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Regenerative Food Systems

Grow Positive

Meet food producers tackling climate change and restoring nature with regenerative outcomes at the heart of their practices.

August 01, 2023

Regenerative Food Systems We must invest now to shift to a food system that restores nature instead of depleting it. © Johnny McClung

Food producers across the globe are showing that it's possible to nourish a growing population while restoring nature. Whether in Africa, China, India, South America or the United States, producers are addressing their shared challenges of drought, flooding, erosion and poor soil health with similar, scalable solutions.

Through regenerative production practices like agroforestry, aquaculture, cover crops, no-till, no-burn and many others, these producers are leading the way to transforming the global food system from one that's extractive to one that's restorative.

It is through the hands of these producers—and the policies and funding mechanisms that support them—where a nature-positive future will come to fruition. 

Producers Protecting & Restoring Our Lands

A woman holds cocoa leaves in her hand while smiling
Forest Cocoa Project Rosely Alves Dias, a farmer in São Felix do Xingu © Extreme-E
A man holds a shovel while planting a tree on hillside
Evan and Linda Potter As part of the Land for Life collaboration, the Potters are planting thousands of trees on their farm to slow erosion, improve freshwater quality and build climate resilience. © Hawkes Bay Regional Council
A man wearing a cowboy hat smiles at the camera
Dan Probert Dan Probert is one of many ranchers working to preserve and protect the Zumwalt Prairie in Northeast Oregon. © Padraic O'Meara
A woman holds cocoa leaves in her hand while smiling
Forest Cocoa Project Rosely Alves Dias, a farmer in São Felix do Xingu © Extreme-E

Brazil

Forest Cocoa Initiative

Rosely Dias, a rural producer from the Brazilian Amazon, almost gave up her low-yielding farm. But after transitioning to agroforestry practices, she saw how productive and restorative her small farm could be. Today, she is part of the Forest Cocoa Initiative and produces cocoa and other natives species, generating income for her family while restoring the Amazon.

A man holds a shovel while planting a tree on hillside
Evan and Linda Potter As part of the Land for Life collaboration, the Potters are planting thousands of trees on their farm to slow erosion, improve freshwater quality and build climate resilience. © Hawkes Bay Regional Council

New Zealand

Land for Life

Evan and Linda Potter have farmed sheep, beef and venison in Hawke's Bay for about 25 years. As part of the Land for Life collaboration, the Potters are planting thousands of trees on their farm to slow erosion, improve freshwater quality and build climate resilience. And they're hoping to inspire more farmers across the region to do the same.

A man wearing a cowboy hat smiles at the camera
Dan Probert Dan Probert is one of many ranchers working to preserve and protect the Zumwalt Prairie in Northeast Oregon. © Padraic O'Meara

United States

Common Ground

Lightning Creek Ranch owners, the Probert family—led by Dan and Suzy Probert—have teamed up with The Nature Conservancy, Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) and The Climate Trust to ensure their 12,225-acre ranch will be managed to benefit both ranching livelihoods and the native habitat and wildlife it supports. The Proberts sold an agricultural conservation easement on the property that will prohibit conversion of native grassland, while allowing the property to be used for livestock grazing that follows a grazing management plan.

Land

Producers Protecting & Restoring Our Waters

A woman smiles wide while looking to left of the camera
Irene Mumiria Irene Mumiria stands in front on napier grass she planted to help reduce erosion on her farm in Maragua, Kenya. © Roshni Lodhia
Man checks on a red irrigation pump timer in this field
Water Management Growers like rice farmer Kotton Guest have found that using new irrigation timers (pictured) save them time in the fields, money--and precious water resources. © Jason Whalen | Fauna Creative
A woman looks down at her seaweed harvest.
Sustainable Seaweed Bikombo Rashidi Ali is part of a sustainable seaweed program in Zanzibar, Tanzania, a country where 80 percent of seaweed farmers are female. © Roshni Lodhia
A woman smiles wide while looking to left of the camera
Irene Mumiria Irene Mumiria stands in front on napier grass she planted to help reduce erosion on her farm in Maragua, Kenya. © Roshni Lodhia

Kenya

Collecting Water & Reducing Erosion

Irene Mumiria used to have trouble making any profit from the vegetables she grew on her small farm in Kenya. Then the Upper Tana-Nairobi Water Fund showed her how rainwater collection and terracing could help with irrigation and preventing soil erosion, and her farming improved drastically. Now, Irene is an inspiration to other farmers in the area.

