#regenerativeagriculture — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #regenerativeagriculture, aggregated by home.social.
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We are calling upon everyone to join and support us in making a more meaningful difference in training communities and schools through #agriculture to eliminate #hunger as well as conserving our #environment to make the earth a better place for #everyone to live.Any form of the support is meaningfull.
#photography #linux #fediverse #mastodon #ClimateAction #FoodForAll #plants #gardening #sustainability #regenerativeagriculture #vegetables #nature #biodiversity #ecology #veganism #vegans #health -
Hello #Farmers ,it is a next chance today to train and teach young people the purpose of #foodproduction to #endhunger in our communities.
We have to increase awareness about #agriculture and #nature conservation to everyone to make our #planet a better place for #everyone to live.
#ClimateAction
#Photography #hunger #regenerativeagriculture #mastodon #zerohunger #plants #farming #socialimpact -
And if you want to go the scientific route, it seems that boiling may help to concentrate urea -- but do it outside!
Also, fresh urine is best to dillute and use in one's garden... After time, urine changes into ammonia and then would not be good for one's plants!
This is definitely a topic I've done a bit of research about, and will dig deeper into for #SolarPunkSunday!
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And if you want to go the scientific route, it seems that boiling may help to concentrate urea -- but do it outside!
Also, fresh urine is best to dillute and use in one's garden... After time, urine changes into ammonia and then would not be good for one's plants!
This is definitely a topic I've done a bit of research about, and will dig deeper into for #SolarPunkSunday!
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And if you want to go the scientific route, it seems that boiling may help to concentrate urea -- but do it outside!
Also, fresh urine is best to dillute and use in one's garden... After time, urine changes into ammonia and then would not be good for one's plants!
This is definitely a topic I've done a bit of research about, and will dig deeper into for #SolarPunkSunday!
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And if you want to go the scientific route, it seems that boiling may help to concentrate urea -- but do it outside!
Also, fresh urine is best to dillute and use in one's garden... After time, urine changes into ammonia and then would not be good for one's plants!
This is definitely a topic I've done a bit of research about, and will dig deeper into for #SolarPunkSunday!
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And if you want to go the scientific route, it seems that boiling may help to concentrate urea -- but do it outside!
Also, fresh urine is best to dillute and use in one's garden... After time, urine changes into ammonia and then would not be good for one's plants!
This is definitely a topic I've done a bit of research about, and will dig deeper into for #SolarPunkSunday!
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Waste Not: How to Safely Use #Urine in Your Home #Garden.
"Using Urine to Feed Plants
Not many people talk about it, but lots of home gardeners do use their pee in their gardens. This practice is centuries old. Some gardeners will use it around fruit trees, or in their flower gardens. Some add it to their compost piles, or to strategically placed straw bales that later get added to compost piles or used to mulch vegetable beds.
Worried about the smell? Read below about dilution. Any smell will dissipate within minutes of application."
#Urea #Fertilizer #Gardening #SolarPunkSunday #RegenerativeAgriculture #ZeroWaste
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Waste Not: How to Safely Use #Urine in Your Home #Garden.
"Using Urine to Feed Plants
Not many people talk about it, but lots of home gardeners do use their pee in their gardens. This practice is centuries old. Some gardeners will use it around fruit trees, or in their flower gardens. Some add it to their compost piles, or to strategically placed straw bales that later get added to compost piles or used to mulch vegetable beds.
Worried about the smell? Read below about dilution. Any smell will dissipate within minutes of application."
#Urea #Fertilizer #Gardening #SolarPunkSunday #RegenerativeAgriculture #ZeroWaste
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Waste Not: How to Safely Use #Urine in Your Home #Garden.
"Using Urine to Feed Plants
Not many people talk about it, but lots of home gardeners do use their pee in their gardens. This practice is centuries old. Some gardeners will use it around fruit trees, or in their flower gardens. Some add it to their compost piles, or to strategically placed straw bales that later get added to compost piles or used to mulch vegetable beds.
Worried about the smell? Read below about dilution. Any smell will dissipate within minutes of application."
#Urea #Fertilizer #Gardening #SolarPunkSunday #RegenerativeAgriculture #ZeroWaste
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So, reading about a #Fertilizer shortage... Specifically, #urea. Um, urea can be made with urine. That's the difference between #BigAg and #RegenerativeAgriculture -- utilizing "waste" in an efficient and sustainable way.
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2026 Garden Trends Grow Food, Save Money, Share https://www.allforgardening.com/1588094/2026-garden-trends-grow-food-save-money-share/ #EdibleLandscaping #FoodForests #FoodSecurityMinnesota #FruitTreesMinnesota #GardeningTrends #GrowingFoodInMinnesota #HomesteadingMinnesota #MinnesotaGardening #NatureBasedSolutions #OrganicGardening #PerennialGardening #permaculture #PermacultureDesign #RegenerativeAgriculture #ShawneeGrows #shawneegrows #SoilHealth #SustainableFoodSystems #SustainableGardening #UrbanFarming #WinterGardeningMinnesota #ZeroWasteGardening
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🌱🌍 Kuatro Marias Agroecology Farm in Oriental Mindoro, Philippines, is a living example of integrated, chemical-free farming. Since 1998, it has combined crops, livestock, aquaculture, seed saving, and farmer education to build soil health, biodiversity, and climate resilience—while empowering local communities 💚🐓🐟
👉 Find out more: https://agroecologymap.org/l/399
#Agroecology #OrganicFarming #IntegratedFarming #FoodForest #SeedSaving #ClimateResilience #CommunityFarming #RegenerativeAgriculture
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🌱🌍 Kuatro Marias Agroecology Farm in Oriental Mindoro, Philippines, is a living example of integrated, chemical-free farming. Since 1998, it has combined crops, livestock, aquaculture, seed saving, and farmer education to build soil health, biodiversity, and climate resilience—while empowering local communities 💚🐓🐟
👉 Find out more: https://agroecologymap.org/l/399
#Agroecology #OrganicFarming #IntegratedFarming #FoodForest #SeedSaving #ClimateResilience #CommunityFarming #RegenerativeAgriculture
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🌱🌍 Kuatro Marias Agroecology Farm in Oriental Mindoro, Philippines, is a living example of integrated, chemical-free farming. Since 1998, it has combined crops, livestock, aquaculture, seed saving, and farmer education to build soil health, biodiversity, and climate resilience—while empowering local communities 💚🐓🐟
👉 Find out more: https://agroecologymap.org/l/399
#Agroecology #OrganicFarming #IntegratedFarming #FoodForest #SeedSaving #ClimateResilience #CommunityFarming #RegenerativeAgriculture
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🌱🌍 Kuatro Marias Agroecology Farm in Oriental Mindoro, Philippines, is a living example of integrated, chemical-free farming. Since 1998, it has combined crops, livestock, aquaculture, seed saving, and farmer education to build soil health, biodiversity, and climate resilience—while empowering local communities 💚🐓🐟
👉 Find out more: https://agroecologymap.org/l/399
#Agroecology #OrganicFarming #IntegratedFarming #FoodForest #SeedSaving #ClimateResilience #CommunityFarming #RegenerativeAgriculture
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🌱🌍 Kuatro Marias Agroecology Farm in Oriental Mindoro, Philippines, is a living example of integrated, chemical-free farming. Since 1998, it has combined crops, livestock, aquaculture, seed saving, and farmer education to build soil health, biodiversity, and climate resilience—while empowering local communities 💚🐓🐟
👉 Find out more: https://agroecologymap.org/l/399
#Agroecology #OrganicFarming #IntegratedFarming #FoodForest #SeedSaving #ClimateResilience #CommunityFarming #RegenerativeAgriculture
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https://www.evshift.com/356800/how-honda-and-farmers-advance-carbon-removal-for-healthier-air-and-soil/ How Honda and Farmers Advance Carbon Removal for Healthier Air and Soil #Advance #air #carbon #CarbonCredits #CarbonRemoval #CoverCrops #decarbonization #ElectricCars #ElectricVehicles #EV #Farmers #farming #Farmland #healthier #Honda #HondaSustainability #ReducedTillage #RegenerativeAgriculture #removal #soil #SoilHealth
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The new face of British #leather – how #RegenerativeFarming is reshaping fashion
British Pasture Leather’s MADE WITH collection is a collaboration connecting farmers, designers, and makers to restore value to the land and everything that grows from it – Caroline Garland explores whether these materials could provide a compelling alternative to conventional leather
Tuesday 28 October 2025
Excerpt: "What Grady and Robinson are offering is a compelling alternative to conventional leather. The global leather industry currently relies on factory farming, toxic tanning chemicals, and untraceable supply chains that are harmful to both people and planet. Industrial tanning often uses #chromium and other hazardous substances that pollute waterways and expose workers to toxic chemicals. It’s about as far away from nature as you can possibly get.
