Is Regenerative Agriculture the Route to Self-Sufficiency?

Agriculture accounts for 23% of humanity’s global carbon footprint. In 2017, Scotland’s agriculture and agriculture-related land-use emissions were indeed about 23% of our net emissions, despite the low-carbon claims of some of our meat producers. These emissions were pretty much balanced by the carbon absorbed by our forests. That sounds good but, to put it another way, all the climate benefits of our trees were wiped out by emissions from our farms.

Current farming methods are ‘high-input’, depending on extensive use of fertilisers and pesticides and sterilising the land in the name of efficiency. James Rebanks remembers his grandfather’s tractor being mobbed by flocks of gulls as the plough turned over the rich earth to offer the gulls a feast of worms. Those days are past, but might yet return, as our understanding of soil science helps to inspire a blend of old and new methods – notably returning to traditional crop and grazing rotation cycles to maintain soil health and productivity without the need for artificial fertilisers.

Additional benefits of regenerative agriculture include increased soil carbon content, increased biodiversity, reduction or elimination of artificial fertiliser use, less run-off of soil and chemicals and reduced flood risk because the ground absorbs more water.