All over the internet, I see people self-identifying as practicing “regenerative” farming or agriculture.
When I first encountered this term, I understood it to refer generally to land-management practices that were not merely “sustainable” but also focused particularly on restoring soil health and ecosystem health and functionality more broadly.
But what I see online purporting to be “regenerative” includes plenty of annual monocrop agriculture, tilling, fossil-fuel powered farm equipment, importing inputs, application of chemical fertilizers and sprays.
To be fair, I also have seen folks doing small scale, diversified, no/low-till, perennial-focused agriculture. But a lot of it seems to be just a slightly kindler/gentler variation on the same-old energy-sucking, ecologically impoverished practices of yesteryear.
So does “regenerative” really mean something at this point? Or is it just the latest term co-opted for marketing purposes?
submitted by /u/ImpossibleSuit8667
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