"Robinson elaborates: 'As a designer, you don’t have the choice to work with a material that has a connection to agriculture or a specific part of the food system that you wish to support. After my own collection, I found there really wasn’t a way to work with a similar type of leather that offered that provenance that opportunity to connect to landscapes and farming communities.'
"Grady adds: 'If we are raising animals for food, we should use all parts of those animals meaningfully. We put so much care into raising them thoughtfully, prioritising welfare and #ecosystems and when transformed into leather, it’s the part that endures. I realised we don’t look at leather as an agricultural product, but we should be able to make that distinction and bring the same values we bring to our food choices.' "
Read more:
https://www.independent.co.uk/extras/indybest/fashion-beauty/the-new-face-of-british-leather-how-regenerative-farming-is-reshaping-fashion-b2845046.html#SolarPunkSunday #AnimalProducts #VegetableTanning #RegenerativeAgriculture #BiodegradableLeather
#Microplastics #Pleather -
#RegenerativeAgriculture Goes Mainstream
by Jan Lee Jul 10th 2025
"The world’s hottest year on record may also mark the beginning of the end for carbon-intensive, conventional farming. Several factors have converged to bring regenerative practices into the mainstream, while a new study demonstrates that farmers can produce just as much food while improving land productivity by transitioning away from conventional practices.
"#RegenerativeFarming first hit headlines as part of '#LivingSystemsThinking' in the 1960s, later gaining interest among health-conscious foodies when the concept was popularized by food author #MichaelPollan. Today, techniques such as #CoverCropping and integrated pest management are being embraced not only by #environmental activists but also by multinational food companies. The difference is that now, this approach is celebrated for its practical effectiveness in maintaining a consistent food supply in an era of #ClimateChange-driven supply shocks."
Read more:
https://earth.org/regenerative-agriculture-trends-and-impacts/#FoodForAll #SolarPunkSunday
#Agroecology #RegenerativeFarming
#Intercropping #Polyculture #Resiliency #FoodSystems #ClimateChangeFarming -
#RegenerativeAgriculture has its roots in #Indigenous farming
Strategic Intelligence
Fri, October 10, 2025Excerpt: "While regenerative agriculture is growing in business settings as a method of reducing agricultural impact, and as an emissions reduction method, indigenous farmers have been responding to environmental stimuli and promoting non-intensive farming methods for millennia. Indigenous groups and farmers are the best guardians of the world’s #ecosystems."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/regenerative-agriculture-roots-indigenous-farming-142900539.html
#SolarPunkSunday #Agroecology #RegenerativeFarming #Agroforestry #Intercropping #Polyculture
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Take farming back to nature: #RegenerativeAgriculture means farmers work with the land, not against it.
By Brian CastnerUpdated September 28, 2025
Excerpt: "There is a growing community of people seeking to return wildlife to farms and our food supply — and none too soon, as our soil and bodies are in desperate need of a healthy upgrade.
"This movement operates under many names, but I prefer 'regenerative agriculture.' It’s the idea of working with natural systems, not against them, to grow healthier food and have a positive effect on the land. Regenerative agriculture practitioners consider ecosystems holistically and argue that our food system is more resilient and sustainable when farms are regarded as part of nature rather than separate. This may sound novel, but prophets like Wendell Berry have been writing about this for a long time; 'The Unsettling of America' was published in 1977.
"Our farm is in the foothills of the #Adirondacks, and the lion’s share of our land consists of slopes dedicated to pastures for grazing. We raise sheep and chickens, and when we move them across the land, we do so in ways that mimic the natural processes that produced the rich soil for the meadows in the first place. Rather than fence off one giant pasture and lock the animals in for the year, we set up many smaller paddocks and allow them to graze each spot only briefly. The sheep rotate to fresh grass three times a week. The chickens are moved even more often, twice a day. While each is in its allotted portion of pasture, the scene is one of intense eating — the lambs strip the fresh chicory and wild carrot of their leaves and tender stems. The chickens peck and scratch at the dirt, hunting for bugs. Wherever they move, they leave a path of destruction, trampling grass, devouring plants, and spreading their manure everywhere.
"But then the flock moves on, and we leave the pasture to rest. Beaten-down forage traps moisture and provides cover for fresh growth. Red and white clover pops through the netting of broken stems. Then the first shoots of timothy appear. In spring, thin-leafed plantains follow. In midsummer, it’s birds’-foot trefoil and wild carrot. In only a week or two the stems and grasses are up to my knees, and by the time the sheep return 60 days later, it’s once again a field of tall wildflowers, full of honeybees and cedar waxwings. I had never seen flocks of goldfinches (entire flocks!) until they took over my regrown pastures.
"Rotationally grazing livestock is much healthier for the animals as well. There are fewer respiratory issues, because they aren’t confined to a barn; they suffer from fewer parasites and diseases, because they are kept separate from their waste. Sheep especially are susceptible to worms that hatch in their manure and crawl up fresh shoots of grass. But by keeping them away until the worms complete their life cycle, we let the lambs stay healthy and avoid having to pump them full of antibiotics and dewormers. Happy, healthier animals make healthier food.
"This system of rotationally grazing — concentrating the flock or herd and moving it through the land and on to fresh grass — mimics animals in the wild.
