Recap from the 2019 Regenerative Agriculture Summit
Recently I had the pleasure of attending the inaugural 2019 Regenerative Agriculture Summit hosted in Greeneville, TN. It was an honor to participate and learn from Farmers all across the Southeast. We are avid supporters of soil health, environmental stewardship, biodiversity and animal welfare. While at the Summit, we had the opportunity to talk with regenerative agriculture luminaries Gabe Brown and Ray Archuleta, among others. And, we had the chance to learn about new sustainable farm products made from recycled materials to improve your Adaptive Grazing practices (Timeless Fence System)! It was an inspiring event.
There was much to learn and share about regenerative agriculture, including the urgency of engaging food and soil the way nature intended. As a country, the United States has deviated too far from the best practices for our soil (as nature intended) - and the impacts go well beyond the nutrition and the future of our food.
Here is a quick recap of 3 of my key takeaways from agricultural thought leaders:
Gabe Brown shared his insights from 25+ years of Farming and how to regenerate topsoil, increase water retention, and reduce heat radiation on your farm.The 5 Key Ingredients to Soil Health:
1. Minimize mechanical and chemical disturbance
2. Armor the soil - soil should never be bare - ever.
3. Promote diversity - your crops can increase production up to 400%.
4. Leave living roots in the soil for as long as possible.
5. Animals are a part of our diversity, utilize the livestock your land.
Net-net, always look for opportunities to grow things and promote the carbon cycle. Best of all, it will save you time and money as a Farmer. The profitability of your Farm is directly tied to the density of your Soil Organic Matter (SOM).
Ray Archuleta, a Certified Professional Soil Scientist, talked about letting Biology do what it is designed to do. By leaning into the direction that nature wants to go, you'll see more sustainable soil health and a more productive and profitable farm. Ray also shared with us a number of great insights on worms - yes, worms - and the positive impacts on your soil. Here were some of my key takeaways from Ray’s talk:
Be Humble. Trust in nature’s design.
Lean into “Secondary Succession” - where does the system want to go naturally.
Soil is naturally self-healing, self-organizing and self-regulating
Soil needs rest, not chronic stress
Earthworms are critical to nature’s design - turning over up to 100 tons of soil per acre per year
Ray also encouraged everyone with a reminder that soil does not take 1000’s of year to regenerate, but, in fact, can show demonstrable growth in 3 to 5 years. “We need to mimic what nature does, not fight nature.”- Ray Archuleta
Click here: to see more insights from Ray Archuleta.
Timeless Fence Systems, also showcased sustainable products to help Farmers save time and better implement Adaptive Grazing strategies. Their products caught my attention because they are 100% sustainable, made from the byproduct of rigid PVC window manufacturers (recycled windows shavings). The design is simple conceptually, but the benefits are substantial - lowering long-term costs and saving a ton of time for farmers.
When employing an Adaptive Grazing strategy, Gabe Brown highlighted that it is critical to rotate your animals regularly to ensure 95% of your pasture is resting, whereas only 5% is being grazed at any given time. To do so, requires easy and quick set up of electric fences to rotate your herds. Setting up traditional fence posts with insulators and electrified fencing is time-consuming, costly and prone to breakage. More importantly, traditional electrified fences are not very strong either. The Timeless Fence System solves all these challenges, because the fence post is the insulator and can be installed in minutes with a fence-post-driver. Super simple.
In summary, the 2019 Regenerative Agricultural Summit was an educational and inspiring event. As a representative of Barn2Door, I was honored to participate and give a presentation based on our recent eBook: The Five Mistakes that Lead to Farm Failure.
Everyone in attendance enjoyed the thought-provoking dialogue at the event, and the warm hospitality offered by the Greeneville community and event organizers. We were also delighted to meet face-to-face with many of the Farmers we serve in Tennessee and throughout the Southeast. We are eager to return and participate in 2020.
