Regenerative Agriculture

Regenerating rural communities with regenerative agriculture

By Jonathan Lundgren, Blue Dasher Farm Recently, I read a book called From the Hidewood (Robert Amerson 1996), about the Hidewood Valley where Blue Dasher Farm operates. It was set in the late 1930s, a time of tremendous change in so many aspects of rural life in South Dakota. Farms in the 1930s and early […]

Climate change being fueled by soil damage—report

A key strategy for reducing climate change focuses on restoring soil, a new report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) emphasizes. Soil contains three times more carbon than the atmosphere, and deforestation and farming practices are releasing that carbon. Soil erosion, compaction, over-watering, and building on top of soil are […]

Farmers are excited about soil health. That’s good news for all of us.

Before switching to no-till, farmer Gary Hula described the soil as having the consistency of flour. Just four years later and the structure and moisture in the soil is undeniable. Photo courtesy USDA/Flickr

Why General Mills wants supply chains to become regenerative stewards of the environment

In order to address global challenges from climate change, population growth, and depletion of natural resources, U.S. food giant General Mills has made a major commitment to regenerative agricultural practices on one million acres by 2030. General Mills believes that regenerative agricultural practices that build soil health will not only benefit farmers but also reduce […]

Wendell Berry’s Right Kind of Farming

The farmer, essayist and poet Wendell Berry has long argued that today’s agricultural practices are detrimental to ecology, community and the local economies that farms once served. A native Kentuckian, Mr. Berry has written over 40 works of fiction, nonfiction and poetry, and has received a Guggenheim fellowship, the National Humanities Medal and the Richard C. Holbrooke […]