Scaling Diversified Regenerative Agriculture in the U.S.

retreat focus

Build momentum for scaling up diversified systems of regenerative agriculture as a climate, biodiversity, water, equity, and rural economy solution in the United States.

The Volgenau Climate Action Center is delighted to invite you to a strategic leadership retreat at The Airlie House in Warrenton, VA, focused on igniting more momentum for diversified, regenerative agriculture systems in the United States. Our three-day gathering will prioritize regional initiatives working directly to benefit producers, rural communities, and our climate.

This initiative is designed to support and strengthen individual leaders, foster a dynamic and collaborative leadership network for ongoing work, and to explore high-impact strategies. We reached out to many people to identify diverse innovators—people willing to try new ideas and strategies, people who have a track record of leadership, and those who influence others through their vision, expertise, and work on the land. Among some 200 potential investors, land stewards, producers, supply chain experts, soil experts, policy leaders, and storytellers, we are thrilled to be welcoming this small group of attendees.

We are committed to building trust and connections among this exceptional network of diverse leaders, who together are perceived as essential to any effort to expand and strengthen the field. Our goal for the gathering is to identify critical opportunities and challenges while deepening collaborations, with a clear aspiration for outcomes and impact.

The world’s leading climate scientists say we must exponentially scale regenerative agriculture in this decade to bolster mitigation and adaptation. At the same, we face multiple related emergencies including widespread structural inequities related to land access and food security, an extinction crisis due to loss of habitat, a frayed, polarized, and increasingly violent political context, and an unprecedented loss of access to water, in some cases due to water scarcity and in others due to quality.  In this context, producers and land stewards need viable business models, workable financing options, technical assistance, a supportive policy framework, restorative personal connection to the land, and communities of support. We hope to gather our collective wisdom and catalyze further positive action and change on the land and in our rural communities.

Outcomes

• Shared understanding of the threats and challenges we face as well as the potential leverage points for scaling up diversified regenerative agriculture systems;

• Prioritization of strategies for accelerating the adoption and expansion of regenerative agriculture toward its full potential (without negative unintended consequences), e.g.

  • Clarifying the value propositions for farmers and ranchers, including financial tools and market demand to support farmers, ranchers, and land stewards in transitioning into and sustaining their RA operations;

  • Greater understanding of how to strengthen and expand state, regional, and tribal efforts promoting diversified regenerative ag systems in the US;

• A dynamic and collaborative leadership network rooted in deeper relationships that serve mutual learning and interconnected action;

• Potential emergence of collaborative initiatives that can move forward with leadership from within this group, whether among a few or many participants.

Inspiration and Resources

The Case for Diversified Farming Systems

Scaling Diversified Regenerative Ag—Survey Responses (Our pre-gathering survey questions)

Barriers to Implementing Climate Resilient Agricultural Strategies: The Case of Crop Diversification in the U.S. Corn Belt

The Politics of Knowledge: Understanding the Evidence for Agroecology, Regenerative Approaches, and Indigenous Foodways (2021) by the Global Alliance for the Future of Food.

“A Social-Ecological Analysis of Diversified Farming Systems: Benefits, Costs, Obstacles and Enabling Policy Frameworks,” March 2013 from Ecology & Society: A journal of integrative science for resilience and sustainability.

Transforming Agriculture in the Midwest: Critical Responses to a Changing Climate

The Promise of Regenerative Agriculture: The Science-Backed Business Case and Mechanisms to Drive Adoption: The Science-Backed Business Case and Mechanisms to Drive Adoption (2021) by Jock Gilchrist.

The Center for Diversified Farming Systems (CDFS), Berkeley Food Institute

The Modern West Podcast: Exploring the evolving identity of the American West by Wyoming Public Media.

“Legal Pathways to Carbon-Neutral Agriculture” (2017) by by Peter Lehner and Nathan A . Rosenberg, Environmental Law Institute.

Regenerative Ag Spectrum, by the Green America Center for Sustainability Solutions.

Regenerative Agriculture, Equity, and Land Access

Can We Talk About Regenerative Agriculture? (April 2022) from A Growing Culture.

Cultural Appropriation in Regenerative Agriculture Parts 1 & 2 with Patrice Lockert Anthony

Regenerative Agriculture Needs A Reckoning (May 2021) by Joe Fassler in The Counter.

Does Regenerative Agriculture Have a Race Problem? (January 2021) by Gosia Wozniacka in Civil Eats.

Regenerative Agriculture—Agroecology Without Politics? (August 2022) by Pablo Tittonell1, Veronica El Mujtar,, Georges Felix, Yodit Kebede, Luciana Laborda, Raquel Luján Soto, and Joris de Vente in Sustainable Food Systems.

Decolonizing Regenerative Cattle Ranching: Native farmers want newcomers to know there’s nothing novel about caring for the land that grows our food (2022) by Ray Levy Uyeda, Civil Eats.

Women’s Work — A podcast from Boise State Public Radio News

From Soil Health Principles to Practice

Rodale: Forty Years of Field Trials Tell a Story (2021) by Rodale Institute.

Applying the Soil Health Principles (2022) by Dallas Mount, from Ranch Management Consultants.

Driving Demand for Regenerative Food and Fiber

Regenerative Agriculture Becomes a Global Priority (2022) By Renee Targos, Editor, AgriBusiness Global.

Plant-based animal product alternatives are healthier and more environmentally sustainable than animal products (2022) by C.J. Bryant, in Future Foods.

Meat of the Matter: A Municipal Guide to Climate-Friendly Food Purchasing by Friends of the Earth and Responsible Purchasing Network. 2017.

Purchasing Power: How Institutional “Good Food” Procurement Policies Can Shape a Food System That’s Better for People and Our Planet (2017) by Union of Concerned Scientists.

Finance & Money

Regenerative Economics & Resilient Foodways diagrams.

Healthy Soils to Cool the Planet: A Philanthropic Action Guide (2019), Breakthrough Strategies & Solutions.

Investing in Regenerative Agriculture Infrastructure Across Value Chains (July 2022) by Croatan Institute.

Soil Is Our Common Ground: Policy Priorities for the 2023 Farm Bill [Draft Document] by Regenerate America.

How the Inflation Reduction Act Affects Food and Agriculture (2022) by Tom Philpott in Wired.

“Legal Pathways to Carbon-Neutral Agriculture” (2017) by by Peter Lehner and Nathan A . Rosenberg, Environmental Law Institute.

How USDA's $2.8 Billion Climate-Smart Investment Might Impact Your Operation (2022) by Jenn Hoffman in AgWeb Farm Journal.

What the Inflation Reduction Act Means for Farmers and Landowners (2022) by AgAmerica Lending.

Industrial Ag’s Negative Impacts

The Outsourcing of America’s Food (June 2021) by Austin Frerick in The American Conservative.

The Hog Barons: How Iowa’s largest hog producer courted power, turned farming into a numbers game, and transformed the American heartland (April 2021) by By Charlie Mitchell and Austin Frerick in Vox.

Big Meat, Small Towns: The Deregulation of the American Food System with Austin Frerick (2020) from the Law, Ethics, & Animals Program at Yale Law School.

The Big Picture: Reflections

Songs for the Soil from the Land Stewardship Project.

Wendell Berry’s The Unsettling of America (1977).