Regenerative Farming: Breaking Down the Buzzword
You can read see it written on just about every piece of plastic in the supermarket, on any mining company’s website, or in the mission statement of any multinational corporation: ‘sustainability’.
Yep, ‘sustainability’. What it means is conserving an ecological balance by avoiding depletion of natural resources. But now (and consumers are well aware of this) the term is thrown around willy-nilly to give consumers a sense that they’re buying green. Most of the time, however, they’re not.
Growing your own vegies in the backyard. Chucking your coffee grounds in the compost. Running your home exclusively off renewable energy. That’s sustainable.
Now, in the agriculture world, another buzzword has popped out of the ground and spread like a weed: regenerative farming.
So, what does this actually mean?
Your Farmer, Australia’s best team in ecologically grown grass fed meat delivery, breaks down the hot buzzword of ‘regenerative farming’ and how you can avoid meat that’s masquerading as being responsibly farmed:
What is regenerative farming?
This is where the debate begins. What ‘regenerative farming’ actually means is a conservation and rehabilitation approach to food and farming systems, focusing on top soil regeneration, increasing biodiversity, improving the water cycle, avoiding petrochemical pesticides and fertilisers, and other ecologically sound practices. Sounds good, right? And it is good, when defined like this.
So… what’s the problem then?
Well, the thing is, most parts of the world define ‘regenerative farming’ far more loosely… allowing it to be used to describe pretty much any type of farming, regardless of how ecologically friendly the practices actually are.
What’s in a name: the case in California
California made headlines in the farming world in early February, for all the wrong reasons. The California State Board of Food and Agriculture (SBFA) formalised a definition of ‘regenerative farming’ that is, to put it politely, ‘cow manure’.
They signed off on a loose definition of regenerative agriculture as “an integrated approach to farming and ranching rooted in principles of soil health, biodiversity, and ecosystem resiliency.”
This definition has been criticised by ecologists and organic farmers (including our team at Your Farmer) alike, who point out that this definition fails to include specific practices or measurable outcomes, and fails to include organic certification as foundational to “regenerative”.
How can I be sure my meat is farmed responsibly?
We feel for consumers like yourself who are just trying to buy the best quality, responsibly farmed meat with no nasties in it and the best nutrients for your health. It’s getting more and more difficult to tell just what processes have gone into farming your food. How can you be sure that you’re buying responsibly farmed food unlike the ‘regeneratively farmed’ food you’d be buying in California?
Fear not, there is a solution: buying ecologically farmed meat.
Ecological farming at Your Farmer
Not every farmer can describe their meat as ‘ecologically farmed’. At Your Farmer, we’ve developed a set of criteria that outlines specific practices and measurable outcomes for ecologically farmed foods: Your Farmer Certified. If a farm meets Your Farmer Certified outcomes, it uses processes that:
· Focuses on soil biology to increase biomass and trophic interactions
· Manage farm soil in ways that are non-depleting
· Use synthetic fertilisers only as short- and medium-term solutions
· Minimises water loss due to ecological design errors
In other words, using farming processes that are actually sustainable and regenerative. At Your Farmer, we are supplied by 100% ecological farms that meet Your Farmer Certified criteria.
It’s all a bit science-y isn’t it… so why does this matter? Well, ecologically grown food is better for you and more nutrient dense: basically you need less to get more.
Choose Your Farmer for the purest, nutrient rich meat and produce delivery – from the farm to your door
Your Farmer are a dedicated bunch of farmers who deliver meat and produce to families in NSW and ACT, focussing on providing you with quality foods your family deserves. We cut out the middleman, sending the best quality 100% grass fed meats and produce straight from ecological farms to your door. All our meats are chemical-free, gluten-free and super flavoursome thanks to our ecological farming practices and our innovative ProCryo packaging technology. Check out our range of meat delivery plans and say g’day to better quality meat!
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