Across North America, massive herds of bison and smaller groups of deer and elk once moved across the land, eating as they went. They took the energy from the plants and left behind manure and stomped grass. With their hooves, they opened and aerated the compacted soil, where a complex ecosystem of roots and rhizosheaths and bacteria could thrive."The term to describe this process is 'animal impact.' The idea that soil can be made healthier by putting animals on it and then removing them, leaving behind a more resilient ecosystem, is counterintuitive if you think of animals only as either messy or destructive, or consider their poop as stuff to be cleaned up rather than a resource to be used.
"Working this way requires a change in thinking, a new philosophy in farming. Our greatest asset is not our barns or equipment or even the animals. These are all easily replaceable, if occasionally expensive. No, our greatest agricultural asset is the soil, and so all of our decisions about how to manage our land should be about what’s best for the soil and by extension the pastures.
"Regenerative agriculture at scale is challenging, as our food supply system forces farmers to maintain a relentless focus on the economic bottom line, encouraging chemical-laden shortcuts. But on small farms, it is possible to work with the land, not against it. We named our venture du Trieux Farm, after my wife’s ancestors who settled in the Hudson Valley four hundred years ago, and this kind of long-term thinking informs how we operate. The land we now care for has been continuously farmed for two hundred and fifty years. One might expect that the soil would be degraded after all that time, but it need not be. We seek to add to the soil, rather than extract from it."
Read more:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/28/opinion/regenerative-agriculture-nature-brian-castner/Archived version:
https://archive.ph/lX9SR#SolarPunkSunday #RegenerativeAgriculture #RegenerativeFarming #RestorativeAgriculture #Resiliency #FoodSystems
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So, I've been researching a few topics for this week's #SolarPunkSunday... Uses for #Hemp, combining #AncientTechnologies with #ModernTechnology for #ClimateChangeAdaptation , how to make #Lime, turning #Footsteps into electricity in Japan (based on a 19th century technique), and #RegenerativeAgriculture. We'll also be posting about #Rewilding, #RepairCafes, #VisibleMending, #Gardening and other related topics! We hope you'll join us!
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So, I've been researching a few topics for this week's #SolarPunkSunday... Uses for #Hemp, combining #AncientTechnologies with #ModernTechnology for #ClimateChangeAdaptation , how to make #Lime, turning #Footsteps into electricity in Japan (based on a 19th century technique), and #RegenerativeAgriculture. We'll also be posting about #Rewilding, #RepairCafes, #VisibleMending, #Gardening and other related topics! We hope you'll join us!
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So, I've been researching a few topics for this week's #SolarPunkSunday... Uses for #Hemp, combining #AncientTechnologies with #ModernTechnology for #ClimateChangeAdaptation , how to make #Lime, turning #Footsteps into electricity in Japan (based on a 19th century technique), and #RegenerativeAgriculture. We'll also be posting about #Rewilding, #RepairCafes, #VisibleMending, #Gardening and other related topics! We hope you'll join us!
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So, I've been researching a few topics for this week's #SolarPunkSunday... Uses for #Hemp, combining #AncientTechnologies with #ModernTechnology for #ClimateChangeAdaptation , how to make #Lime, turning #Footsteps into electricity in Japan (based on a 19th century technique), and #RegenerativeAgriculture. We'll also be posting about #Rewilding, #RepairCafes, #VisibleMending, #Gardening and other related topics! We hope you'll join us!
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So, I've been researching a few topics for this week's #SolarPunkSunday... Uses for #Hemp, combining #AncientTechnologies with #ModernTechnology for #ClimateChangeAdaptation , how to make #Lime, turning #Footsteps into electricity in Japan (based on a 19th century technique), and #RegenerativeAgriculture. We'll also be posting about #Rewilding, #RepairCafes, #VisibleMending, #Gardening and other related topics! We hope you'll join us!
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Study shows biodiversity boosts pollinators & crop yields! #climatechange #climatesolutions #climate #Biodiversity #Pollinators #Conservation #RegenerativeAgriculture #NatureBasedSolutions
https://www.enn.com/articles/77168-biodiversity-strengthens-pollinators-and-ensures-stable-yields -
An incredible story of regenerative farming improving the environment and agriculture, and fostering resilient, peaceful communities.
"Over the span of 20 years in Niger, the area of land using Mr Rinaudo's technique has grown by 250,000 hectares a year and now covers 5 million hectares, with 200 million trees regenerated.
It has added $US900 million every year to Niger's agricultural output."
#australia #niger #regenerativeagriculture #regenerativefarming #environment
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Permaculture is a way of farming and living that works with nature, using smart methods to grow food, care for the land, and create sustainable communities #Permaculture #Sustainability #Agroecology #GreenLiving #NatureBasedSolutions #ClimateAction #FoodSecurity #EcoFriendly #RegenerativeAgriculture #SustainableFarming
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Norway’s Desert Control has introduced a breakthrough that sounds almost impossible. A technology known as Liquid NanoClay can transform dry sand into fertile soil in just seven hours.
By blending clay, water, and local soil, the mixture coats sand grains, allowing them to hold moisture and nutrients just like farmland. What normally takes decades through natural processes can now happen in less than a day.
Trials in the UAE and the U.S. have already shown promising results, proving that even deserts can be turned into green landscapes. This could reshape farming, protect against desert expansion, and secure food supplies for the future.
Core Topic – Land & Agriculture
#LiquidNanoClay #SoilRegen #SoilRestoration #DesertGreening #LandReclamation #SoilInnovation #SoilTech #SoilHealth #SustainableFarming #ClimateSmartAgricultureEnvironment & Climate
#ClimateAction #ClimateSolutions #EnvironmentalInnovation #EcosystemRestoration #GreenTech #Sustainability #RegenerativeAgriculture #NatureBasedSolutions #ClimateResilienceWater & Food Security
#WaterConservation #FoodSecurity #AgriTech #WaterSaving #FutureOfFarming #GlobalFoodSupplyScience & Innovation
#ScienceNews #EnvironmentalScience #TechForGood #BreakthroughTechnology #NextGenFarming #EcoInnovation #ScienceIsAwesomeRegional / Global
#NorwegianInnovation #UAE #USA #GlobalImpact #GreeningTheDesert -
California Olive Ranch unveils pollinator project to boost biodiversity, ecosystem health https://www.diningandcooking.com/2291554/california-olive-ranch-unveils-pollinator-project-to-boost-biodiversity-ecosystem-health/ #biodiversity #CaliforniaOliveRanch #EcosystemHealth #FoodSources #Hedgerows #Mediterranean #MediterraneanOliveOil #Olive #OliveOil #PollinatorProject #RegenerativeAgriculture #SustainableAgriculture
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So, something else that is a key element of ensuring #HumanWelfare remains in the SW range is to make sure folks are fed -- without destroying the environment! That's where #RegenerativeAgriculture , #SustainableAgriculture, #FoodForests, #CommunityGardens, etc., come into play. But #Rewilding and restoring key natural systems are also very important!
7. #Wildlife faces #extinction cascades as #ecosystems collapse.
"Vertebrate populations have declined by an average of 69 percent since 1970, with some regions experiencing losses exceeding 90 percent as habitat destruction, climate change, #pollution, and direct #exploitation combine to trigger ecosystem-wide collapse that eliminates the #biodiversity necessary to maintain stable #FoodWebs. Species extinction rates now exceed background levels by 100 to 1,000 times, representing a mass extinction event comparable to the asteroid impact that eliminated the dinosaurs but compressed into a timeframe measured in decades rather than millennia.
