Regenerative Food Systems vs Industrial Agriculture: Why We Need More Hands in the Soil

Industrial food systems are "extractive"

The industrial food system gives us cheap, convenient food. 

In the process, it damages livelihoods, soil health, eco-system health, bio-diversity, dignity, meaning, purpose and connections¹.

The industrial food system is like mining -- it extracts something of value and then sells it, without returning anything of value.

Regenerative food growing systems build rather than depleting -- they are "additive"

In contrast, regenerative food systems give us very expensive food, if you measure purely in dollar terms.

But the non-monetary value provided by regenerative food production systems is not measurable².

What we can do on a small scale

On a small scale, when we add a pot of herbs to a windowsill or gather edible weeds at our doorsteps or participate in a community garden, at least these four things happen to varying degrees:

• we get to eat food that grew right here, that we and/or our neighbors have been intimately involved with -- connections are built and strengthened
• our mental, emotional, and physical health improves 
• there's less waste
• we feel more dignified and more empowered

What happens on a larger scale when we support regenerative agriculture

On a larger scale, when we support farmers and food production systems that measure restoration and regeneration as part of their bottom line there are benefits for:

• livelihoods and community health,
• soil, water, and atmospheric health, 
• eco-system health,
• bio-diversity
• long term food security. 

We Need More hands in the soil 

Of course--I know--real food costs a lot to grow and is harder to afford than cheap food. Real food calls for there to be many, many more people with their hands in the soil. Real food, by definition, can't be produced cheaply. 

For each person who returns their hands to the soil, that's one more pair of hands providing for the closest few mouths, with no waste or destruction and more of all the good things that grow along with real food. 

Solving the food crisis calls for more people, not more technology

We have an ongoing food crisis -- obscene food waste and way too many people (in our own neighborhoods as well as on the other side of the world) with not enough to eat. 

We also have a climate crisis, a desertification crises, a bio-diversity crisis, social crises...

All these crises are connected -- to one another, and to food production. 

Regenerative food production interconnects with healthy, bustling, teeming, vigorous life. Industrial food production, on the other hand, results in disconnection, depletion, exhaustion, and ill health.

The idea that we can fix our food crisis by throwing bigger money, bigger tech, bigger machinery, or more bureaucracy at our food crisis is simply. Wrong.

I believe that in a nutshell, what we need to throw at our food crisis is people.

What kind of people?

They don't have to be smart, rich, or powerful. (In fact it might be better if they're not.) We just need people who care and who like growing food and who understand or are willing to learn some of the principles of regenerative agriculture, such as the Permaculture principle of "small and slow solutions."