Regenerative agriculture

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As Regenerative Agriculture an approach which is agriculture refers to the pesticides and fertilizers declines while the regeneration of the topsoil that biodiversity is to improve the water and the circulation. Regenerative agriculture integrates ideas from ecological agriculture , permaculture , agroecology , agro-forestry and renaturation ecology . In addition to other goals, it represents a form of humus management.

One of the pioneers of the approach is Robert Rodale (1930–1990), who spread the concept in the USA in the 1970s and who geared the Rodale Institute founded by his father to this purpose. The scientific and practical agricultural approach is described in the USA with the slogan "Put the carbon back to soil", which is about the organically bound carbon in the soil. Well-founded scientific findings are not yet available.

The method has been used in Germany since 2014. The key term in German is "humus structure", a long-term stable soil structure with a positive influence on plant nutrition and plant health is to be achieved. In Germany around 50,000 hectares are currently being cultivated using the regenerative cultivation method. Farmers have had positive experiences. Scientific data for Central Europe are not yet available. In Austria, in the Kaindorf ecoregion, the successful humus build-up in farms is already being documented.

An important role in regenerative arable farming is played by shallow soil cultivation with a tiller or plow, which peel off the permanently green soil and thus create a rotting surface.

Practical implementation

The most important element of regenerative agriculture are evergreen fields due to undersown crops and catch crops. In contrast to fields that have been left fallow for a long time, they form additional energy-rich substances that serve as food for the soil organisms and thus contribute to humus formation. The soil is only tilled flat with a cultivator or plow. The aim is to mix the fresh organic mass on the surface with the soil and thus to get the surface rotting in motion. Ferments serve as rotors. These are fermented plant parts from field and garden herbs as well as the shoot tips of various shrubs. The ferments are applied with a syringe when the green material is incorporated. Another component of regenerative agriculture is compost tea, an extract from compost material, molasses and water.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Olaf Christen, Victor Squires, Rattan Lal and Rober J. Hudson (Eds.): Interdisciplinary and Sustainability Issues in Food and Agriculture , Volume II. P. 388.
  2. ^ Humus in agricultural soils in Germany. Selected results of the soil condition survey (PDF). Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute and Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture . November 2018, accessed December 10, 2018.
  3. ^ John Pesek: Historical Perspective . In: JL Hatfield, Douglas L. Karlen: Sustainable Agriculture Systems . CRC Press, 1993, ISBN 9781566700498 , pp. 9f.
  4. ↑ Jürgen Beckhoff: Regenerative agriculture . In: oekolandbau.de . July 9, 2018 ( oekolandbau.de [accessed August 8, 2018]).
  5. ^ Kaindorf ecoregion. Retrieved August 13, 2018 .