"The collapse of insect populations threatens #pollination services essential for agricultural production, while marine ecosystems face #acidification, warming, and #overfishing that eliminate entire trophic levels and destabilize ocean food chains supporting billions of people. Domestic animals face parallel threats as #IndustrialAgriculture concentrates genetic diversity into vulnerable #monocultures while climate change disrupts feed production and increases disease pressure on livestock populations already stressed by intensive production methods designed to maximize short-term yields rather than long-term #resilience."
#Collapse #Change #TheLimitsToGrowth #PlanetaryBoundaries #WaterIsLife #NatureIsLife #Extinction
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So, something else that is a key element of ensuring #HumanWelfare remains in the SW range is to make sure folks are fed -- without destroying the environment! That's where #RegenerativeAgriculture , #SustainableAgriculture, #FoodForests, #CommunityGardens, etc., come into play. But #Rewilding and restoring key natural systems are also very important!
7. #Wildlife faces #extinction cascades as #ecosystems collapse.
"Vertebrate populations have declined by an average of 69 percent since 1970, with some regions experiencing losses exceeding 90 percent as habitat destruction, climate change, #pollution, and direct #exploitation combine to trigger ecosystem-wide collapse that eliminates the #biodiversity necessary to maintain stable #FoodWebs. Species extinction rates now exceed background levels by 100 to 1,000 times, representing a mass extinction event comparable to the asteroid impact that eliminated the dinosaurs but compressed into a timeframe measured in decades rather than millennia.
"The collapse of insect populations threatens #pollination services essential for agricultural production, while marine ecosystems face #acidification, warming, and #overfishing that eliminate entire trophic levels and destabilize ocean food chains supporting billions of people. Domestic animals face parallel threats as #IndustrialAgriculture concentrates genetic diversity into vulnerable #monocultures while climate change disrupts feed production and increases disease pressure on livestock populations already stressed by intensive production methods designed to maximize short-term yields rather than long-term #resilience."
#Collapse #Change #TheLimitsToGrowth #PlanetaryBoundaries #WaterIsLife #NatureIsLife #Extinction
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So, something else that is a key element of ensuring #HumanWelfare remains in the SW range is to make sure folks are fed -- without destroying the environment! That's where #RegenerativeAgriculture , #SustainableAgriculture, #FoodForests, #CommunityGardens, etc., come into play. But #Rewilding and restoring key natural systems are also very important!
7. #Wildlife faces #extinction cascades as #ecosystems collapse.
"Vertebrate populations have declined by an average of 69 percent since 1970, with some regions experiencing losses exceeding 90 percent as habitat destruction, climate change, #pollution, and direct #exploitation combine to trigger ecosystem-wide collapse that eliminates the #biodiversity necessary to maintain stable #FoodWebs. Species extinction rates now exceed background levels by 100 to 1,000 times, representing a mass extinction event comparable to the asteroid impact that eliminated the dinosaurs but compressed into a timeframe measured in decades rather than millennia.
"The collapse of insect populations threatens #pollination services essential for agricultural production, while marine ecosystems face #acidification, warming, and #overfishing that eliminate entire trophic levels and destabilize ocean food chains supporting billions of people. Domestic animals face parallel threats as #IndustrialAgriculture concentrates genetic diversity into vulnerable #monocultures while climate change disrupts feed production and increases disease pressure on livestock populations already stressed by intensive production methods designed to maximize short-term yields rather than long-term #resilience."
#Collapse #Change #TheLimitsToGrowth #PlanetaryBoundaries #WaterIsLife #NatureIsLife #Extinction
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So, something else that is a key element of ensuring #HumanWelfare remains in the SW range is to make sure folks are fed -- without destroying the environment! That's where #RegenerativeAgriculture , #SustainableAgriculture, #FoodForests, #CommunityGardens, etc., come into play. But #Rewilding and restoring key natural systems are also very important!
7. #Wildlife faces #extinction cascades as #ecosystems collapse.
"Vertebrate populations have declined by an average of 69 percent since 1970, with some regions experiencing losses exceeding 90 percent as habitat destruction, climate change, #pollution, and direct #exploitation combine to trigger ecosystem-wide collapse that eliminates the #biodiversity necessary to maintain stable #FoodWebs. Species extinction rates now exceed background levels by 100 to 1,000 times, representing a mass extinction event comparable to the asteroid impact that eliminated the dinosaurs but compressed into a timeframe measured in decades rather than millennia.
"The collapse of insect populations threatens #pollination services essential for agricultural production, while marine ecosystems face #acidification, warming, and #overfishing that eliminate entire trophic levels and destabilize ocean food chains supporting billions of people. Domestic animals face parallel threats as #IndustrialAgriculture concentrates genetic diversity into vulnerable #monocultures while climate change disrupts feed production and increases disease pressure on livestock populations already stressed by intensive production methods designed to maximize short-term yields rather than long-term #resilience."
#Collapse #Change #TheLimitsToGrowth #PlanetaryBoundaries #WaterIsLife #NatureIsLife #Extinction
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So, something else that is a key element of ensuring #HumanWelfare remains in the SW range is to make sure folks are fed -- without destroying the environment! That's where #RegenerativeAgriculture , #SustainableAgriculture, #FoodForests, #CommunityGardens, etc., come into play. But #Rewilding and restoring key natural systems are also very important!
7. #Wildlife faces #extinction cascades as #ecosystems collapse.
"Vertebrate populations have declined by an average of 69 percent since 1970, with some regions experiencing losses exceeding 90 percent as habitat destruction, climate change, #pollution, and direct #exploitation combine to trigger ecosystem-wide collapse that eliminates the #biodiversity necessary to maintain stable #FoodWebs. Species extinction rates now exceed background levels by 100 to 1,000 times, representing a mass extinction event comparable to the asteroid impact that eliminated the dinosaurs but compressed into a timeframe measured in decades rather than millennia.
"The collapse of insect populations threatens #pollination services essential for agricultural production, while marine ecosystems face #acidification, warming, and #overfishing that eliminate entire trophic levels and destabilize ocean food chains supporting billions of people. Domestic animals face parallel threats as #IndustrialAgriculture concentrates genetic diversity into vulnerable #monocultures while climate change disrupts feed production and increases disease pressure on livestock populations already stressed by intensive production methods designed to maximize short-term yields rather than long-term #resilience."
#Collapse #Change #TheLimitsToGrowth #PlanetaryBoundaries #WaterIsLife #NatureIsLife #Extinction
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#NewZealand - Country Life: Lowering costs and enriching the soil - one farmer's regenerative journey
by Sally Round, 9 August 2025
"Imagine soil like a sponge, crawling with worms, beetles dragging dung down from the surface and a riot of vegetation on top.
"It's not everyone's idea of paradise, but it's like heaven for #Kaukapakapa farmer Stephen Newman.
"Newman, a founder of the Kaipara Regenerative Farming Group and a member of farmer-led network Quorum Sense, told Country Life he used to farm very conventionally, until 'the penny dropped' a few years ago, when he watched a programme about regenerative farming.
