The explanation was that "New-Gen picks up on the interest in regenerative agriculture but repositions New Zealand as the leader in achievement..." In the article I made the point that you can't RE-generate something unless it is DE-generated. New Zealand does not have the deserts, desertification or dust bowls that stimulated the regenerative agriculture (RA) thinking overseas.
When regenerative was born, it focused on soil health, building up organic matter (soil carbon sequestration), reducing use of synthesised agrichemicals and being on a journey of constant improvement.
New Zealand's agricultural history, based on science, informed by research, and honed by farmers, started in the late 1800s - and meets most of what is required to meet the RA goals. The efficiency gains, the productivity increases, the market orientation, are a matter of record. The export economy, and therefore every New Zealander, benefits.
Many New Zealand agricultural scientists did not embrace the concept of 'regenerative agriculture' because soils here already have high organic matter by world standards; what was being promoted would not have the same positive soil carbon sequestration benefits as in degraded soils. Further, New Zealand farmers are already focused on constant improvement - it's part of their DNA. If improvement is 'business as usual', achieving and proving improvement above BAU can be difficult.
At the end of 2020, some of the American proponents of the regenerative approach published a paper in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. The authors reported that by using animals and multispecies (animals as well as plants) pasture rotation on what had been 'degraded cropping land', reducing reliance on external inputs (herbicides, pesticides and fertiliser, for instance), as well as restoring and enhancing ecosystem services such as soil carbon (C) sequestration, they could meet the desired goals: they increased soil organic matter, thereby offsetting greenhouse gases, while producing animal protein for human consumption. However, when comparing required land between the two systems for food production, the authors reported that multispecies pasture rotation required 2.5 times more land than conventional production to produce the same amount of food.
That is a very big 'However'.
The United Nations projects the global population of 8.3 billion will increase to 10.3 billion by the mid-2080s before declining - and food insecurity is already increasing.
The paper's authors asked whether society should 'prioritize an input-intensive, conventional (for America) system that produces more food from a smaller yet degrading land base? Or, alternatively, should systems such as multispecies pasture rotation that produce less food on a larger, but more ecologically functional landscape be more highly prioritised?"
Answer, New Zealand already does what is needed. On 5-species (plus any random plant) pastures, grazed rotationally by various animal classes, our soils have higher organic matter and lower greenhouse gases per unit of production than most countries can achieve. We have good stock management and farmers interested in doing better - in testing fodder beet or wintering barns or 'wearables' and whatever might add benefits to their system. Subsuming what we already do into what is called something that does not meet global needs, doesn't seem a good move.
Use of agrichemicals, including fertiliser, has decreased with advances in precision agriculture and new formulations of chemical targeting specific weeds and pests.
New Zealand has scientists focusing on all the important aspects. And New Zealand has farmers who deserve to be acknowledged for their contribution to environment and economy.
New-Gen is for farmers wanting to continue doing the right thing for the environment while supporting food supply.
New Zealand researchers can show the way, using New Zealand farmers as the example.
New-Gen - it's what we do.
Dr Jacqueline Rowarth, Adjunct Professor Lincoln University, is a soil scientist with a PhD in nutrient cycling. She is a farmer-elected director on the boards of Ravensdown and DairyNZ and a member of the Scientific Council of the World Farmers' Organisation.
