Right after studying a little about biotechnology – see my “Crop Biotechnology Center At PhilRice, Nueva Ecija – What’s In It For Me?[1]” (03 October 2021, Tradition, Science & Sense, blogspot.com) – I have a new special love: Regenerative Agriculture (RA).
(Even as of this moment, noon of Monday, 04 October 2021, my wife Amparo has just been admitted at the hospital as a Covid-19 patient, I pray God regenerates her!)
To regenerate, says the American Heritage Dictionary, is “to give new life or energy to; revitalize[2].” This is what SoilsForLife of Australia says about RA
Regenerative agriculture is not a “one-size-fits-all” approach to farming or land management. It is principles and practices that enhance and restore strong, healthy ecosystems (like soils). Together, these have benefits for the farmer in terms of productivity and profitability, (have) long-term ecological benefits, and support a healthy agricultural landscape.
(regenerative agriculture image from SoilsForLife)
Now then, despite the protestation of SoilsForLife, I am borrowing from it and offer my one-size-fits-all definition:
Regenerative agriculture is farming that enhances and/or restores ecosystems (like soils) even as it helps workers of the fields grow healthy crops & livestock.
Using my definition and looking at SoilsForLife’s list (image above) of regenerative practices – such as “revegetation,” “time-controlled planned grazing,” “stubble retention and biological breakdown,” I see those experts looking at regenerative agriculture piecemeal and not as one complete whole framework.
As far as I know, and I have been “studying” anything resembling “natural farming” in the last 60 years, “organic agriculture” (OA) is only a beginning of RA – essentially, OA covers only “soil amendment.”
The country I see practicing credible regenerative agriculture is Australia, just Down Under the Philippines! Temperate or tropical, the inner & outer workings of RA should be the same or similar. As I have been thinking of injecting/introducing the practice of RA in the Philippines, I am looking for a sanctioned Australian visit as a guest farmer-documentalist for at least half a year, documenting small farming of crops and/or livestock, the knowledge collected to be shared in my country.
(Yes, ladies & gentlemen, I am a one-man band in the digital world: writer, editor, layout artist, and photographer. As an experienced blogger, I can easily upload digital materials on the Internet to share instantly. With a computer programmer, I can build a digital Knowledge Bank of regenerative agriculture for anyone on how to go about RA.)
ANN says (Author Not Named, 08 June 2021, “DA To Reinvent Agencies, Bureaus To ‘New Normal’[4]” DA.gov.ph), Department of Agriculture (DA) chief William Dar said on the occasion of the 69th founding anniversary of the Bureau of Soils & Water Management. an agency under the DA:
The “new normal” (requires) us to really reinvent our agencies, including our plans, programs, and activities to be relevant…
He mentions “regenerative agriculture” as one major focus of his department – and rightly so.
Regenerative agriculture – the DA working to encourage the fields literally to enrich themselves and thereby enrich Filipino farmers with their huge & healthy produce!@517
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