I was inspired to write this after listening to a podcast recently published by Grassfed Life. They interviewed Will Harris, owner of White Oak Pastures in Georgia, whom I have had the pleasure of meeting twice. Will and I ate breakfast together a year or so ago in St. Louis, Missouri at a conference. He brought up this very subject on the interview and I felt like he was missing an important point. Here is my take on “can regenerative agriculture feed the world?”

I have a lot of friends who are conventional farmers or believe in it. One of the most common statements I hear is “your farming system can not feed the world.” I’m not fully convinced that it can’t, but we have yet to see the evidence that it can either. Before we go further with this conversation we must first acknowledge two things: 1) that it simply isn’t our responsibility as individual farmers or ranchers to feed the world and 2) more importantly that neither regenerative or industrial practices can feed a infinitely growing population on a planet with finite resources. Travel to India or others places in the world with massive populations and you can see the lack of resources unfolding first hand. It’s simply not my responsibility to feed the world. I am responsible for my family and the greater community that surrounds us. If we can come to an agreement on those two things then I will acknowledge that our regenerative ranching system here at Parker Creek Ranch possibly may not be able to produce more food per acre than a industrialized, commodity operation. Ultimately it is an individuals right to farm or ranch however they see fit, but that’s a blog post for another day.

Regenerative agriculture always wins the argument if the limiting factor is fossil fuel, water, pollution, antibiotic resistant pathogens, and so on are the limiting factors. My point is that regenerative agriculture has a better chance of being sustainable and ultimately regenerative over the long-term. The industrialized, commodity food system is degenerative in the sense that it is solely based on profitability and has nothing to do with providing ecosystem services. We can certainly all agree that profitability is important,. If our business isn’t making a profit we simply will not be in business for long. I would argue that there are additional ways to measure profitability such as how much organic matter is in the soil storing carbon and water, are we ensuring animal welfare to the extent that animals are allowed to express their natural behaviors, is the workplace safe and healthy for my family and employees? I could go on and on, but you get the idea that profitability is not the only factor defining success in our agricultural system.

The claim that “your farming system can’t feed the world” comes out of the industrialized food system as a line of defense for the way they produce food. And you can’t blame them for making this statement because it’s worked for the past 50 plus years. Unfortunately we are at a point where the soil, water and air on our planet are becoming compromised. It’s time for a change in our agricultural system. In fact, I would argue that the finances prove my point as well. Farm profits are being reported as an all-time low in 2018 and the same is expected in 2019. As a matter of fact the large majority of farms and ranches will be lucky if they break even. This tells me that not only is our current, predominant conventional agricultural system out of balance with nature, but it’s also no longer economical. For too long we have separated the health of our economy with the health of the environment. I believe that it’s finally catching up.