"Since then, he has experimented with different regenerative methods on his 10-hectare block north of #Auckland city.
"Trials included sowing #CoverCrops, introducing stock for a short period of time to feed on long cover, rearing dung beetles to help transfer the nutrients in animal faeces further down the layers of soil and #composting.
"He started the #Kaipara Regenerative Farming Group about three years ago to help farmers improve soil health, enrich #biodiversity, increase water retention, and reduce reliance on fertilisers and pesticides.
" 'Everything we do with the regenerative approach is all about soil biology, creating that life in the ground.' "
#SolarPunkSunday #RegenerativeFarming #RegenerativeAgriculture #SoilHealth #FoodSecurity
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#NewZealand - Country Life: Lowering costs and enriching the soil - one farmer's regenerative journey
by Sally Round, 9 August 2025
"Imagine soil like a sponge, crawling with worms, beetles dragging dung down from the surface and a riot of vegetation on top.
"It's not everyone's idea of paradise, but it's like heaven for #Kaukapakapa farmer Stephen Newman.
"Newman, a founder of the Kaipara Regenerative Farming Group and a member of farmer-led network Quorum Sense, told Country Life he used to farm very conventionally, until 'the penny dropped' a few years ago, when he watched a programme about regenerative farming.
"Since then, he has experimented with different regenerative methods on his 10-hectare block north of #Auckland city.
"Trials included sowing #CoverCrops, introducing stock for a short period of time to feed on long cover, rearing dung beetles to help transfer the nutrients in animal faeces further down the layers of soil and #composting.
"He started the #Kaipara Regenerative Farming Group about three years ago to help farmers improve soil health, enrich #biodiversity, increase water retention, and reduce reliance on fertilisers and pesticides.
" 'Everything we do with the regenerative approach is all about soil biology, creating that life in the ground.' "
#SolarPunkSunday #RegenerativeFarming #RegenerativeAgriculture #SoilHealth #FoodSecurity
-
#NewZealand - Country Life: Lowering costs and enriching the soil - one farmer's regenerative journey
by Sally Round, 9 August 2025
"Imagine soil like a sponge, crawling with worms, beetles dragging dung down from the surface and a riot of vegetation on top.
"It's not everyone's idea of paradise, but it's like heaven for #Kaukapakapa farmer Stephen Newman.
"Newman, a founder of the Kaipara Regenerative Farming Group and a member of farmer-led network Quorum Sense, told Country Life he used to farm very conventionally, until 'the penny dropped' a few years ago, when he watched a programme about regenerative farming.
"Since then, he has experimented with different regenerative methods on his 10-hectare block north of #Auckland city.
"Trials included sowing #CoverCrops, introducing stock for a short period of time to feed on long cover, rearing dung beetles to help transfer the nutrients in animal faeces further down the layers of soil and #composting.
"He started the #Kaipara Regenerative Farming Group about three years ago to help farmers improve soil health, enrich #biodiversity, increase water retention, and reduce reliance on fertilisers and pesticides.
" 'Everything we do with the regenerative approach is all about soil biology, creating that life in the ground.' "
#SolarPunkSunday #RegenerativeFarming #RegenerativeAgriculture #SoilHealth #FoodSecurity
-
#NewZealand - Country Life: Lowering costs and enriching the soil - one farmer's regenerative journey
by Sally Round, 9 August 2025
"Imagine soil like a sponge, crawling with worms, beetles dragging dung down from the surface and a riot of vegetation on top.
"It's not everyone's idea of paradise, but it's like heaven for #Kaukapakapa farmer Stephen Newman.
"Newman, a founder of the Kaipara Regenerative Farming Group and a member of farmer-led network Quorum Sense, told Country Life he used to farm very conventionally, until 'the penny dropped' a few years ago, when he watched a programme about regenerative farming.
"Since then, he has experimented with different regenerative methods on his 10-hectare block north of #Auckland city.
"Trials included sowing #CoverCrops, introducing stock for a short period of time to feed on long cover, rearing dung beetles to help transfer the nutrients in animal faeces further down the layers of soil and #composting.
"He started the #Kaipara Regenerative Farming Group about three years ago to help farmers improve soil health, enrich #biodiversity, increase water retention, and reduce reliance on fertilisers and pesticides.
" 'Everything we do with the regenerative approach is all about soil biology, creating that life in the ground.' "
#SolarPunkSunday #RegenerativeFarming #RegenerativeAgriculture #SoilHealth #FoodSecurity
-
#NewZealand - Country Life: Lowering costs and enriching the soil - one farmer's regenerative journey
by Sally Round, 9 August 2025
"Imagine soil like a sponge, crawling with worms, beetles dragging dung down from the surface and a riot of vegetation on top.
"It's not everyone's idea of paradise, but it's like heaven for #Kaukapakapa farmer Stephen Newman.
"Newman, a founder of the Kaipara Regenerative Farming Group and a member of farmer-led network Quorum Sense, told Country Life he used to farm very conventionally, until 'the penny dropped' a few years ago, when he watched a programme about regenerative farming.
"Since then, he has experimented with different regenerative methods on his 10-hectare block north of #Auckland city.
"Trials included sowing #CoverCrops, introducing stock for a short period of time to feed on long cover, rearing dung beetles to help transfer the nutrients in animal faeces further down the layers of soil and #composting.
"He started the #Kaipara Regenerative Farming Group about three years ago to help farmers improve soil health, enrich #biodiversity, increase water retention, and reduce reliance on fertilisers and pesticides.
" 'Everything we do with the regenerative approach is all about soil biology, creating that life in the ground.' "
#SolarPunkSunday #RegenerativeFarming #RegenerativeAgriculture #SoilHealth #FoodSecurity
-
Farmworkers Heal Climate-Scarred Land With #NativeSeeds
At #California’s #HedgerowFarms, specialists produce seeds to #revegetate burned areas, reestablish #wetlands, and transform drought-prone #farmland
By Caleb Hampton
July 7, 2025
"Quiroz and Gómez are seed-cleaning specialists and field workers at Hedgerow Farms, a native seed farm near the #CentralValley town of #WintersCA. Hedgerow’s collectors gather seeds from native plants in the wild, and field workers grow them out at the 300-acre farm to produce more seeds. This spring, neat rows of #mugwort, #PurpleNeedlegrass, and #CaliforniaPoppies sprouted in the midst of neighboring almond orchards, tomatoes, and alfalfa.
"Government agencies, tribes, and other land managers use the seeds to revegetate #FireRavagedAreas, transform #AbandonedFarmland, reestablish wetlands, and repair other damaged or altered lands, creating environments that support local #ecosystems and #biodiversity.
" 'We’re doing something for the planet,' Quiroz said in Spanish.
"Recreational areas have benefited too: Hedgerow Farms’ #SilverbushLupine grows in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and its #NativeGrasses can be found in the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area outside Sacramento. The farm also supplies native seeds to seed packet retailers, helping sow #DroughtResistant plants and establish #pollinator habitat in #urban environments.
"Some projects, such as the ongoing restoration of the #KlamathRiverBasin in Oregon and California, involve billions of seeds — from various suppliers, including Hedgerow — spread across thousands of acres. 'Native vegetation is the foundation of a healthy #ecosystem,' the #YurokTribe said in a social media post showing #wildflowers blooming this spring in the scar of a former reservoir.
