An Overview Of Our Solution
Many of the challenges that the planet is facing (climate change, pollution, invasive species, social unrest, human health problems) are directly related to our food production system. Due to agriculture’s footprint, regenerative food systems (those that promote soil health and biodiversity to produce nutrient dense food profitably) can be used to solve planetary scale problems. Our solution is to create a national network of centers for excellence in regenerative farming that combines scientific research, education, and demonstration to change the behavior of conventional farming communities. Early adopters act as the drivers of research and as mouthpieces for change within their communities. Relationships with these innovative farmers are our greatest asset, and together with our team of partners we are poised to usher in a paradigm shift in food production.
Who is this solution impacting?
Community Type
Rural
Additional Information
- Population Impacted:
- Continent: North America
General Information
Organization type
Nonprofit
Ecosystem (select all that apply)
Deserts
Forests
Freshwater
Grasslands
Oceans/Coasts
Population impacted
North America and beyond
Challenge
Size of agricultural area
from 1-10,000 ha
Production quantity
All
People employed
8 initial employees
Solution
Describe your solution
We have initiated a national network of centers for excellence in regenerative farming practices that will transform food production from the ground up. Regenerative agriculture uses food production systems to combat planetary problems through building soil health and restoring biodiversity to farms. Integral practices that support these concepts include eliminating or reducing tillage, never leaving the soil without cover, increasing plant diversity within the farmscape, and integrating livestock into annual and perennial cropping systems. These system-level changes increase biodiversity within the landscape, conserve rare and beneficial species, reduce pollution, and improve soil productivity. Not only do these solutions improve the nutritional quality of farm products, but by encouraging farmers to stack enterprises, they can be implemented profitably and increase the resilience of the farming operation and contribute to rebuilding our degraded rural communities. To promote regenerative farming systems, Ecdysis Foundation and the Blue Dasher Farm initiative is removing practical barriers through applied research programs that are driven by farmers on the front edge of regenerative practices. As successful systems are developed and optimized for particular regions, a comprehensive and innovative education and demonstration program is being strategically implemented to rebuild rural communities and change farmer and consumer behaviors.
Implementation
Describe your implementation
Our initiative is supporting the expansion of regenerative farming with three central strategies: science, education, and demonstration. First, cutting-edge, scientific research is being conducted to overcome production constraints in regenerative production systems, validate the relative efficiency of these systems, and understand the underlying factors driving success. This entails the establishment of a network of independent research facilities as critical infrastructure. On-farm research will be partially conducted by the farmers, ranchers, and beekeepers themselves. This participatory “citizen science” approach involves the producers in the research, encourages input and observation that will drive future projects, and results in a larger and more representative final dataset to validate research outcomes. Next, we have created an innovative education curriculum to train the next generation of producers in regenerative agricultural practices. Beginning farmers will be trained in systems-level approaches to food production through immersion workshops with some of the top agroecologists and practitioners. This approach provides a crucial support network to farmers as they are re-integrated into conventional farming landscapes. These “champion farmers” are the mouthpieces for changing their local communities. The curricula will also be made available via webinars, podcasts, other media outlets, and presentations at trade meetings, for producers unable to attend the workshops. Seeing is believing, and demonstration farms and field days will be an integral part of our outreach program. Ecdysis Foundation is only 1 year old, but we have already made major strides forward. Within 5 y, we expect to have the network of research/education/demonstration facilities well established, a strong infrastructure for conducting farmer-based, citizen science on farms, and to have directly trained hundreds of beginning farmers and ranchers in regenerative food production.
External connections
Reimagining our food production system along ecological principles is a huge task that influences many different communities. As mentioned above, one of the first groups that we have engaged are the innovative croppers, ranchers, beekeepers that are early adopters and leaders within their communities. These farmers are our most valuable tool now and into the future. As we transition to changing behavior in middle adopters, it will require that we expand the communities that are involved in instituting change. Not all of these communities are apparent, and this necessitates that we remain flexible in our inclusion and messaging, while retaining our integrity and mission focus. Some examples of groups with strong influence and that benefit from regenerative food production and vibrant rural communities that are or will be key partners include agricultural lenders, pastors and religious leaders, wildlife societies, community organizations, local and state governments, soil conservation districts, local and regional media outlets, federal agencies, etc. These changes to communities do not exist in a void; we have already formed relationships with Grassfed Exchange, National Wildlife Foundation, No-till on the Plains, Holistic Management Institute, American Honey Producers, American Beekeeping Federation, Quivira Coalition, Pheasants Forever, Threshold Foundation, Northern Plains Sustainable Ag Society, Green Cover Seed, and many others.
Results
What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?
The planet is facing numerous challenges; climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, social unrest, invasive species, and rising human health problems. Agroecosystems currently occupy 35% of the terrestrial land surface of our planet. Many of the planetary-scale problems are linked directly or indirectly to the simplification of food production systems. The productivity of these simplified production systems (e.g., monocultures of corn, feed lots of animals, acres of sterilized almond orchards, etc.) can only be maintained through agrichemical inputs that are costly to the farmer and the environment. We need a better way. The type of transformational, systems-level changes that we need in our food production systems must come from the ground up. And visionary farmers are already leading these changes. Nevertheless, there remains practical constraints and knowledge gaps that impede scaling and transferring regenerative principles to a wide swath of the farming community.
