It's Time to Listen to the Land 🌱
Why Do We Need Regenerative Food Systems Now?
Why Do We Need Regenerative Food Systems Now?
Our food system - our very foundation for life - is at a breaking point. Over the past 50 years, industrial agriculture has stripped nutrients from the soil, severed our connection to the land, and driven catastrophic wildlife declines. According to WWF's Living Planet Report (2020), wildlife populations have fallen by nearly 70% since 1970, largely due to industrial farming. The land is exhausted. And yet, we are told that this is progress.
But what if food wasn’t just about profit margins?
What if it was about listening, really listening to the land, the animals, and billions of microorganisms and fungi networks beneath our feet?
A Broken System: Time for a New Approach
Industrial food production is built on a lie: that we can take and take without consequence. That land is used as a resource, not a relationship. That if we squeeze the soil hard enough, it will keep producing forever.
What we urgently need, is a food system that offers the following;
1. Reverses Climate Breakdown - Industrial agriculture is one of the biggest drivers of greenhouse gas emissions, but nature-friendly farming can lock carbon back into the land.
2. Builds Resilience to Extreme Weather - As floods, droughts, and heatwaves intensify, farms must work with nature, not against it, to protect food security.
3. Restores Nature and Wildlife - The destruction of habitats for industrial-scale farming has pushed many species to extinction, but there is a way that farming can regenerate rather than deplete, and can encourage wildlife on to farms as part of a healthy system.
4. Feeds Everyone Fairly - We already produce enough food to feed the world, but corporate food production concentrates power in the hands of a few while millions go hungry.
Beyond Labels: A Whole-System Approach
For too long, the conversation around food has been reduced to labels - organic vs. conventional, regenerative vs. industrial. But these words can be used to greenwash.
For example, there’s no legal definition for regenerative farming. This means that while many farmers are taking a whole-systems approach, there’s nothing stopping a big food corporation from using the term ‘regeneratively farmed’ on a product that has done little more than stop spraying chemicals on one field out of a thousand.
Organic is the only legally defined version of regenerative, but even then, the farm must still be taking a whole-systems approach to be truly regenerative. As Harriet Bell, Regenerative Farming Lead at organic veg box company Riverford, says:
🗣️ “The best organic farmers are regenerative, and the best regenerative farmers are organic.”
So, what are the Alternatives?
Agroecology: Farming for People and Planet, Not Profit
Agroecology isn’t just a method it’s a movement. A philosophy. A quiet revolution against corporate control of food.
At its heart, agroecology is about farming with nature, not against it. It is both a science and a movement that encompasses organic, regenerative, permaculture, and biodynamic farming, focusing on whole-systems approaches that restore balance between food production and ecosystems.
Its core principles include:
🌱 Healthy Soils – Farming practices that build organic matter, store carbon, and reduce dependency on chemicals—or, even better, eliminate them.
🌿 Resilient Landscapes – Strengthening natural ecosystems to withstand floods, droughts, and support biodiversity.
🥕 Fair Food Systems – Prioritising local food networks over exploitative global supply chains.
Permaculture: Designing for Regeneration
Permaculture goes beyond farming. It’s a way of seeing the world - one that asks us to align with nature’s intelligence instead of trying to control it.
Its guiding ethics are simple but profound:
1. Earth Care - Protect and regenerate soils, water, and biodiversity.
2. People Care - Prioritise health, well-being, and community resilience.
3. Fair Share - Redistribute surplus and ensure fair access to resources.
Permaculture isn’t just about growing food. It’s about rethinking the way we design our landscapes, our communities and even our economies.
The Five Cycles of Regenerative Farming
To rebuild healthy food systems, we must restore five essential cycles that industrial agriculture has broken:
1. Soil Health - Farming must regenerate soil, not deplete it.
2. Carbon Storage - We need to draw carbon back into the land instead of releasing it into the atmosphere.
3. Water Resilience - Landscapes must retain water, preventing floods and droughts.
4. Nutrient-Rich Food - Healthy soil produces food rich in essential nutrients.
5. Biodiversity - Supporting wildlife and natural predators reduces the need for synthetic pesticides.
In thriving ecosystems, these cycles work together:
🪱 Earthworms and microbes build soil fertility, and healthy soils hold more water, supporting plant and animal life.
🍄 Mycelial networks connect plants and trees, improving nutrient exchange and resilience.
💧 Slower water movement through the landscape prevents floods and helps crops survive droughts.
The result? A self-sustaining, abundant food system.
Fields of Imagination: Changing the Narrative
The stories we tell shape the world we live in.
Right now, the dominant story of food is one of extraction, depletion, and control—often wrapped in engaging marketing that presents products as wholesome and natural. But behind the scenes, many of these products are part of a food system that treats land as a commodity, animals as mere production units, and nature as something to be controlled.
We are told that monocultures and pesticides are necessary, that small farms can’t feed the world, and that efficiency matters more than life itself.
But what if we imagined a different story?
What if food was about relationship, not domination?
What if farming worked with the land, rather than against it—nurturing soil, allowing animals to express their natural and true instincts, and restoring the intricate web of life that sustains us all?
This isn’t just about sustainability.
Sustainability suggests keeping things as they are. We need regenerative farming.
We don’t need to ‘feed the world’ through corporate monocultures. We need to restore the world - through small, diverse, life-giving food systems that honour both people and animals.
It’s time to stop asking if change is possible.
It’s time to start listening and restoring.
🚜 How can you take action?
Share this post to help shift the conversation around food and farming.
Support local growers and seek out food grown with care for the land and animals, and that use principles like organic and regenerative.
Ask questions of the growers, visit the farm and ask about their practices.
Start small – whether it’s growing herbs on your windowsill or composting food waste, every step matters and brings us closer to the land!
Another brilliantly insightful commentary! I for one would like to see this dream of an animal sanctuary come to fruition!