1. Regenerative Agriculture: Reversing the Climate Arrow Tom Newmark | SRI Conference | 11.10.2016

2. What’s at Stake We are about to run out of topsoil worldwide.
REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE CAN QUICKLY REBUILD TOPSOIL.
We are about to slip into irreversible climate change.
REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE CAN REVERSE THAT VIA CARBON SEQUESTRATION.
We are about to lose adequate water to sustain human societies.
REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE CAN RECHARGE OUR WATER CYCLE.
Topsoil: WE MAY ONLY HAVE ENOUGH SOIL TO FEED JUST THE NEXT GENERATION.
Irreversible climate change:
Even when we have a zero net energy system – that’s only half the solution. The accumulated CO2 in the atmosphere will still doom the climate.
We need to remove – sequester -- that carbon from the atmosphere.
Water:
Food, water, climate are interlinked. The climate crisis fuels the water crisis – and regenerative agriculture an recharge our water cycle.
BUT ONLY IF WE HAVE ENOUGH ACREAGE USING REGENERATIVE PRACTICES!

3. Healthy soil can vacuum
carbon out of the atmosphere.
But only if we have enough acres under regenerative practices!

4. Regenerative Agriculture: Defined
Farming and grazing practices that reverse climate change by rebuilding soil organic matter while also restoring degraded soil biodiversity.
We need a definition of regenerative agriculture to avoid the misappropriation or misuse of this key term.
We need make sure “regenerative” doesn’t become the next “natural” or “sustainable.”
A group of thought leaders in the regenerative space has drafted a definition that we think starts the conversation and points the marketplace in the right direction.
What is Regenerative Agriculture?
September 21, 2016
Draft created by Dr. Tim LaSalle and colleagues at Regenerative Agriculture Initiative, California State University – Chico and The Carbon Underground
“Regenerative Agriculture” describes farming and grazing practices that reverse climate change by rebuilding soil organic matter while also restoring degraded soil biodiversity.
Specifically, Regenerative Agriculture regenerates or builds fertile topsoil, primarily through the practices that increase soil organic matter. This not only aids in increasing soil biota diversity and health, but increases biodiversity both above and below the soil surface, while increasing both water holding capacity and sequestering carbon, thus drawing down climate damaging levels of atmospheric CO2, and improving soil structure to reverse civilization-threatening human-caused soil loss. Research continues to reveal the damaging effects to soil from tillage, chemical applications, and carbon mining that modern agriculture has super-imposed on a living biological system. Regenerative Agriculture reverses this paradigm to build for the future.

5. Regenerative Agriculture: Core Practices
Restore soil with compost/microbes
No till/minimal tillage
Plant multi-species cover crops
Crop rotation & intercropping
Borders for bees/beneficial insects
Well-managed grazing pastures
Reunite crops & animals
Eliminate:
Mono-cropping
Synthetic fertilizers & pesticides
Animal feedlots 5 5

6. Building Soil Organic Matter: How Long Does It Take?
Mississippi – 1.0% - 4.2% (4 years)
New York – 1.5% - 4.1% (5 years)
Kansas – 1.6% - 3.9% (5 years)
Nebraska – 2.1% - 5.5% (6 years)
Michigan – 2.2% - 6.1% (6 years)
Wisconsin – 2.3% - 5.0% (4 years)
Source: Dr. Allen Williams 6

7. I’m a Biodynamic Farmer, BUT …
I believe that regenerative “organic” is the gold standard
But “regenerative” is a separate qualification, much like “Fair Trade” or “Project Verified under the NonGMO Project”
And if the definition imposed a requirement for organic certification, consider how that would limit the potential outreach
Since, both in the United States and for the world, certified organic status describes less than 1% by acreage all crop and livestock production.

8. Soil Carbon 0 - 10cm 150% 10 - 20cm 243% 20 - 30cm 317% 30 - 40cm 413%8

9. Drought: Tale of two Cassava Fields
Conventional Filed - Regenerative Field

10. Using Soil to Reverse Atmospheric CO2: Grasslands
Global grasslands, managed regeneratively can absorb 315 Gt of carbon over the next 10 years
1ppm CO2 ~ 2Gt C
315 Gt C = ppm CO2
CO2 now = close to 400 ppm
400 ppm – ppm = ppm
242.5 ppm is less than pre-industrial level of 280 ppm!
Source: Dr. Christine Jones 10

11. Using All Arable Land -- Dr. David Johnson,
“Best case scenario … it would take 21.98% of total ARABLE land to capture all anthropogenic CO2 emissions. … Satellite data has observed approximately 22% of arable land area is FALLOW at any time.”
-- Dr. David Johnson,
University of New Mexico
We can do this IF we shift to regenerative agriculture at speed & scale! 11 11

12. The question we must ask ourselves: How much net CO2 did we sequester
The question we must ask ourselves: How much net CO2 did we sequester? That’s the scorecard on which we’ll be judged. That’s the existential challenge for humanity.

13. What’s truly at stake! 13