"After four dams were removed from the #KlamathRiver, the tribe began #revegetating the riverbanks last year, planting species such as #milkweed — a key food source for #MonarchButterflies — that once flourished in the watershed."
Read more:
https://civileats.com/2025/07/07/farmworkers-heal-climate-scarred-land-with-native-seeds/#SolarPunkSunday #FoodSecurity #RegenerativeAgriculture #Restoration #GardeningForPollinators #RestorativeAgriculture
-
Could This #Arizona Ranch Be a Model for #Southwest Farmers?
Oatman Flats has undergone a dramatic transformation, becoming the Southwest’s first #Regenerative #Organic Certified farm and a potential source of ideas for weathering #ClimateChange.
" 'We embraced the abundance of #heirloom and native crops in the #SonoranDesert,' Hansen said. 'We are looking at the land and asking it what we should grow, rather than asking the land to grow what we want.' " - Dax Hansen, owner of Oatman Flats Ranch.
By Samuel Gilbert
May 12, 2025Excerpt: "Regeneration Rooted in #Indigenous Practices
"Southern Arizona’s rich agricultural history stretches back more than 5,000 years. By 600 CE, the Hohokam people were constructing North America’s largest and most elaborate irrigation systems along the Salt and Gila Rivers. The descendants of the Hohokam—the Pima and Tohono O’odham—continued to farm the land up to and after the arrival of the Spanish, who began to colonize southern Arizona in the 1600s. They continue to farm in Arizona today.
"At the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation, about two hours southeast of Oatman Flats, the San Xavier Co-op Farm uses historic land management practices and grows traditional crops that reflect their respect for the land, plants, animals, elders, and the sacredness of water.
"San Xavier Farm Manager Duran Andrews and his team plant #CoverCrops, rotate fields, and collect #rainwater.
" '[Regenerative agriculture] is nothing new to us,' Andrews said. 'We have been doing this for decades. Harmony between nature and people has been our approach all the time.' Rotating fields and cultivating multiple mutually beneficial species in the same fields improves water and soil quality and biodiversity in this harsh landscape.
" 'You’ve seen what the land looks like in five years; imagine it in 10. If we can do it here, we can do it anywhere.'
"The co-op grows a variety of native crops that were developed in the region and cultivated for centuries or, in some cases, millennia, such as grains and beans, which they sell online. 'We irrigate them till they sprout, then cut them off till the monsoon shows up,' Andrews said. 'We try to keep crops in that hardy state through all the years and decades they have been here. We try not to get away from how things were done in the past.'
"They also grow White Sonora wheat, introduced to Arizona by Spanish Jesuit missionaries in the 1600s. 'It was a gift from Father Kino that we have taken as our own,' Andrews said. 'The [San Xavier] community was one of the first to grow this wheat.'
"Following the Mexican-American War in the mid-1800s, the United States claimed parts of modern-day Arizona, New Mexico, California, Nevada, and Utah. The Anglo ranchers who moved into the area dug canals to irrigate agricultural fields, transforming the landscape. An 1852 watercolor by surveyor Jon Russell Bartlett depicts a verdant valley with cottonwoods and mesquite trees lining a flowing Gila River as it passes through Oatman Flats Ranch.
"That landscape is unrecognizable today. The lower Gila has gone bone dry after years of upstream diversions, dams, water overuse, and climate change. In 2019, the Gila River earned the title of Most Endangered River by the nonprofit advocacy group American Rivers.
"Standing on the sandy Gila riverbed, which divides the north and south farms of Oatman Flats Ranch, Wang pointed to the nearby invasive salt cedars. Healing the land involves rebuilding the water, nutrient, and carbon cycles from the ground up, 'at the micro level,' he said. 'On the macro level, it’s broken.'
"The ranch team has poured resources into rebuilding soil health by planting #hedgerows and 30-plus species of cover crops, at a cost of approximately $100,000. The hedgerows, mostly native trees, were planted along the edges of the fields to reduce erosion and provide habitat for beneficial species, including #pollinators such as #bees and #hummingbirds.
"The cover crops — #millet, #chickpeas, #sunflowers, #sorghum, sudan grass, broadleaves, and #NativeGrasses among them—are planted immediately after harvesting wheat, to provide 'soil armor,' help conserve water, fix nitrogen in the soil, suppress weeds, attract beneficial insects, and sequester carbon. The once-barren land now supports life for more than 120 species of flora and fauna."
Read more:
https://civileats.com/2025/05/12/could-this-arizona-ranch-be-a-model-for-southwest-farmers/#SolarPunkSunday #RegenerativeAgriculture #RegenerativeFarming #RestorativeAgriculture #ClimateChangeFarming
-
Could This #Arizona Ranch Be a Model for #Southwest Farmers?
Oatman Flats has undergone a dramatic transformation, becoming the Southwest’s first #Regenerative #Organic Certified farm and a potential source of ideas for weathering #ClimateChange.
" 'We embraced the abundance of #heirloom and native crops in the #SonoranDesert,' Hansen said. 'We are looking at the land and asking it what we should grow, rather than asking the land to grow what we want.' " - Dax Hansen, owner of Oatman Flats Ranch.
By Samuel Gilbert
May 12, 2025Excerpt: "Regeneration Rooted in #Indigenous Practices
"Southern Arizona’s rich agricultural history stretches back more than 5,000 years. By 600 CE, the Hohokam people were constructing North America’s largest and most elaborate irrigation systems along the Salt and Gila Rivers. The descendants of the Hohokam—the Pima and Tohono O’odham—continued to farm the land up to and after the arrival of the Spanish, who began to colonize southern Arizona in the 1600s. They continue to farm in Arizona today.
"At the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation, about two hours southeast of Oatman Flats, the San Xavier Co-op Farm uses historic land management practices and grows traditional crops that reflect their respect for the land, plants, animals, elders, and the sacredness of water.
"San Xavier Farm Manager Duran Andrews and his team plant #CoverCrops, rotate fields, and collect #rainwater.
" '[Regenerative agriculture] is nothing new to us,' Andrews said. 'We have been doing this for decades. Harmony between nature and people has been our approach all the time.' Rotating fields and cultivating multiple mutually beneficial species in the same fields improves water and soil quality and biodiversity in this harsh landscape.
" 'You’ve seen what the land looks like in five years; imagine it in 10. If we can do it here, we can do it anywhere.'
"The co-op grows a variety of native crops that were developed in the region and cultivated for centuries or, in some cases, millennia, such as grains and beans, which they sell online. 'We irrigate them till they sprout, then cut them off till the monsoon shows up,' Andrews said. 'We try to keep crops in that hardy state through all the years and decades they have been here. We try not to get away from how things were done in the past.'
"They also grow White Sonora wheat, introduced to Arizona by Spanish Jesuit missionaries in the 1600s. 'It was a gift from Father Kino that we have taken as our own,' Andrews said. 'The [San Xavier] community was one of the first to grow this wheat.'
