For the Sake of Soil

A return to regenerative agriculture

By Chloe-Anne Swink

Just a teaspoon of healthy soil is packed with billions of living organisms—bacteria, fungi, nematodes, protozoa. Our soil is alive! Or at least it should be.

Most of us don’t spend much time thinking about the ground we walk on, the earth beneath our feet, but maybe we should. Soil is an ecosystem—and not just any ecosystem. It’s the basis upon which our food system and the sustainability of life on Earth rely. 

In our modern industrialized world, healthy soil is being depleted at a downright unsustainable rate. From deforestation to climate change and mass industrial farming operations, our planet is experiencing the desertification of approximately 12 million hectares yearly. That means we’re losing an Iceland-sized portion of viable soil. 

Every. Single. Year. 

According to an estimate by the United Nations, 90 percent of the Earth’s soil will be desolate by the year 2050. Desolate soil cannot yield crops or sustain life. 

A true crisis is on the horizon. The global food system is responsible for 70 percent of freshwater expenditure, 90 percent of tropical deforestation and a third of global greenhouse gas emissions. 

Not only do factors like deforestation release carbon into the atmosphere and contribute to soil erosion, but modern industrial farming techniques—like the use of chemical fertilizers—wreak havoc on our soil’s living ecosystems. This accelerates soil degradation and damages human health by releasing mass toxins into the environment and our food and water supply. 

It’s a vicious cycle. But it goes the other way, too. Enter regenerative agriculture. Technically, it’s been here all along. Regenerative farming is as old as Indigenous people around the globe. However, somewhere along the way—in an attempt to mass produce food at an exceptional scale—we lost the plot. 

Regenerative agriculture relies upon bringing farming back into alignment with nature. A farm should function as a healthy, self-regulating ecosystem. The same way soil does in the right environment with minimal human interference. The same way our bodies do, just think about the gut microbiome. The holistic, systems-based approach to regenerative agriculture starts with the soil. 

In the same way that industrial farming contributes significantly to the overproduction of carbon emissions and drought, regenerative agriculture has the power to do the opposite. Regenerative pastures sequester carbon and hold a higher water content within the soil, alleviating issues of both flooding and drought and helping replenish the soil and generate thriving, nutrient-dense crops. 

Practices like silvopasture integrate woodland into pastures for livestock grazing by planting hundreds (or thousands) of trees in the pasture. Producing trees and shrubs generates marketable crops while nourishing grazing livestock. Simultaneously, the livestock fertilizes the soil, which thrives on abundant organic input. The trees also facilitate carbon sequestering. Carbon is imperative for healthy soil yet detrimental to our planet when trapped in the atmosphere. 

This is just one example of how regenerative agriculture is not only sustainable but truly regenerative, as the name implies. It gives back as much, if not more than it takes from our natural resources. Other staples of regenerative ag include no-till or minimum tillage, polyculture and rotational grazing. Minimum tillage farming allows the soil structure to regenerate without being torn up and compacted by heavy machinery. Polyculture builds biodiversity and alleviates the demand that monocropping places on soil—as is often seen with soy and corn in the Midwest. Rotational grazing gives livestock an improved quality of life and gives pastures the opportunity to recover and regenerate instead of being wiped out by overgrazing. 

Boulder County is home to many farms and ranches that are leading with their values by practicing regenerative agriculture. Sometimes even to the detriment of profitability. With grant funding diminishing at a national level and mounting economic pressure, local farms like Kilt Farm in Longmont are working hard to remain viable and continue serving the community. For owner Michael Moss, prioritizing organic and regenerative farming is based on morals and necessity. With both a vision to impact the food system by providing the best quality produce possible and only about 12 acres to work with, Moss says he doesn’t have the luxury of a big industrial farm that can pick up the farm enterprise and move off a piece of land when the land is no longer viable.

Moss is well aware that Kilt Farm’s production capacity depends on the health of the soil. Instead of working the land, he works with the land. 

“Being focused on regeneration and regenerative practices helps me ensure that this farm can continue for years and generations,” Moss says. “What that looks like for me is really honoring the land by utilizing cover crops. We bring in cattle to graze hay that we produce, and they graze that right on top of our vegetable bed so we’re building in fertility and biology and organic matter. We do a lot of cover cropping, so there’s always something living throughout the majority of the year in our vegetable production areas, and we try to make sure that our soil is as healthy as possible.”

The impact of regenerative farming expands beyond the bounds of the farm and into the communities they support. Healthy soil and greater biodiversity equals a healthier environment and a potential solution to the effects of climate change, but it also equals a healthier population. 

Over-farmed soil depleted of minerals and nutrients produces nutrient-poor food. A 2022 study from The Department of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington found that regeneratively grown crops demonstrated significantly higher levels of vitamins K, B2 and E compared to conventional agriculture practices. They also flaunted 11 percent more calcium and 17 to 23 percent more zinc, among other nutrients and trace minerals that outperformed its conventionally grown counterparts. Similar findings have been noted when studying the nutrient density of regenerative pasture-raised beef and pork versus cattle and pigs raised in feedlots. 

Regenerative agriculture starts at the soil. It extends to the health of the planet, farmers, animals and community. While it feels like a promising answer to the environmental crises we’re facing today, the question of how to transition to regenerative sustainability for small local operations and at scale remains. 

Yellow Barn Farm in Longmont is working on a solution. By mirroring the closed-loop system of regenerative agriculture across both their farm and business model, Yellow Barn Farm has created a unique mycelial network of businesses and organizations that call the farm home. 

Yellow Barn Farm provides affordable rent to local businesses. The companies on-site can give back to the farm and share resources. “That idea of stacking functions and creating circularity is ultimately what keeps the whole system afloat and keeps that money moving in a hyper-local way,” explains executive director Azuraye Wycoff.

“If you just have regenerative agriculture, it’s still too expensive to do by itself,” she says. “But if you integrate it into a holistic system where your economics are regenerative and circular, your social components are all circular. Then you have something that can self-sustain—if not create more abundance.”