The role of regenerative agriculture and innovation on our food security

Essay , 2021 , 7 Pages , Grade: 1,0

Economics - Innovation economics

The population on the earth is growing. It’s growing fast! Nowadays we are 7,89 billion people and in the year 2100 it would be 10,87 billion (statista, 2021).
So, how do we feed all these humans? How can we guarantee food security and what's the link to regenerative agriculture? Global warming is present every day for everyone. In every news article there is information about another catastrophe caused by storms, flooding and earthquakes.
We know, we have to start working on that! And because of that situation we are facing now, what is the related sustainable development goal for food security to prevent more people from hunger and poverty than we do now.
There has to be a solution for us! I will show the role of innovation in addressing this challenge by the work and knowledge of some experts.
The problem we are facing is the fact that there is worldwide desertification and degradation caused by conventional agriculturing. The field work is using gene manipulated crops, pesticides, fungicides and aggressive chemical fertilizer in addition to hard tillage. Because of this, the soil in many areas is completely dead and the farmers cannot grow anything on that ground anymore. Due to this, land is missing to grow food and feed the people.
I feel that this topic is one of the most important for us humans in the future to fight hunger and in addition to global warming by reducing greenhouse gases and storing carbon dioxide in the soil.

Introduction

The link between food security and regenerative agriculture

The related sustainable development goal to food security

The role of innovation in addressing this challenge

Summary

References

Introduction

The population on the earth is growing. It’s growing fast! Nowadays we are 7,89 billion people and in the year 2100 it would be 10,87 billion (statista, 2021).

So, how do we feed all these humans? How can we guarantee food security and what's the link to regenerative agriculture? Global warming is present every day for everyone. In every news article there is information about another catastrophe caused by storms, flooding and earthquakes.

We know, we have to start working on that! And because of that situation we are facing now, what is the related sustainable development goal for food security to prevent more people from hunger and poverty than we do now.

There has to be a solution for us! I will show the role of innovation in addressing this challenge by the work and knowledge of some experts.

The problem we are facing is the fact that there is worldwide desertification and degradation caused by conventional agriculturing. The field work is using gene manipulated crops, pesticides, fungicides and aggressive chemical fertilizer in addition to hard tillage. Because of this, the soil in many areas is completely dead and the farmers cannot grow anything on that ground anymore. Due to this, land is missing to grow food and feed the people.

I feel that this topic is one of the most important for us humans in the future to fight hunger and in addition to global warming by reducing greenhouse gases and storing carbon dioxide in the soil.

The link between food security and regenerative agriculture

At first, I want to bring light to what is food security with regenerative agriculture and what is meant about that. To understand the difference to the previous agriculture, I will show some points about what is going on nowadays.

Industrial agriculture is using a lot of different techniques to increase the growth of food on the fields. Mostly they are growing crops to feed the mass production of cows and animals. Originally the crops were sensitive to weather and pests. So, they started to use pesticides. Those pesticides weren’t enough to fight hard weather conditions, like storms, flooding or drought. In this case, they invented gene manipulated crops that can stand those conditions. In addition to that they are using different synthetic fertilizers to increase the application rate.

This inevitably leads to dead soil, because the soil can’t handle all those chemical and tillage treatments. What are the farmers doing then? Exactly, they are using more synthetic fertilizers and next generations of gene manipulated crops. That’s the problem we are facing. More soil is going to be desertificated and they can’t secure the big amount of food we need to live. All this agriculture is built on using gas and huge amounts of fresh water, which is bad for the global climate and the soil.

There are three topics we are facing due to this kind of agriculture. It’s chemical exposure, reduced biodiversity in the diet and the landscape and an increase in consumption of ultra-processed denuded foods (Koberinsky, 2020, 20).

In summary, previous agriculture cannot secure the demand for food we need for the future. What do we have to do? The answer is not easy. There is not one exact answer to this question. The agriculture industry has to think differently. But there is a movement going on in the agriculture business, that could be a solution for food security and additionally reducing global warming.

We need regenerative agriculture. But what is this? It’s an agriculture that needs farmers which understand the functionality of the soil. Furthermore it “is typically defined as an integrated set of land management practices that utilizes plant photosynthesis to sequester carbon, restore soil health, increase crop resilience and restore the nutrient density of foods.” (Ickerd, 2021, 8)

The farmers in regenerative agriculture decrease tillage and use synthetic fertilizer and pesticides. Next, they use cover crops in defined areas and times and rotate those in addition to grazing animals. For example, they have an acre of land, then it’s splitted in areas, where they grow beans, sunflowers and all different types of crops. When this technique is used in a way that the crops have a symbiosis with other plants, the soil gets healthier than it was the period before.

They use animals like chicken or cows to get natural fertilizer. The chicken eats the pests and in summary, the crops were growing in a good way, because the soil is good and they have long roots.

What does a good soil mean? A good soil is full of microorganisms that are living in a symbiosis to the crops. The crops do photosynthesis and send the carbon to the soil. The microorganisms “eat” the carbon and work on all the ingredients in the soil. So, the plants have long roots and can stand hard conditions and have a great yield. Additionally, the soil stores huge amounts of carbon, which is good against global warming. The farmers are not using extra big machines for harvesting, so they save fuel, which has also a big effect on reducing GHG. And because they are not growing only one sort of crop, they are able to deliver many kinds of crops at different times of the year. If you pay attention to all these things which are mentioned in regenerative agriculture, there is a possibility to turn the coin for food security, because if you have a good soil, you can feed the world and stand the environmental influences due to healthy crops. The land is not going to destertify or degrade, it’s growing!