"Following the Mexican-American War in the mid-1800s, the United States claimed parts of modern-day Arizona, New Mexico, California, Nevada, and Utah. The Anglo ranchers who moved into the area dug canals to irrigate agricultural fields, transforming the landscape. An 1852 watercolor by surveyor Jon Russell Bartlett depicts a verdant valley with cottonwoods and mesquite trees lining a flowing Gila River as it passes through Oatman Flats Ranch.
"That landscape is unrecognizable today. The lower Gila has gone bone dry after years of upstream diversions, dams, water overuse, and climate change. In 2019, the Gila River earned the title of Most Endangered River by the nonprofit advocacy group American Rivers.
"Standing on the sandy Gila riverbed, which divides the north and south farms of Oatman Flats Ranch, Wang pointed to the nearby invasive salt cedars. Healing the land involves rebuilding the water, nutrient, and carbon cycles from the ground up, 'at the micro level,' he said. 'On the macro level, it’s broken.'
"The ranch team has poured resources into rebuilding soil health by planting #hedgerows and 30-plus species of cover crops, at a cost of approximately $100,000. The hedgerows, mostly native trees, were planted along the edges of the fields to reduce erosion and provide habitat for beneficial species, including #pollinators such as #bees and #hummingbirds.
"The cover crops — #millet, #chickpeas, #sunflowers, #sorghum, sudan grass, broadleaves, and #NativeGrasses among them—are planted immediately after harvesting wheat, to provide 'soil armor,' help conserve water, fix nitrogen in the soil, suppress weeds, attract beneficial insects, and sequester carbon. The once-barren land now supports life for more than 120 species of flora and fauna."
Read more:
https://civileats.com/2025/05/12/could-this-arizona-ranch-be-a-model-for-southwest-farmers/#SolarPunkSunday #RegenerativeAgriculture #RegenerativeFarming #RestorativeAgriculture #ClimateChangeFarming
-
Could This #Arizona Ranch Be a Model for #Southwest Farmers?
Oatman Flats has undergone a dramatic transformation, becoming the Southwest’s first #Regenerative #Organic Certified farm and a potential source of ideas for weathering #ClimateChange.
" 'We embraced the abundance of #heirloom and native crops in the #SonoranDesert,' Hansen said. 'We are looking at the land and asking it what we should grow, rather than asking the land to grow what we want.' " - Dax Hansen, owner of Oatman Flats Ranch.
By Samuel Gilbert
May 12, 2025Excerpt: "Regeneration Rooted in #Indigenous Practices
"Southern Arizona’s rich agricultural history stretches back more than 5,000 years. By 600 CE, the Hohokam people were constructing North America’s largest and most elaborate irrigation systems along the Salt and Gila Rivers. The descendants of the Hohokam—the Pima and Tohono O’odham—continued to farm the land up to and after the arrival of the Spanish, who began to colonize southern Arizona in the 1600s. They continue to farm in Arizona today.
"At the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation, about two hours southeast of Oatman Flats, the San Xavier Co-op Farm uses historic land management practices and grows traditional crops that reflect their respect for the land, plants, animals, elders, and the sacredness of water.
"San Xavier Farm Manager Duran Andrews and his team plant #CoverCrops, rotate fields, and collect #rainwater.
" '[Regenerative agriculture] is nothing new to us,' Andrews said. 'We have been doing this for decades. Harmony between nature and people has been our approach all the time.' Rotating fields and cultivating multiple mutually beneficial species in the same fields improves water and soil quality and biodiversity in this harsh landscape.
" 'You’ve seen what the land looks like in five years; imagine it in 10. If we can do it here, we can do it anywhere.'
"The co-op grows a variety of native crops that were developed in the region and cultivated for centuries or, in some cases, millennia, such as grains and beans, which they sell online. 'We irrigate them till they sprout, then cut them off till the monsoon shows up,' Andrews said. 'We try to keep crops in that hardy state through all the years and decades they have been here. We try not to get away from how things were done in the past.'
"They also grow White Sonora wheat, introduced to Arizona by Spanish Jesuit missionaries in the 1600s. 'It was a gift from Father Kino that we have taken as our own,' Andrews said. 'The [San Xavier] community was one of the first to grow this wheat.'
"Following the Mexican-American War in the mid-1800s, the United States claimed parts of modern-day Arizona, New Mexico, California, Nevada, and Utah. The Anglo ranchers who moved into the area dug canals to irrigate agricultural fields, transforming the landscape. An 1852 watercolor by surveyor Jon Russell Bartlett depicts a verdant valley with cottonwoods and mesquite trees lining a flowing Gila River as it passes through Oatman Flats Ranch.
"That landscape is unrecognizable today. The lower Gila has gone bone dry after years of upstream diversions, dams, water overuse, and climate change. In 2019, the Gila River earned the title of Most Endangered River by the nonprofit advocacy group American Rivers.
"Standing on the sandy Gila riverbed, which divides the north and south farms of Oatman Flats Ranch, Wang pointed to the nearby invasive salt cedars. Healing the land involves rebuilding the water, nutrient, and carbon cycles from the ground up, 'at the micro level,' he said. 'On the macro level, it’s broken.'
"The ranch team has poured resources into rebuilding soil health by planting #hedgerows and 30-plus species of cover crops, at a cost of approximately $100,000. The hedgerows, mostly native trees, were planted along the edges of the fields to reduce erosion and provide habitat for beneficial species, including #pollinators such as #bees and #hummingbirds.
"The cover crops — #millet, #chickpeas, #sunflowers, #sorghum, sudan grass, broadleaves, and #NativeGrasses among them—are planted immediately after harvesting wheat, to provide 'soil armor,' help conserve water, fix nitrogen in the soil, suppress weeds, attract beneficial insects, and sequester carbon. The once-barren land now supports life for more than 120 species of flora and fauna."
Read more:
https://civileats.com/2025/05/12/could-this-arizona-ranch-be-a-model-for-southwest-farmers/#SolarPunkSunday #RegenerativeAgriculture #RegenerativeFarming #RestorativeAgriculture #ClimateChangeFarming
-
Could This #Arizona Ranch Be a Model for #Southwest Farmers?
Oatman Flats has undergone a dramatic transformation, becoming the Southwest’s first #Regenerative #Organic Certified farm and a potential source of ideas for weathering #ClimateChange.
" 'We embraced the abundance of #heirloom and native crops in the #SonoranDesert,' Hansen said. 'We are looking at the land and asking it what we should grow, rather than asking the land to grow what we want.' " - Dax Hansen, owner of Oatman Flats Ranch.
By Samuel Gilbert
May 12, 2025Excerpt: "Regeneration Rooted in #Indigenous Practices
"Southern Arizona’s rich agricultural history stretches back more than 5,000 years. By 600 CE, the Hohokam people were constructing North America’s largest and most elaborate irrigation systems along the Salt and Gila Rivers. The descendants of the Hohokam—the Pima and Tohono O’odham—continued to farm the land up to and after the arrival of the Spanish, who began to colonize southern Arizona in the 1600s. They continue to farm in Arizona today.
"At the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation, about two hours southeast of Oatman Flats, the San Xavier Co-op Farm uses historic land management practices and grows traditional crops that reflect their respect for the land, plants, animals, elders, and the sacredness of water.