Man checks on a red irrigation pump timer in this field
Water Management Growers like rice farmer Kotton Guest have found that using new irrigation timers (pictured) save them time in the fields, money--and precious water resources. © Jason Whalen | Fauna Creative

United States

Timing Is Everything

Arkansas rice farmer Kotton Guest recently installed timers on his irrigation pumps to help conserve water. Kotton is one of 30 farmers who've installed these timers across the Delta of Arkansas, hoping to collectively conserve 9 billion gallons of water each year. Kotton says, "I love this land. I love farming, and I love helping to feed people. If we’re smart, we’ll be able to keep the water—and the rice—flowing for many generations to come."

A woman looks down at her seaweed harvest.
Sustainable Seaweed Bikombo Rashidi Ali is part of a sustainable seaweed program in Zanzibar, Tanzania, a country where 80 percent of seaweed farmers are female. © Roshni Lodhia

Tanzania

Sustainable Seaweed

Bikombo Rashidi Ali is part of a sustainable seaweed collaborative in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Seaweed farms—with the right practices, in the right places—can help restore ocean health, while supporting economic development and food production in coastal communities worldwide, a collective set of gains annually worth billions of dollars to people and nature.

Water

Producers Healing Our Soils

A young woman sits on a farm equipment in wheat field
Smart seeder in the field Amandeep Kaur stands on top of the Smart Seeder, a new machine that retains the benefits of Happy Seeder and gives better yield than Super Seeder. Smart Seeder was allotted to some select farmers, including Amandeep by Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana for testing on their farm. © Smita Sharma
A man stands smiling in a golden wheat field
Si Zhanxin After implementing conservation tillage practices across his wheat farm, Si Zhanxin has seen his yields increase by 10-20%. © TNC China
woman and man stand in front of a green tractor
Kristin and Pat Duncanson Farmers in Mapleton, Minnesota, Kristin and Pat have worked hard over the years to make their operation more sustainable. © Dudley Edmondson
A young woman sits on a farm equipment in wheat field
Smart seeder in the field Amandeep Kaur stands on top of the Smart Seeder, a new machine that retains the benefits of Happy Seeder and gives better yield than Super Seeder. Smart Seeder was allotted to some select farmers, including Amandeep by Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana for testing on their farm. © Smita Sharma

India

The Burning Problem

Progressive farmers like Amandeep Kaur are leading the transition to no-burn agriculture across rice and wheat farms in Northwest India. Amandeep is among the growing number of farmers who are adopting regenerative practices, implementing crop diversification and/or investing in machinery—such as the Happy Seeder, Super Seeder and Smart Seeder, which directly seed wheat into rice stubble. These practices eliminate the need to burn crop residue—improving soil health, reducing carbon emissions and protecting ground water supplies.

A man stands smiling in a golden wheat field
Si Zhanxin After implementing conservation tillage practices across his wheat farm, Si Zhanxin has seen his yields increase by 10-20%. © TNC China

China

Using Less to Do More

After implementing conservation tillage practices across his wheat fields, Si Zhanxi has seen his crop yields increase by 10-20%—and he's also using less water, less fertilizer and less financial resources. Conservation tillage is a practice that covers 30% or more of the soil surface with crop residue, after planting, and helps reduce soil erosion and increase moisture retention and resilience to severe weather events.

woman and man stand in front of a green tractor
Kristin and Pat Duncanson Farmers in Mapleton, Minnesota, Kristin and Pat have worked hard over the years to make their operation more sustainable. © Dudley Edmondson

United States

Growing Solutions

Kristin and Pat Duncanson own and manage Highland Family Farms with two of their children, Gabe and Ben. The family has incorporated cover crops and has advanced no-till and low-till practices. After 10 years, they're seeing results. Monitoring efforts have shown that planting cover crops has increased the amount of nutrients held in the soil and organic matter on their farm. All of this helps the soil better retain water when it needs to and drain when it doesn’t. This is a win for them, the crops, the soil and nearby waterways.

Soil

The weight of climate change and biodiversity loss is heavy—and the urgency in which we need to tackle both is anxiety producing. A global survey of 10,000 young people ages 16 to 25 showed their negative feelings about climate change are causing psychological distress. 

That’s why the hope, optimism and orientation on solutions offered from these producers is so important. Solutions to the climate and biodiversity crises exist, and many of them are within the global food system. These solutions have the potential to halt deforestation, increase food security and restore the health of our lands, fresh water systems and oceans. 

But, these producers require support as they help build a food system that is currently degrading critical ecosystems to one that regenerates and restores the planet. We must invest in them, elevate their voices and scale the solutions they are leading.

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