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Regenerative Agriculture

Regenerative agriculture is a holistic farming approach that focuses on restoring soil health, increasing biodiversity, improving the water cycle, and enhancing ecosystem services. Unlike conventional agriculture (which may deplete soil over time), regenerative practices aim to build soil organic carbon, reduce external input dependency, and improve farm resilience to climate variability. Key practices include cover cropping, minimal tillage, composting, agroforestry, and crop rotation.

Key details
  • Core principles: minimise soil disturbance, maintain soil cover, diversify plant species, integrate livestock where possible, minimise synthetic inputs
  • Soil organic carbon (SOC) improvement: regenerative practices can increase SOC by 0.1-1% over 5-10 years, improving water retention and nutrient cycling
  • Climate resilience: improved soil structure and microbial diversity reduce vulnerability to drought, flooding, and temperature extremes
  • India context: degraded soils affect approximately 30% of total geographical area (as per Indian Council of Agricultural Research); soil health cards under Soil Health Management scheme (launched 2015) provide nutrient recommendations
  • In tea: regenerative practices include shade tree management, green manuring, organic mulching, and biological pest control -- all relevant to maintaining long-term bush productivity
  • Connection to carbon credits: regenerative farms can potentially generate soil carbon credits under voluntary carbon markets
In the news

Tracked since February 13, 2026 · last seen August 23, 2026 · updates as the daily brief publishes

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