The related sustainable development goal to food security

Another point to consider is the question, why is not every farmer having regenerative agriculture when it’s obvious that it is much better for the climate and humankind? It can be answered with different aspects.

At first, it’s the education of the farmers. They start at young ages working at the farms of their parents and finish school, without any further education they are doing the same things as their parents have done. Additionally, the neighbors are doing the same things that they have done decades before. The problem from lack of education is that the farmers don’t understand how the soil is functioning. This problem is mentioned in the documentary “Kiss the Ground 2020” and is one of the biggest reasons why they are not practicing regenerative agriculture.

Besides the education, in the documentary is also mentioned, that the states are subventioning the common crops like corn, so that it is worth it at all to grow them. Otherwise, they will earn nothing from growing corn. Because there are so many corn farmers it’s necessary for the state to hold the price of corn high, which leads to the previous problems in monoculture agriculture. So, the farmers think, when they keep continuing their business, it’s worth it to do so. But exactly this is the reason for all the problems we are facing now. If the states stop to hold the prices high, those farmers would not be able to survive and feed their family. I agree that the government must take care of their residents, but it’s a problem made by the authorities. For them, it’s the easiest way to keep the food production alive, because the people trust in the state and the money from them.

However, how can we invent sustainable, regenerative agriculture? It must be considered that the regenerative part is not only by having a healthy soil and educated farmers. It’s necessary to aim for the farmers' needs, the customers' needs and all the members of civil society (Ickerd, 2021, 8). When those farms fail to meet all the needs, they will not be adapted in civilization and by other farmers. Not every customer is willing to pay the high prices for the products from regenerative farms.

There has to be fundamental changes in the government, the authorities and the food policies (Ickerd, 2021, 10). The policies must be changed to support regenerative farms. The societies and communities must change their willingness to accept those kinds of agriculture. It’s a hard step for everybody but it’s necessary for humankind to have food security in the future.

The role of innovation in addressing this challenge

Finally, after all those aspects we have considered, what is the role of innovation in addressing this challenge in food security and regenerative agriculture?

First of all, what is innovation about? It’s about bringing new knowledge into new products and services to enable new ways of doing things and get those to the market to aim at customer needs. That's what we have here with regenerative agriculturing. Some experts are bringing new knowledge to the farmers, so that they know how to grow their crops in a regenerative way. The solution is a larger range and diversity of different plants on the market. The farmer acts in a totally different way by growing numerous plants and for sure different animals at different times in different areas. So, for them, it’s a proper innovation to what they have done before.

To dig deeper, I would categorize the innovation in regenerative agriculture.

There are different types of innovation. The categories are the “form” or “novelty” of innovation.

In my opinion, it’s not a completely new idea in case of “novelty”, because regenerative agriculture is done by a lot of developing countries and they know how to use the soil in the best way to feed their families. Additionally, regenerative agriculture was done by all humans before tilling. Back in the days, it was the only way to grow crops. With technological success, the regenerative part was not necessary until today, where the population is growing fast and facing all the environmental problems, to say so.

However, there is a category for the “form” of innovation. I would say, sustainable regenerative agriculture is a radical innovation. The indicators for radical innovation in the case of agriculture are that the farmers have to use substantially new technologies, for example, they grow beans instead of corn, so they need new technical equipment and knowledge. Or, they are having chicken in a specific area of their field. How to keep those chickens? That’s completely different from tillage or harvesting on a big harvester.

The second indicator is that regenerative agriculture offers substantially higher customer benefits relating to existing products. Because of better soil conditions, the crops are having higher yields than before with chemical treatments and the soil can store huge amounts of carbon, because the plants are using photosynthesis and deliver the carbon deep into the earth. So, the customers can buy many different healthy plants and that's good for their diet (and weight ;) Equally, a huge amount of carbon is stored in the ground and protects the atmosphere from getting hotter and hotter. This fact is good for all people, animals and plants, and so for the entire world.

And because it’s a radical innovation, society, the government and everybody must adapt and accept this type of agriculture. The implementation is hard convincing work, but it’s worth it. The people must think outside the box and need the right mindset to do so.

Summary

In conclusion, then, it is clear that food security is directly linked to regenerative agriculture, because land is limited, and the population is growing. There has to be rethinked the actual way of farming crops by inventing new sustainable, regenerative ways for agriculturing. If we continue farming in the conventional way, desertification, degradation and climate change will be even worse in the future. There are ways to exit that spinning wheel by educating the farmers, changing the willingness of accepting new ways of farming and turning the mindset in civilization to a more respectful way regarding our environment. Let’s start and participate in this movement!

References

Ickerd, J. (2021). THE ECONOMIC PAMPHLETEER: Realities of regenerative agriculture. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 10(2), 7-10. https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2021.102.001

Koberinsky, J. (2020). Towards a Regenerative Agriculture. Peace Magazine, 2021 (Agriculture), 20-23. peacemagazine statista. (2021, 08 28). Statistiken zur Weltbevölkerung. statista.de. Retrieved 09 18, 2021, from https://de.statista.com/themen/75/weltbevoelkerung/

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• College: Tecnológico de Monterrey
• Course: Innovation
• Grade: 1,0
• Author: Sascha Leitke (Author)
• Publication Year: 2021
• Pages: 7
• Catalog Number: V1192495
• ISBN (PDF): 9783346632722
• Language: English