Agriculture industry and Regeneration
The agriculture industry is made up of companies and corporations that are involved in the production of food or crops for consumption purposes. This includes both firms that specialize in raising animals and enterprises in growing crops. The Food and Agriculture Sector is almost entirely under private ownership and is composed of an estimated 2.1 million farms, 935,000 restaurants, and more than 200,000 registered food manufacturing, processing, and storage facilities. This sector accounts for roughly one-fifth of the nation's economic activity. Healthy, sustainable and inclusive food systems are critical to achieve the world’s development goals. Agricultural development is one of the most powerful tools to end extreme poverty, boost shared prosperity, and feed a projected 9.7 billion people by 2050.
Accelerating climate change could further cut crop yields, especially in the world’s most food-insecure regions. Current food systems also threaten the health of people and the planet and generate unsustainable levels of pollution and waste. Regenerative agriculture is an alternative means of producing food that, its advocates claim, may have lower—or even net positive—environmental and/or social impacts. Regenerative agriculture has recently received significant attention from producers, retailers, researchers, and consumers, as well as politicians and the mainstream media. The key to regenerative agriculture is that it not only “does no harm” to the land but actually improves it, using technologies that regenerate and revitalize the soil and the environment. Food systems are linked to many global challenges – from hunger to deforestation to being the world’s second-largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions after the energy sector. What if we reverse that role instead and realize the true potential of transforming food systems to be net-zero, nature-positive, and that nourishes all. Climate-smart and regenerative agriculture measures designed to put farmers at the center can improve crop yields and turn farmland and pastures into carbon sinks, reverse forest loss, optimize the use of nitrogen-based fertilizers and rethink global and local supply chains to be more sustainable, reducing waste. How have different scholars and practitioners defined regenerative agriculture? Regenerative agriculture leads to healthy soil, capable of producing high quality, nutrient dense food while simultaneously improving, rather than degrading land, and ultimately leading to productive farms and healthy communities and economies. In many countries, this industry is subsidized by the local government to make up for tight margins, but no matter how it is accomplished, the world population is growing and this industry must grow in proportion with it.