Delivering regenerative agriculture in practice: a farmers-led prioritisation for net-zero

Regenerative agriculture has been promoted as a nature-based solution to protect, restore and sustainably manage agricultural ecosystems. However, more research is needed on the interactions between practices and their scalability and adaptability to farm-specific conditions. For this purpose, it is important to place farmers at the forefront. This project aims to explore and prioritise regenerative agricultural practices that can deliver net zero from a farmers’ perspective. The project will identify regenerative agricultural practices that can promote soil C storage and reduce GHG emissions while enhancing productivity. Farmers will be then asked to evaluate those practices to determine the required farm system applicability, success factors and scalability potential. This will allow the prioritisation of regenerative practices based on their potential to support UK agriculture transition towards net-zero.

Project lead: Karen Rial-Lovera (Royal Agricultural University)

Project collaborators: Jonathan Brunyee (Conygree Farm), Emmanuel Zuza (Royal Agricultural University), Lisa Morgans (Royal Agricultural University)

Findings

• When assessing regenerative agriculture, it is crucial to consider stacking multiple practices to achieve wider outcomes. Focusing solely on one goal, such as net zero, restricts the scope and can obscure other key benefits, such as biodiversity and productivity.
• Regenerative agriculture outcomes are context-dependent – location, climate, farmer mindset.
• A combination of practices that can deliver long-term C sequestration was ranked with the highest potential to deliver net zero, e.g. silvopastoral system with ruminants in a rotational grazing with permanent pasture.
• Single practices ranked high on their scalability, but lowest on their contribution to net zero, e.g. Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
• Peer-learning and support, financial incentives, clear business vision, adaptability and long-term resilience were highlighted as key factors for success.

Suggestions for further research

• How to support peer-learning and financial incentives that help adoption of regen practices.
• Evaluation of ‘staking-practices’ and their outcomes considering their context dependency.