<aside> ℹ️ Understanding the landscape of regenerative agriculture and sustainable farming practices requires familiarity with a range of specialized terms that capture the essence of these approaches. To navigate this complex field, we've organized key concepts into five main categories, each representing a fundamental element of the EthosTM program.
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Regenerative Agriculture
Regenerative agriculture is an approach to stewarding nature sourced from a specific ecosystem and culture that aims to evolve the vitality and capacity of the whole farm ecosystem including the human communities who steward the system, soil, water, biodiversity, and ecosystem functions. Regenerative agriculture can be defined for a specific place and can be identified through a set of principles that describe a regenerative approach to agriculture.
Regenerative agriculture is rooted in indigenous and ancestral agroecological traditions. At the same time, it draws from decades of scientific and applied research by the global communities of organic farming, agroecology, holistic grazing, and agroforestry. Terra Genesis™ holds that, to be regenerative, an agricultural system includes social and cultural systems, and as such works towards social justice and human wellbeing as well as ecological health. In this way Regenerative Agriculture is held within seven key principles.
Extractive Agriculture
An agricultural paradigm characterized by the unilateral extraction of natural resources beyond their replenishment rates, leading to significant ecological degradation, biodiversity loss, soil depletion, and deprioritization of farmer and community well-being. Extractive agriculture systems are understood to be driven by short-term economic gains originating from locales unspecific to producer communities, and operating at the expense of long-term sustainability.
Regenerative Supply System
A holistic agricultural value exchange process designed to enhance ecosystem health, social equity, and economic viability through regenerative practices, ensuring that all stages of production, processing, and distribution are actively contributing to the restoration and resilience of living systems and communities. By comparison, a supply chain is a linear process by which value is extracted from the origin or production for the explicit purpose of maximizing profitability along each subcomponent whilst externalizing risk.
Supply System Management
The orchestration of logistical, informational, and transactional processes across agricultural value exchange processes, aimed at ensuring product integrity, sustainability, and ethical compliance from point of origin to consumer, through the implementation of advanced traceability systems and stakeholder engagement strategies and practices.
Agroforestry
An integrated approach to land use management that combines elements of forestry and agriculture within a single production system to establish mutual interactions between trees, other woody species, and agricultural production systems. This practice enhances biodiversity, improves soil structure and fertility, and creates more resilient ecosystems. Farmers that practice agroforestry are able to increase system productivity, achieve resource efficiency, enhance carbon sequestration capabilities, and generate supplemental income streams with selling secondary and tertiary crops, thereby contributing to both environmental regeneration and economic viability.
Keystone Agricultural Species (Crop or Animal)
A pivotal agricultural species around which farming practices and community structures are organized within a given Origin. These crops or animals hold ecological significance by supporting a range of associated biodiversity and driving the agroecological dynamics of the community or region. Economically and culturally, they underpin the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, dictating market interactions, agricultural innovations, and cultural practices. Keystone Species serve as the fulcrum for regenerative agricultural interventions, aiming to enhance biodiversity, ecosystem services, and farmer resilience.