Walking the Talk? Regenerative Agriculture Against Climate Change

In recent years, regenerative agriculture has been gaining popularity. Businesses, NGOs and governments often refer to it in their sustainable development strategies. “Regenerative agriculture is not a new approach though,” explains Sonja Tschirren, Senior Advisor Climate Change at SWISSAID and co-author of a publication on the topic. However, if governments and businesses want to invest in this approach, they need to know what it entails, the expert emphasises.

As its name suggests, the approach aims to regenerate soils and restore biodiversity. Its core principles are very similar to those of agroecology: crop rotation and diversity, improving soil health, and avoiding chemical inputs. Furthermore, it should provide nutritious food for farming families and enable them to improve their livelihoods. Nowadays, the approach is also being used to combat climate change. Especially large companies hope that it will help them achieve their net-zero targets. In other words: regenerative agriculture is expected to contribute both to combatting climate change and solving the global food crisis.

The new publication titled “The Role of Regenerative Agriculture in Achieving Climate-Resilient Food Systems” shines light onto how regenerative agriculture is being implemented in the cocoa and coffee industries of Ivory Coast, Kenya, and Uganda. These sectors play a key role for several Swiss companies.

Based on interviews with businesses and civil society organisations, the findings are clear: regenerative practices like agroforestry can sequester carbon, facilitate soil health, improve biodiversity and reduce the use of chemical inputs. In short: regenerative agriculture has a lot of potential – when being implemented correctly.

However, there is a lack of clear definitions and transparent monitoring. This makes greenwashing more likely and tracking the progress of the projects difficult. Additionally, many farmers are often facing unfair conditions: they are not always involved on equal footing yet still must bear many of the risks involved in the sustainable implementation of renewable projects.

“Another problem lies in an excessive focus on soil or tree carbon storage. Many companies hope to generate or even sell carbon credits to offset their greenhouse gas emissions,” says Heitor Mancini Teixeira, co-author of the report and professor in the Department of Soil Science at the Universidade Federal de Viçosa in Brazil. In practice, this tunnel vision on the carbon market often fails to take sufficient account of the needs of farmers and gives the impression that the complex regeneration of ecosystems can be achieved with just a few measures. “Finally, the evaluation of the systems is faulty. The targets proclaimed by the companies and the few publicly accessible results sometimes do not match,” explains Prof. Heitor Mancini Teixeira.

Read our publication and watch our webinar. Short on time? Check out the summary of key points in English at the beginning of the publication or in French and German.