodiversity
   • Challenges
   • Compaction
   • Aquaculture
   • Regenerative grazing management
   • Rotational grazing
   • Orchard grazing
   • Holistic planned management
   • Organic livestock management
   • Complimentary Grazing
7. Agroforestry and Silvopasture
   • Introduction to agroforestry
   • Incorporating trees and perennials
   • Benefits of agroforestry
   • Silvopasture
   • Silvoarable
   • Value of trees in agriculture
   • Carbon sinks
   • Carbon credits
   • Agroforestry and regenerative agriculture
   • Erosion control
   • Lowering water tables
   • Windbreaks
   • Timber, firewood
   • Fodder
   • Honey production
   • Wildlife habitats
   • Firebreaks
   • Increased rainfall
   • Challenges of agroforestry in regenerative agriculture
   • Financial considerations
8. System Outputs: Social, Economic and Global Trends
   • Sustainability and maintenance
   • Potential outcomes of regenerative agriculture
   • Physical outcomes
   • Increase crop health and resilience
   • Improve soil health
   • Create circular system
   • Carbon sequestration
   • Improve social and economic wellbeing of communities
   • Improve food nutritional quality and human health
   • Food access and security
   • Improving food safety
   • Increasing farm profitability
   • Socio economic communities influencing adoption of agroforestry
   • Carbon economics
9. Implementation and Whole Farm Planning
   • Implementing a regenerative agriculture system
   • Assessing natural components
   • Analysis and planning
   • Topsoil
   • Water
   • Determining business opportunities
   • Developing a business case
   • Cash flow
   • High cash flow crops
   • Long term crops
   • Cash flow concerns
   • Marketing direct to the customer
   • Organic vs non organic
   • Support and funding
   • Goal setting and planning
   • Introducing and monitoring change & Project Management
   • Benefits of Sustainable change
   • What factors impact on sustainability goals
   • Project managing regenerative agriculture
10. Special Project (PBL) Regenerative Agricultural Enterprise Proposal

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

• Discuss the scope and nature of different regenerative agriculture initiatives.
• Describe key components of functional and integrative level regenerative systems.
• Describe key components of systemic and evolutionary level regenerative systems.
• Describe agricultural system inputs and their effects.
• Describe soil types and soil regeneration practices.
• Explain how livestock is utilised in agricultural regeneration and discuss associated animal management processes.
• Explain the significance of agroforestry in regenerative agriculture and describe practices of silvopasture
• Explain outcomes of agricultural regeneration in relation to social and economic well-being whilst acknowledging global trends.
• Describe implementation of regenerative agricultural systems in business, demonstrate critical thinking and decision making in farming.
• Examine a hypothetical farming scenario and propose strategies underpinned by regenerative agricultural principles.

Regenerative agriculture calls for a change in mindset away from a linear model of production to a connected web of interactions. 

It is a system of farming principles and practices that seeks to rehabilitate and enhance the entire ecosystem of the farm. 

• concepts and approaches of regenerative agriculture are gaining increasing popularity.
• principles of regenerative agriculture are to restore landscape function and deliver results
• regenerative agriculture incorporates sustainable farm production, an improved natural resource base, healthy nutrient cycling, increased biodiversity, and resilience to change.

HOW DO YOU START MOVING TOWARD REGENERATIVE FARM PRACTICES?

A big part of regenerative agriculture is about soil health. This means that when starting out, people often begin by focusing on soil restoration techniques and soil health, but these basics are only the beginning of building a regenerative agriculture enterprise.

Regenerative agriculture farms or systems can be set up to function in the long-term such that the enterprise runs entirely, or almost entirely, on these principles of land restoration, regeneration, and integrative agroecology.
Of course, this takes significant planning, and, to some extent, investment. It is important to note, though, that because regenerative agriculture is about getting back to the land, many of the needs of the system can be obtained at a relatively low financial cost if the agriculturalist is willing to put in labour time. The initial mapping and design work for a whole-farm enterprise, however, can be costly, though this is often mitigated by savings later.

Perhaps the most important thing to consider when transitioning to a regenerative agriculture system is that how the farm earns income will change. Modern industrial farming with food products is heavily focused on cash crops and one-year to two-year harvest cycles. Regenerative agriculture set ups are generally a combination of short-term cash flow and long-term investment crops, which work together to create an agroecosystem that works well with the bioregion while keeping the farm profitable. This means that it is necessary for the new practitioner to change their financial mindset toward farming and be willing to explore and experiment with a multitude of possibilities until they find the best combination of crops and services to meet their farm’s individual needs.

Although one of the major tenets of regenerative agriculture is restoration of soil, regenerative agriculture as a system is about working with nature rather than against it. This means that careful mapping, analysis, and planning are essential to implementing a regenerative agriculture system. In many ways, this work can mimic a restoration approach to conservation and restoration of damaged ecosystems.

The first step in transitioning to a regenerative agriculture system is to assess the:

• land
• surrounding ecosystem
• bioregion 

START BY LEARNING - THEN APPLY THAT LEARNING

Trying to change farm practices before you properly understand what you are doing is a sure way to waste both money and time; and risk doing irreparable damage to a farm.

Take your time. Do the study first. Reduce risk.