The use of regenerative practices in agriculture helps prevent climate change and reduces the vulnerability of farms themselves to the effects of climate change.
What are regenerative practices?
They are any agronomic practices that restore natural cycles, improve soil fertility and water purity, increase biodiversity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They include practices such as:
- optimal use of inputs such as fertilisers, plant protection products, machinery or seeds,
- covering the soil with vegetation throughout the year using post-harvest crop rotations or residues, increasing carbon sequestration and protecting the soil,
- appropriate use of the terrain around the farm, e.g. excluding areas that are permanently waterlogged from cultivation,
- prudent use of the soil, reducing intervention and pressure on the soil (abandoning ploughing),
- development of biodiversity in the field, its periphery and throughout the farm,
- use of organic fertilisers and the use of crop residues as a source of biomass.
The direct benefit of regenerative practices is the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. This includes both the farm’s own emissions, which are organic as a result of optimising production processes, and the potential for increased carbon fixation from the atmosphere in the soil. As a result, improved soil health through increased organic matter means healthier crops, higher yields and greater profitability of production for the farmer. Using regenerative practices on the farm very often means simultaneously meeting the climate change requirements of EU policy and the requirements of food companies, including their internal sustainability standards for their crop suppliers. In this way, using regenerative practices also improves the farm’s competitive position.
Carbon farming
The terms regenerative agriculture and carbon farming are often used interchangeably, depending on the perspective. Carbon farming is defined as the use of regenerative agronomic practices that, in addition to the benefits described above, offer the possibility of an additional source of income for the farm in the form of carbon certificates. By using appropriate regenerative soil and crop management practices, the farmer can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and store carbon sequestered from the atmosphere in the soil, and each tonne of greenhouse gas emissions reduced or carbon dioxide sequestered represents a carbon certificate that can be sold. Carbon farming is widely regarded as an effective method of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and removing CO2 from the atmosphere by using soils as carbon sinks.
The development of carbon farming is a direct result of the direction of change that land use sectors will undergo. They have an important role to play in meeting the EU’s goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050 and a 55% reduction required by 2030, and a net removal target of 310 Mt CO2eq over the same period. One of the tools to achieve these targets will be the EU carbon sequestration certification framework.
The EU legislative initiative on the certification of carbon removals includes the establishment of a voluntary system for the certification of carbon credits from carbon farming, the establishment of the necessary rules for e.g. the calculation of the baseline and the accounting of carbon sequestration, and the establishment of a governance system for the transparent implementation of the carbon credit certification mechanism. To achieve certification, it will be necessary to correctly quantify and confirm carbon sequestration, provide additional climate benefits, aim for long-term carbon storage, prevent carbon leakage and contribute to sustainable development. The proposal is to establish public and private certification schemes recognised by the European Commission. The initiative aims to ensure the quality of the certification methodology and to define the rules for the recognition of certification schemes.
Soil Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) projects are free, decentralised trading of certificates involving companies, organisations and individuals with the aim of achieving carbon neutrality. Carbon programmes are based on the issue and sale of certificates corresponding to the amount of emissions reduced, so that those who buy certificates can offset their climate impact. There are currently four main voluntary registries of offset projects around the world:
- American Carbon Registry (ACR),
- Climate Action Reserve (CAR),
- The Gold Standard,
- Verra (VCS).
These registries generate the majority of voluntary market offsets globally, and also include projects eligible for use under related cap-and-trade programmes in California and Quebec.1
Common Agricultural Policy
Carbon farming practices are also included in the Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan 2023-2027 in the ecoscheme ‘Carbon Farming and Nutrient Management’. The following practices are eligible for financial support:
- Extensive use of RUPD with stocking rates
- Winter catch crops/intercrops
- Development of and adherence to a fertilisation plan
- Diversified crop structure
- Mixing of manure on arable land within 12 hours of application
- Application of manure by methods other than spraying
- Simplified cropping systems
- Mixing straw into the soil.
It is important to emphasise that the “Carbon Farming and Nutrient Management” ecoscheme is not the same as carbon payments (credits). It is support for farmers to adopt appropriate environmental and climate-friendly practices.
The Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan is a key tool to promote sustainable farming practices that support animal welfare, investment, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase carbon sequestration and provide incentives for land managers, farmers and foresters to increase carbon sequestration and maintain organic carbon stocks.
Sustainable agriculture
Sustainable agriculture encompasses all activities that reduce the impact of agriculture on the environment while maintaining viable and socially acceptable agricultural production. The model of sustainable agriculture encompasses a range of practices and assumptions that enable food to be produced in an environmentally and climate-friendly way, taking into account the principles of animal welfare and the impact of food production on local communities, as well as an economic element to ensure that agricultural production provides a fair reward for the work of the farmer. Sustainable agriculture is a long-term approach that recognises the need to repair what has been damaged. Implementing regenerative practices on a farm can very often mean implementing a sustainable farming model on the farm.
The certification for compliance with the principles of sustainable agriculture is the Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA), and the certifications for partial compliance with sustainability requirements are GLOBALG.A.P. and Integrated Production. The need for agricultural sustainability certification is driven by the need for the food sector to meet the requirements of EU policies and legislative initiatives. The most important of these are:
- The European Green Deal
- Fit for 55
- Farm-to-fork
- Common Agricultural Policy
- Sustainable Carbon Cycles
- Sustainable EU Food System
- Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive
- Green Claims
Sustainable agriculture includes, but is not limited to, regenerative practices. The sustainable agriculture model covers all elements of farm management, including, for example, occupational safety, legal compliance, waste management, financial sustainability or animal welfare. For more detailed information, see the Sustainable Agriculture Guide.
1. Source: M. Bojańczyk, The Role of Sustainable Agriculture in Managing the Development of Agri-food Companies. Kozminski University 2023.