regenerative agriculture

Regenerative Agriculture 1

Kazu Nozue

Tags: Gabe Brown

Regenerative Agriculture, sustainable firming we should pursue?

Regenerative agriculture (or Carbon farming) is what I’ve been looking for. I remember that I read “The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming” by Masanobu Fukuoka (in Japanse) many times in a university library when I was undergraduate student (35 years ago!). Since then I’ve been working on plant molecular biology, stepping on data science those days. The last year my favorite news podcast handled the regerative agriculture, which lead me to read “Dirt to Soil” (Gabe Brown), who were practicing regenerative agriculture 20 years. At the same time I have satared plant-fungi symbiosis work since the last summer. And I realized that plant-fungi symbiosys is one of keys in regenerative agriculture!

Here are six principles that Gabe has been doing.

  • 1: Limit Disturbance (no-til)

  • 2: Armor the Soil Surface

  • 3: Build Diversity

  • 4: Keep Living Roots in the Soil

  • 5: Integrate Animals

  • 6: Context

    Also the key of regenerative agriculture is measuring characteristics of organic matters and organism activities in soil by using Rick Haney soil testsing, which includes:

  • Water-extractable organic carbon (WEOC)

  • Water-extractable organic nitrogen (WEON)

  • Percent microbially active carbon (MAC)

  • Inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus levels

  • Organic nitrogen and phosphorus levels

  • Organic C:N ratio

  • One-day CO2 respiration

Rick was a USDA scientist and a guide of his test was found in a USDA website.

My current view of traditional agriculture

Fig. 1 traditional

Fig. 1. My current view of traditional agriculture. Magenta box indicate that activity is managed by fossil fuels. Red arrows indicate negative impacts.

My proposed view of regenerative agriculture, regenerative energy, and waste management

Fig. 2. Regen Ag + enerty + waste management

Fig. 2. My proposed view of regenerative agriculture, solar, and waste management. Magenta boxes indicate that activity are managed by fossil fuels. Red arrows indicate negative impacts. Green boxes indicate activities are managed by regenrative energy such as solar, wind, hydrogen, and hydro electric power. Note that carboy dioxyide emission has been reduced. I need to improve this by showing carbon is captured in the soil.