"San Xavier Farm Manager Duran Andrews and his team plant #CoverCrops, rotate fields, and collect #rainwater.
" '[Regenerative agriculture] is nothing new to us,' Andrews said. 'We have been doing this for decades. Harmony between nature and people has been our approach all the time.' Rotating fields and cultivating multiple mutually beneficial species in the same fields improves water and soil quality and biodiversity in this harsh landscape.
" 'You’ve seen what the land looks like in five years; imagine it in 10. If we can do it here, we can do it anywhere.'
"The co-op grows a variety of native crops that were developed in the region and cultivated for centuries or, in some cases, millennia, such as grains and beans, which they sell online. 'We irrigate them till they sprout, then cut them off till the monsoon shows up,' Andrews said. 'We try to keep crops in that hardy state through all the years and decades they have been here. We try not to get away from how things were done in the past.'
"They also grow White Sonora wheat, introduced to Arizona by Spanish Jesuit missionaries in the 1600s. 'It was a gift from Father Kino that we have taken as our own,' Andrews said. 'The [San Xavier] community was one of the first to grow this wheat.'
"Following the Mexican-American War in the mid-1800s, the United States claimed parts of modern-day Arizona, New Mexico, California, Nevada, and Utah. The Anglo ranchers who moved into the area dug canals to irrigate agricultural fields, transforming the landscape. An 1852 watercolor by surveyor Jon Russell Bartlett depicts a verdant valley with cottonwoods and mesquite trees lining a flowing Gila River as it passes through Oatman Flats Ranch.
"That landscape is unrecognizable today. The lower Gila has gone bone dry after years of upstream diversions, dams, water overuse, and climate change. In 2019, the Gila River earned the title of Most Endangered River by the nonprofit advocacy group American Rivers.
"Standing on the sandy Gila riverbed, which divides the north and south farms of Oatman Flats Ranch, Wang pointed to the nearby invasive salt cedars. Healing the land involves rebuilding the water, nutrient, and carbon cycles from the ground up, 'at the micro level,' he said. 'On the macro level, it’s broken.'
"The ranch team has poured resources into rebuilding soil health by planting #hedgerows and 30-plus species of cover crops, at a cost of approximately $100,000. The hedgerows, mostly native trees, were planted along the edges of the fields to reduce erosion and provide habitat for beneficial species, including #pollinators such as #bees and #hummingbirds.
"The cover crops — #millet, #chickpeas, #sunflowers, #sorghum, sudan grass, broadleaves, and #NativeGrasses among them—are planted immediately after harvesting wheat, to provide 'soil armor,' help conserve water, fix nitrogen in the soil, suppress weeds, attract beneficial insects, and sequester carbon. The once-barren land now supports life for more than 120 species of flora and fauna."
Read more:
https://civileats.com/2025/05/12/could-this-arizona-ranch-be-a-model-for-southwest-farmers/#SolarPunkSunday #RegenerativeAgriculture #RegenerativeFarming #RestorativeAgriculture #ClimateChangeFarming
-
Could This #Arizona Ranch Be a Model for #Southwest Farmers?
Oatman Flats has undergone a dramatic transformation, becoming the Southwest’s first #Regenerative #Organic Certified farm and a potential source of ideas for weathering #ClimateChange.
" 'We embraced the abundance of #heirloom and native crops in the #SonoranDesert,' Hansen said. 'We are looking at the land and asking it what we should grow, rather than asking the land to grow what we want.' " - Dax Hansen, owner of Oatman Flats Ranch.
By Samuel Gilbert
May 12, 2025Excerpt: "Regeneration Rooted in #Indigenous Practices
"Southern Arizona’s rich agricultural history stretches back more than 5,000 years. By 600 CE, the Hohokam people were constructing North America’s largest and most elaborate irrigation systems along the Salt and Gila Rivers. The descendants of the Hohokam—the Pima and Tohono O’odham—continued to farm the land up to and after the arrival of the Spanish, who began to colonize southern Arizona in the 1600s. They continue to farm in Arizona today.
"At the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation, about two hours southeast of Oatman Flats, the San Xavier Co-op Farm uses historic land management practices and grows traditional crops that reflect their respect for the land, plants, animals, elders, and the sacredness of water.
"San Xavier Farm Manager Duran Andrews and his team plant #CoverCrops, rotate fields, and collect #rainwater.
" '[Regenerative agriculture] is nothing new to us,' Andrews said. 'We have been doing this for decades. Harmony between nature and people has been our approach all the time.' Rotating fields and cultivating multiple mutually beneficial species in the same fields improves water and soil quality and biodiversity in this harsh landscape.
" 'You’ve seen what the land looks like in five years; imagine it in 10. If we can do it here, we can do it anywhere.'
"The co-op grows a variety of native crops that were developed in the region and cultivated for centuries or, in some cases, millennia, such as grains and beans, which they sell online. 'We irrigate them till they sprout, then cut them off till the monsoon shows up,' Andrews said. 'We try to keep crops in that hardy state through all the years and decades they have been here. We try not to get away from how things were done in the past.'
"They also grow White Sonora wheat, introduced to Arizona by Spanish Jesuit missionaries in the 1600s. 'It was a gift from Father Kino that we have taken as our own,' Andrews said. 'The [San Xavier] community was one of the first to grow this wheat.'
"Following the Mexican-American War in the mid-1800s, the United States claimed parts of modern-day Arizona, New Mexico, California, Nevada, and Utah. The Anglo ranchers who moved into the area dug canals to irrigate agricultural fields, transforming the landscape. An 1852 watercolor by surveyor Jon Russell Bartlett depicts a verdant valley with cottonwoods and mesquite trees lining a flowing Gila River as it passes through Oatman Flats Ranch.
"That landscape is unrecognizable today. The lower Gila has gone bone dry after years of upstream diversions, dams, water overuse, and climate change. In 2019, the Gila River earned the title of Most Endangered River by the nonprofit advocacy group American Rivers.
"Standing on the sandy Gila riverbed, which divides the north and south farms of Oatman Flats Ranch, Wang pointed to the nearby invasive salt cedars. Healing the land involves rebuilding the water, nutrient, and carbon cycles from the ground up, 'at the micro level,' he said. 'On the macro level, it’s broken.'
"The ranch team has poured resources into rebuilding soil health by planting #hedgerows and 30-plus species of cover crops, at a cost of approximately $100,000. The hedgerows, mostly native trees, were planted along the edges of the fields to reduce erosion and provide habitat for beneficial species, including #pollinators such as #bees and #hummingbirds.
"The cover crops — #millet, #chickpeas, #sunflowers, #sorghum, sudan grass, broadleaves, and #NativeGrasses among them—are planted immediately after harvesting wheat, to provide 'soil armor,' help conserve water, fix nitrogen in the soil, suppress weeds, attract beneficial insects, and sequester carbon. The once-barren land now supports life for more than 120 species of flora and fauna."
Read more:
https://civileats.com/2025/05/12/could-this-arizona-ranch-be-a-model-for-southwest-farmers/#SolarPunkSunday #RegenerativeAgriculture #RegenerativeFarming #RestorativeAgriculture #ClimateChangeFarming
