Restoring damaged and nonfunctioning ecosytems to a condition that works for plants, humans and nonhuman animals is the great challenge of our time. Sequestering carbon to slow climate change is only one of the many benefits that will result from repairing natural systems. Topsoil loss can be slowed and reversed. Floods will be less intense. High quality and sustainable food sources can be secured. Rural areas can be revitalized.
So what's stopping us from restoring paradise lost? Not the laws of physics, but rather the lack of funds for farmers attempting it, and government policies that favor huge agribusiness concerns over small farmers that want to try something different. Also at work is a powerful propaganda machine that is spreading the fairy tale of the big bad methane-breathing cows that are destroying the world, and a populace that is buying the myth of the bright vegan future with lots of highly processed edible lab products.
Social, political, and financial barriers notwithstanding, there are lots of farmers who are restoring their land this very minute using the best tool in the toolbox: cattle. Ruminants and grasslands evolved together as vast herds of herbivores munched, stomped, and pooped on vegetation, then moved on to the next area. When farmers mimic these movements with managed grazing they are recreating nature's soil building processes. Regenerative farmers have the capacity to return the prairies of the American Midwest to their former carbon holding capacity, and to reverse desertification around the world, restoring diverse and functioning ecosystems at the same time. This process also has the result of producing quality, high-protein food for human consumption, without the large carbon footprint of row crops. It's a win-win situation.
We need to help and support regenerative farmers in every way possible.
Here's what you can do:
Buy their meat and dairy products. If you don't eat animal products, buy their other products, since regenerative farms are often diversified.
Find a regenerative farm that allows tours, and go on one. You'll have a blast and you'll be better able to talk knowledgeably about specific practices.
Find out if anyone running for office in your jurisdiction supports regenerative farming and support them however you can.
Read as much as you can about regenerative agriculture so you can speak with confidence on the subject. Combating the cow-as-the-root-of-all-evil narrative is an uphill battle.
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