I Can See That IRRI Needs Help Getting Off The Ground Its Own Program On “Regenerative Agriculture” – PACS Scientists To The Rescue!

Unfortunately, my digital searches tell me that “Regenerative Agriculture” (RA) is one that managers and scientists of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) have yet to talk about. The environmental beauty of RA was conceived by Robert Rodale in the 1980s yet – given Climate Change, what have IRRI scientists been advising farmers about rice agriculture better and brighter?

In the meantime that IRRI people are busy with their old-age duties addressing Chemical Agriculure (CA), let us remind them of their new-age duties addressing Regenerative Agriculture – today introducing them to the group calling itself Philippine Association of Career Scientists (PACS). They have a Facebook page with that name in full, but the page does not yet have much information on the group and the members – and how they see themselves helping research & development (R&D) in Philippine agriculture.

Today, here’s helping PACS and IRRI! Notably, IRRI has as much as ignored RA that Bayer brought to its attention 4 years ago in an international conference (see my 06 June 2024 article “IRRI, At 64 Years Of Age, With Regenerative Agriculture, It’s Time To Regenerate Yourself!” Communication For Development Of Vibrant Villages, blogspot.com).

I have been corresponding with Doc Evelyn Gergon, Treasurer of PACS, who showed me the first time we met the PACS book on its membership – heavy print materials and heavy reading for non-scientists! That was the reason she came to me for help in producing a readable book attractive even to the non-scientists.

Above, pasted on the original image (from bing.com), my comment reads: “Can national PACS assist international IRRI in saving rice agriculture?” Thus, I’m trying to inspire the members of PACS to come up with proposals, plural, to push any number of the following Regenerative Agriculture principles & practices (my selection, from Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org):

Alternative food networks, such as the spatial proximity between farmers and consumers.
Aquaculture
Ecological aquaculture
Regenerative ocean farming
Agroecology
Agroforestry
Biochar/terra preta
Borders planted for pollinator habitat and other beneficial insects
Compost, compost tea, animal manures and thermal compost
Conservation farming, no-till farming, minimum tillage, and pasture cropping
Cover crops & multi-species cover crops
Home gardens
Regrowing vegetables
Keyline subsoiling
Livestock: well-managed grazing, animal integration
Grass-fed cattle
Natural farming
Natural sequence farming
Organic annual cropping and crop rotations
Perennial crops
Ponding banks, also known as “grading banks”
Permaculture design
Polyculture and full-time succession planting of multiple and inter-crop plantings
Silvopasture
Soil food web.

The above Wikipedia list is a total of 103 words without elaboration – I shortened & edited the original. In any case, Wikipedia is showing that in regenerative agriculture, you have no reason not to improve your farming for your family and your community – and the rest of the world!

Regenerative agriculture is a conservation and rehabilitation approach to food and farming systems. It focuses on topsoil regeneration, increasing biodiversity, improving the water cycle, enhancing ecosystem services, supporting biosequestration, increasing resilience to climate change, and strengthening the health and vitality of farm soil.

Thank you, Wikipedia!@517