Regenerative Agriculture- Can Consumer Trends dictate how we farm?

|

Share this:

Regenerative agriculture focuses on conserving the ecosystem through techniques that provide vitality to the soil. Consequently, it increases crop yield and improves its nutrition quotient. It incorporates several carbon sequestration techniques such as agroforestry, silvopasture, and no-till agriculture.

As per the International Food Information Council’s 2020 Food and Health Survey, more people are now switching to plant-based diets due to their health and environmental benefits. Thus, farmers are now practicing sustainable agriculture that allows the planet to heal and restore itself gradually.

Read on to discover how regenerative agriculture is powering consumer trends.regenerative agriculture for consumer trends

Recent Adoption of Ethics-based and Plant-based Eating

In the past decades, it was the concept of taste that determined the food choices of consumers. However, consumers today are mindful of several other considerations such as the welfare of animals, environmental sustainability, and a sense of social justice. These considerations fall under “ethical eating,” which focuses on the moral consequences of choosing particular food items.

In this context, it is crucial to note that the current agricultural practices contribute to land degradation and increased GHG (greenhouse) emissions. Thus, it is now essential for farmers and associated brands to employ regenerative agriculture practices. These practices seek to improve soil health and eventually protect the ecosystem. 

Increased Awareness about Health and Wellness

Consumers have now become more conscious of their food preferences. Often, they desire products labeled organic, non-GMO, gluten-free, and natural so that it causes minimal damage to their health.

The rise in the improper use of fertilizers and pesticides has led to several harmful effects on human health. These include liver damage, gastrointestinal issues, kidney damage, problems related to the nervous system, or damage to the DNA, which ultimately could lead to cancer.

Regenerative agriculture seeks to eliminate the usage of synthetic chemicals that have negative health impacts. Instead, it incorporates practices like mulching and composting that use organic wastes to improve soil fertility. These practices ensure that food derived from the crops is chemical-free so that consumers can derive the maximum nutrition from their food.

Big Brands Adopting the Sustainability Approach

As per recent reports, 75% of consumers are changing their consumption habits. They are looking for products that are nutritious, organic, and environment-friendly. Several major brands have now announced that they will source their products from farmers who engage in sustainable agriculture practices

PepsiCo has announced that it will use regenerative agriculture techniques on 7 million acres of its farmland, while Walmart will do the same on 50 million acres. In addition, General Mills has announced that it will source some of its products from farmers who only engage in regenerative agriculture practices. 

Increased Demand for Transparency from Consumers

81% of consumers seek transparency in their purchase of products. 62% of them desire to know about the complete list of ingredients, 53% wish to know about ingredients used, 48% look for certifications like USDA organic, 47% seek nutritional information, and 38% inquire about the source of the product.

Consumers are now increasingly demanding to know the origin of the products that they buy. This demand for transparency is due to the rising use of harmful chemicals and pesticides that have a damaging influence on their health.

This consumer awareness has given rise to the farm-to-fork traceability concept that allows consumers to trace their products and bring about transparency in the entire process.

regenerative agriculture and consumer trends and awareness infographic

Introduction of Regenerative Agriculture Standards

The period between 2014 and 2017 saw various organizations define and explore the scope of regenerative agriculture. Following this, they also launched numerous notable regenerative agriculture initiatives, including standards and certifications. 

The Regenerative Organic Certification (ROC) is an effort by farmers, scientists, and leading brands to set a high standard for regenerative agriculture techniques. Endorsed by the Regenerative Organic Alliance, it also includes representatives from various other leading organizations.

The ROC’s Framework for Regenerative Organic Certification focuses on the following three aspects:

  • Improving soil quality and sequestering carbon that will help in mitigating climate change;
  • Improving the welfare of animals; and,
  • Ensuring the economic stability of farmers and the other workers involved in the process.

Three certification tiers in this Framework incentivize farmers with gold, silver, and bronze medals for their efforts and encourage them to continue incorporating other regenerative agriculture practices.

Carbon Underground and Green America are co-developing the Regenerative Agriculture Initiative for the natural products industry in collaboration with Ben & Jerry’s (Unilever), Annie’s Homegrown (General Mills), DanoneWave, and MegaFood. The Standard evaluates the ability to achieve environmental impact, transparency, outcome-based economic benefits for farmers, compatibility with other related standards, and the flexibility to change as per scientific advancements.

The Biodynamic Farm Standard by Demeter is a blueprint that underlines the goals of regenerative agriculture. It assesses six “petals” of influence: biodiversity, food security, soil health, quality of the food, and its ability to mitigate climate change.

These standards ensure that agricultural practices reduce carbon footprint, thereby conserving the environment.

Mitigating Climate Change

The European Union’s Scientific Advice Mechanism, in 2020, stated that the entire food production process contributed to approximately 37% of total GHG emissions (nearly 50 billion tonnes CO2). According to World Bank data, the share of agriculture in these emissions is around 19–29%. The primary gases that lead to a high concentration of GHGs from the agricultural sector are nitrous oxide, methane, and carbon dioxide.

At present, there is a growing consensus that regenerative agriculture can eliminate carbon from the atmosphere and let the croplands absorb them. This reduction of global GHG emissions will eventually help in the adoption of climate-smart agriculture.

Cropin has developed revolutionary SaaS-based Agri Tech solutions to ensure a sustainable future.

Trillions of data sets powering predictive intelligence at a farm pixel level REQUEST A DEMO
World’s first ag-tech  resource library GET ACCESS
Introducing world's first  intelligent agriculture cloud KNOW MORE
 
Slide in CTA- east west seed

Know more about Cropin Cloud - the world's first intelligent agriculture cloud platform

Cropin Apps

Applications for
digitization

Cropin Apps is an integrated portfolio of highly customizable apps and solutions that capture and digitise agri-data from the farm to the warehouse to the fork. These applications are designed to scale digital transformation across agriculture and allied industries including forestry, commodity, banking and insurance.

DataHub

ML-ready data pipelines for enhanced analytics

Cropin Data Hub is designed to deliver the power of unified data by enabling interfacing with all agri-data sources from on-the-field farm management apps, IoT devices, mechanization data from farming resources, drones in agriculture, remote sensing satellite information, weather data, and many more.                                                      

cropin-intelligence-logo

Access to field-tested machine learning models

Cropin Intelligence enables access to over 22 of Cropin’s contextual deep-learning AI models to help agri-businesses with insights and predictive intelligence. Built using the world's largest crop knowledge graph, these models have been field-tested and deployed worldwide while being fine-tuned to work with a range of specific crop varieties, conditions, and locations.

Sujit Janardanan

About the Author

Sujit Janardanan is the Chief Marketing Officer at Cropin, the Agritech pioneer who has built the world's first purpose-built industry cloud for Agriculture - Cropin Cloud. He has more than 20 years of experience in building world-class marketing organizations with a focus on accelerating revenue and building brands with a purpose. Sujit’s business-oriented marketing philosophy coupled with strong execution capabilities has enabled organizations to scale and grow market share.