Regenerative Agriculture and Farmscape Function

Abstract

Regenerative agriculture is the most recent agricultural movement to gain attention on a global scale, its farmer leaders claim to have developed systems that champion both productive and beneficial environmental outcomes, but it lacks scientific corroboration. This thesis explores the regenerative agriculture literature and concludes that regeneration is a state for agriculture which seeks to rebuild the resources agriculture relies upon. A goal sought from numerous alternative agricultures, including those that have become the conventional – conservation agriculture. A framework for farmscape function is proposed to assess the regeneration of agricultural systems and the first steps to validate measurement methods are taken through the integration of two cover crop trials into conventional systems on a University of Sydney research station in NW NSW, Australia. Trial findings confirmed that we (1) are able to measure change at temporal resolutions capable of being assigned to management practices and (2) that cover crops over the 1-2 year trials windows considered did significantly improve several indicators of the system attributes considered: crops, soil, and water. Future work which seeks to apply the same successful digital methods of measurements to multiple systems is then proposed as part of the concept of a digital regenerative agriculture.