Regenerative Agriculture

Regenerative Agriculture is a set of farm management principles which put soil health at the centre of agriculture practise. Putting soil health at the centre of farming practices has many benefits including ecosystem services such as water filtration, nutrient cycling and increased biodiversity.

The concept of regenerative agriculture often involves reduced inputs and increased management to tailor inputs and operations to the soil’s requirement.

The Soil Regenerative Agriculture Group are focusing their work around the following principles:

• Minimise soil disturbance – help support a healthy soil food web.
• Maximise crop diversity – different crops bring different rooting depths and attributes, supporting a range of biodiversity both above and below ground.
• Provide constant soil cover – protect soils from wind and water erosion; reduces water loss.
• Keep a living root in the system – root exudates benefit microbial populations, supporting soil health.
• Integration of livestock – promoting species diversity from microbes to mammals and putting dung back into the system.

The key will be working out how we can integrate these five principles into a profitable business in Scotland.