Trees Belong in the Regenerative Agriculture Story

Regenerative agriculture has arrived. What began as an outsider methodology practiced by pioneering farmers and championed by a handful of advocacy organizations has become one of the defining climate strategies of our time.

During Climate Week NYC in September 2025, regenerative agriculture was featured in roughly one hundred events out of more than nine hundred total, putting it among the five most discussed topics alongside artificial intelligence and energy transition. At COP30 in Brazil, twenty-seven dedicated sessions addressed regenerative agriculture, and Brazil launched the RAIZ Initiative, an ambitious global effort to restore 1.5 billion hectares of degraded agricultural land through regenerative practices. The question is no longer whether regenerative agriculture will reshape global food systems. The question is what we include – and what we leave out – as the movement’s boundaries are defined.

There is one significant omission in how regenerative agriculture is currently being framed that deserves urgent attention: the role of trees.