Regenerative Agriculture

Can drought tolerant Kernza alleviate Colorado’s water crisis?

Kernza intermediate wheatgrass Colorado’s Grand Valley and Western Slope regions are experiencing the driest stretch in the last 1,200 years, forcing farmers to look to alternative crops. Colorado State University’s Western Colorado Research Center is focusing on a perennial, intermediate wheatgrass strain that is particularly drought tolerant. Kernza, named by The Land Institute in Kansas, […]

Heifer launches Regenerative Agriculture Center

Heifer USA announced the launch of the Heifer Ranch Center for Regenerative Agriculture, highlighting its commitment to assist small-scale farmers in adopting science-based, environmentally friendly, and climate-smart practices. Heifer USA trains small-scale farmers in the United States in practices that help generate healthier land bases and economically viable farms, with promotion of regenerative farming—to mitigate drought, sequester carbon, […]

Op-ed: Some regenerative farms are weathering California’s unprecedented rainfall

In the face of intensifying weather patterns like the series of storms pounding the West, regenerative organic farms are demonstrating that the key to resilience is working with nature. By Ryan Peterson As California experiences a historic succession of winter storms, most of us will see extensive reporting on power outages, flooding, and mudslides. But […]

Ancient farming strategy holds promise for climate resilience

Nikoloz Lomsadze, senior pastor of a church in Dedoflis Tskaro, in eastern Republic of Georgia, looks over his field of mixed barley and wheat. He uses the mixture to make holy sacrament and church feasts. Credit: Alex McAlvay/New York Botanical Garden by Susan Kelley, Cornell University Morgan Ruelle was living in the remote mountains of Ethiopia […]

Reviving agroforestry for soil health, weather protection, and water quality

A “forest garden,” with rows of trees and shrubs interplanted with crops? Faced with climate change’s deleterious impact on growing food, sustainability experts are looking to agroforestry. This co-existence of trees and crops on farmland was common in earlier times. “The whole Eastern U.S. in pre-European eras had a lot of agroforestry. That was how […]