Regenerative organic agriculture carries the promise of curbing climate change and providing healthy food for people, yet the verified ecological and economic benefits of regenerative practices remain vague. Mad Agriculture launched its Regenerative Research Program that will provide unparalleled data and new insights into the financial, ecological and social benefits of regeneration.
Project Drawdown has cited regenerative cropping systems as potentially responsible for reducing and sequestering CO2e by 15.12 - 23.21 gigatons between 2020-2050. Mad Ag not only wants to quantify the true potential of this solution, but also capture and communicate the multiplicity of benefits that go far beyond carbon sequestration. Mad Ag is partnering with Ecdysis Foundation and RES to rigorously monitor changes in carbon sequestration, soil health, farmer wellbeing, crop yield and nutrient density, profitability, and the biodiversity of insects, birds and plants.
The regenerative agriculture and environmental movements need data on real farms, run by real farmers. Isolated academic studies and farmer anecdotes aren’t enough. Measuring the holistic impact of regenerative systems is complicated and goes beyond the traditional academic approaches. “Our Regenerative Research Program will reveal the financial and ecological benefits of adopting regenerative organic agriculture, from balance sheets to butterflies,” says Mad Agriculture’s founder and Executive Director, Philip Taylor.
Over the next 10 years, this program - funded in large part by Silverstrand Capital - will monitor the benefits of transformation across dozens of large-scale farms in the United States. We are currently researching 11 farms in five US states across the Great Plains. Our research approach is co-designed with farmers to ensure that learnings benefit and inform farmer decision-making and operational health.
Mad Ag’s research will provide insights into the power of regenerative agriculture for solving climate change, reversing biodiversity and soil loss, and providing healthy food for the world. On the financial side, monitoring ecological and financial health together will inform how soil health can mitigate risk in agriculture. Institutions like lenders and insurers do not currently assess this intersection, meaning access to this new data will influence the future of pricing risk in agriculture.
These data and stories of transformation will be communicated using a variety of multimedia approaches, weaving qualitative and quantitative evidence of change. This study will not live on a shelf - it is here to inform and be implemented by farmers ready for the regenerative transition.
9 сен 2024
