#178, In Practice, March/April 2018

Page 1

Healthy Land. Healthy Food. Healthy Lives.

MARCH / APRIL 2018

In Practice a publication of Holistic Management International

NUMBER 178

W W W. H O L I S T I C M A N A G E M E N T. O R G

Animal Agriculture is Regenerative Agriculture BY ANN ADAMS

I

t was disappointing to read in a recent web article at Civil Eats that Marin County, California supervisors are getting resistance from some factions of the local food advocate groups for allowing local animal processing facilities. Marin County is known as a hotbed of local and organic foods, so I was pleased to learn that the supervisors took that ethos seriously and granted permission for locally-run, small animal processing facilities to operate in the county (less than 20,000 birds for poultry and mobile slaughter facilities for larger animals). Those of us working in the regenerative agriculture movement know that the lack of processing facilities is a major sticking point for many communities working toward a local sustainable food system. But there are people who believe that animal agriculture is not as sustainable as plants and thus meat is not a sustainable food source. While they recognize there is a difference between confined animal systems and grass-based livestock systems, they still believe that you get more plants than animals per acre. Thus, as we worry about feeding 9 billion people, these individuals fall into the reductionist crop versus livestock trap. They do not consider the crop and livestock opportunity that regenerative agriculture offers. Consider the research done by USDA Agricultural Research Service on the Brown Ranch in North Dakota where they have been using no-till and polyseeded cover crops for many years to improve soil health from a less than two percent organic matter to over six percent in many places. They grow grain crops as well as forage crops for their livestock. Of particular import is the fact that when they began integrating their livestock into their crop fields to increase the fertility (naturally and sustainably rather than importing inputs on the farm), they were able to increase soil fertility and nutrients an almost additional 50 percent

from an already highly regenerative cropping system. Cropping alone (even done locally and organically) relies heavily on inputs (often from animals not owned by that farmer). Cropping can create the illusion of great production on small amounts of space, but the soil must be fed to produce at high nurture resilience, build diversity volumes and there is a question of how and where those inputs are created. Holistic Management is about moving past reductionist thinking Oct 31 - Nov 2, 2018 of agriculture as either cropping or Albuquerque, NM livestock to focusing on agriculture as a whole system in which living soil is the key to all life and all tools are considered in the regenerative management of that system. We hope that our readers will join us for the 2018 Regenerate Conference that HMI is hosting with the Quivira Coalition and the American Grassfed Association to learn more about these critical issues and how we can all help regenerate our lands and communities.

save the date ___________________________________________

REGENERATE

2018

INSIDE THIS ISSUE At the foundation, Regenerative Agriculture is about investing in soil health. Whether that investment is land management practices like holistic planned grazing or planting cover crops, the goal is to feed the life under the soil so that a diversity of life above the soil can be fed as well, with businesses and communities prospering sustainably. Learn more about the No Regrets Initiative’s efforts to invest in soil health on page 2.

INVESTING IN SOIL HEALTH


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
#178, In Practice, March/April 2018 by HMI - Holistic Management International - Issuu