Describe the context in which you are operating
Our solutions to this challenge address an industrialized agricultural system. Crop diversity has diminished as more acres are devoted to corn and soybean production, which currently occupies approximately 60% of all crop acres (corn and soybeans currently occupy approximately 9% of the land surface in the lower 48 states). The number of confined animal feeding operations has increased steadily as the number of ranchers has declined. Simplification of farming systems results in higher cost of production per farm (an increase of 110% since 1997), fewer farms (by 5% since 1997), and larger farms (the proportion of farms < 200 ac has decreased by 5% since 1997). There is also an aging demographic and a decline of rural communities (the number of young farmers decline by 20% between 2007 and 2012). One response that we promote is that a growing number of farmers and consumers are interested in local and organic production, soil conservation practices and cover crops, and grass fed livestock.
How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?
We espouse familiar regenerative practices that promote biodiversity and improve the local environment that include cover cropping with polycultures, synergistic intercropping, adding complexity to crop rotations temporally, spatially, and structurally, and integrating diverse livestock communities into cropping systems at key periods. Pasture-finishing livestock using adaptive, multi-paddock (AMP) grazing schemes (grasslands are grazed intensively and allowed to rest for a prolonged period) are another important tool that we promote. A number of metrics support the impact of our 1st year efforts. We wrote 12 peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts on agroecology, had face-to-face contacts with 5,000+ farmers from around the world, hosted hundreds of farmer visitors at our demonstration farm, were awarded the Friend of the Farmer award by the NPSAS, and were featured in 3 documentary films as well as numerous mass media outlets. Our impact will continue to expand as this movement grows.
Language(s)
English, Spanish
Water
Water quality issues in rural and urban communities are directly tied to management decisions in farm production. Regenerative systems are inherently better suited for reducing water contamination. Dispersing livestock to reduce point sources of pollution facilitate biological degradation of animal wastes. By reducing tillage, less erosion and nutrient leaching occurs. Pesticides and chemical fertilizers are used at much lower rates (if at all) within regenerative food systems.
Food Security/Nutrition
Food nutrient density depends on healthy soils. The more nutrients available to a plant or animal, the higher the diversity of nutrients in our food. For example, grassfed beef has no subtherapeutic anitibiotics, higher Omega-3, Omerga-7, and CLA fatty acids, higher Vitamins A, E, and other antioxidants than conventional beef. Regenerative systems are better strategized to protect pollinators, reduce human health problems, and support rural communities, all elements of national security.
Economic/Sustainable Development
A current constraint on farm resilience is an overinvestment in a narrow range of commodities (corn, soybean, cows, hogs). Stacking enterprises onto individual pieces of ground, reducing input costs through conserving our natural resource base, and direct marketing farm products are all practices that our solution promotes. A recent project we conducted showed that regenerative cornfields had 10-fold fewer pests, equivalent corn yields, and twice the profit of conventional cornfields.
Climate
Carbon (C) sequestration depends on active photosynthesis and healthy soil biological communities. Our projections are that if we can encourage ranchers to devote 20% of rangelands to AMP grazing schemes, we can offset annual C emissions in the U.S. This stems from the resurgence of biological communities in rangelands that support C sequestration. Cover crops and intercropping are another way to increase the C sequestration capabilities of agroecosystems.
Sustainability
Small donations from around the world, farmers, beekeepers, ranchers, and supporters bankrolled much of the start-up costs for our first research facility and demonstration farm. Our business model is as resilient as the regenerative systems we promote. Operating costs are generated from donations, farm revenue, education revenue, and competitive research and education grants. Every element of our solution relies on our credibility and personal relationships. We exist solely because we are not just talking about changes, we are doing something bold. We are actually conducting the science needed to implement change. We are farming with these principles. We are coordinating education curricula. This first-hand experience is indispensable.
Return on investment
For each center, start-up costs are approximately $1 million, and will require a minimum annual budget of approximately $200,000. An endowment of $4 million for each center renders them financially independent for perpetuity. Specific research and education programs affect annual operating costs. Financial returns to society are enormous, and would include offsetting carbon emission costs, and reducing health care and pollution mitigation costs, etc. Financial gains for individual farmers that adopt regenerative systems are stark. In our first year, our demonstration farm netted approximately $500 per acre, which surpassed national averages and every one of my conventional neighbors. Almost everybody wins with a regenerative system.
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Replication and Scale
How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?
Regenerative principles apply to every food production system, and our goal is to change agriculture around the world, starting in North America. The Ecdysis Foundation solution is designed to be scalable and transferable. Changing our food production system to a regenerative model will require several elements. First is understanding that changes that we seek start locally, and have to be led by the farmers themselves. Demonstrating that regenerative systems are more resilient and profitable than industrial systems is key. While the principles remain constant, specific practices will have to be adapted to local conditions. Involving the correct leaders who possess integrity, credibility, and a diversity of skillsets is crucial. Changing the behavior of a society requires a multi-faceted approach that simultaneously addresses multiple communities. We have an answer for many of the challenges that our society faces: Regenerative Food Systems; now we have an answer to implementing it.