Regenerative Agriculture

Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part series. Last week’s article was Organic - Does it Matter?

The Natural Resources Defense Council offers a simple definition of regenerative agriculture: “farming and ranching in harmony with nature.” The tenets of regenerative agriculture vary slightly from source to source. The following are, coincidentally, from the General Mills website:

• Minimize disturbance; This means reduce or avoid tillage and chemicals

• Maximize diversity (plants and animals)

• Keep the soil covered year-round; this helps prevent erosion

• Maintain a living root year-round: Soil eats carbon that’s photosynthesized by plants and pumped below ground. (Carbon sequestration!)

• Integrate livestock: Grazing supports healthy plants and soil

• Understand the context: One thing won’t work for every farmer, everywhere

When Marcus McCauley, Farm Director for McCauley Family Farm in Longmont talks about relying on nature’s wisdom to grow food, he can’t seem to keep the passion out of his voice.

“I was made for this. I come from a long line of healers and farmers,” he said. “This is an opportunity for me to weave together those two great lineages into one.”

He stooped to the ground to point out soil where livestock have recently grazed. It’s softer and has fewer cracks. Water can penetrate. “It’s obvious that the cow, the sheep, the bison, needs grass. It’s not as obvious that the grass needs them.”

While livestock get a bad rap in the world of sustainability, properly managed livestock actually help protect soil and even sequester carbon. “This prairie’s turned into a desert because the bison are gone.” McCauley said. “The good news is when you bring animals back to the land in the right way, you start to heal the land.”

Grazing stimulates root growth, which in turn promotes healthier microbial populations in the soil. And simply by walking on the earth, animals build what farmers call ‘soil armor,’ a layer of protection. Even the lowly chicken contributes, which is why, like all the animals at McCauley Family Farm, chickens live out their lives on pasture.

“Most people have never in their entire life eaten a chicken that’s lived its life on fresh green pasture,” McCauley said, as his chickens run through a grassy field. “They live under the Colorado sun and rain and they get to be a chicken. Run around, use their legs. Use their chicken genius for foraging.”

Aspen Moon Farms raises its cows similarly. You can sometimes see them alongside the LoBo Trail between Monarch Road and Highway 52.

Aspen Moon follows the principles of biodynamic farming, a form of regenerative agriculture with roots in Europe. Erin Dreistadt said the cow is very important to the biodynamic philosophy; the manure makes great fertilizer. She also talked about letting weeds grow year-round to promote the symbiosis between plants and soil.

“We want there to be lots of plants,” she said. “It’s all about soil life and having good microbial life and different bacterias.”

That’s Michael Moss’s philosophy, too. “In a healthy soil and plant ecosystem, the plants feed the biology through the roots and then the biology mines the soil to bring nutrition back to the plants.” But Moss, owner of Kilt Farms, cautions that the soil along the Front Range poses particular challenges.

“We’re a short-grass prairie,” Moss said. “It’s not that rich, loamy soil of the Midwest. In general, it’s not great soil and it gets abused.”

To rebuild the soil, Kilt Farms repeatedly tests for imbalances and employs a complex blend of compost, molasses, kelp and sea water. “Most importantly, I add biology,” Moss said. “It’s the biology in the soil that really helps the soil work.”

Regenerative agriculture is all about honoring the way nature works—restoring the seemingly magical relationships between the land and animals and plants and the tiny creatures that live in the soil. It’s not a label you’ll likely see in the grocery store. To find food from regenerative farms, you may need to know the farmer, or a grocer who knows the farmer.

Consumers can buy direct from these farms through farm stands or CSA’s—Consumer Supported Agriculture. A CSA allows customers to buy a share of the farm in advance of production. In the case of McCauley Family Farm, pick-up is once-per-month at the office just south of Nelson Road on 63rd Street. Bonus: the setting is idyllic.

Aspen Moon has a 650-member CSA and maintains a farm stand on Hygiene Road east of 75th Street. The farm sells at the Boulder and Longmont Farmers’ Markets.

Kilt Farm’s CSA is sold out for the season, but the Niwot Market and other select grocers carry the farm’s produce. They’ve also developed a program called “Farm Stand,” through which people can order online to buy excess harvest. “Seasonal eating shifts our diet a little bit,” Moss said. “You can’t get tomatoes in June.”

Of course, the extra care taken on these farms has a price tag. McCauley maintains the value is unmatched, because conventional farming’s actually more costly than we know.

“There are these other costs that are not accounted for.” McCauley listed the communal expenses that aren’t counted when we buy from less sustainable sources. “Public health and the environment—these are externalized costs. We improve our local environment. We improve people’s backyards. We sequester carbon and we provide the nutrients in their food that people’s bodies need to function correctly.”

Given the costs of the status quo, regenerative farming may turn out to be a bargain.