Regenerative agriculture: what do we want to regenerate?
We aim to restore the functions supporting life and production: the soil food web, soil structure, nutrient cycling and water management. Regenerative agriculture connects these functions with practices intended to increase soil carbon retention.
Restoring functions
Productive soil is a living ecosystem. Microorganisms and larger organisms work with plant roots in decomposition, nutrient cycling and the formation of soil structure. The Soil Biology Primer, co-authored by Elaine Ingham, presents these relationships as a foundation of soil health. Regeneration begins by caring for this living system.
Biology helps build structure
The Soil Food Web School explains how bacterial substances bind particles and organic materials into microaggregates. Fungal hyphae connect these into larger aggregates, leaving spaces for air, water and roots. Restoring soil life is therefore connected with structure, water movement and protection against erosion.
Caring for organisms’ habitat
Vegetation and organic residues protect the surface. Living roots supply organic compounds to microorganisms; plant diversity offers different foods. Reducing disturbance helps preserve their habitat. These principles link management with the food web and must be adapted to each field.
Compost, extracts and microscopy
Ingham’s approach connects biologically suitable compost with compost extracts and teas and examination of their biology. The School teaches material and pile management, preparation of liquid applications, and identification and quantitative estimation of microorganisms under the microscope. Applications should reflect both their biological contents and the condition of the soil being restored.
Practices and objectives
Newton and colleagues reviewed 229 scientific papers and 25 practitioner and organisation websites in 2020. Definitions described regenerative agriculture through practices, intended outcomes or both. Cover cropping, reduced tillage and livestock integration were practices; soil health, biodiversity and carbon storage were objectives. Linking the two helps us plan what to apply and monitor.
Following regeneration over time
We record a baseline and repeat comparable assessments. Microscopy reveals changes in sample biology; infiltration, structure, organic matter and nutrition measurements complete the picture. We connect applications with the functions we seek to improve and adapt management to results.
What was the initial soil microbiology? What changed after intervention? Was balance restored, and how can it be maintained? Research, education and field application progress together, centred on restoring and maintaining soil life.
Our field work
In Ionian olive groves we are developing research and applications to restore soil life, following the Soil Food Web School approach.