Regenerative Agriculture and Justice

The American Sustainable Business Networks’s Regenerative Agriculture and Justice initiative is advancing sustainability and resilience for the environment, farmers, and the economy through transforming the food and agricultural system. To achieve this ASBN is bringing together businesses across sectors and a wide variety of other stakeholders to collaborate on policy and market solutions.

This initiative has two main pillars: Regenerative Agriculture & Food Systems, and Justice & Equity in Agriculture. 

Regenerative Agriculture & Food Systems  

Regenerative agriculture is an approach to farming that uses a combination of contextually established practices like managed grazing, no or minimal tillage, composting, cover crops, and crop rotations to regenerate and sustain soil health and ecosystem functioning to agricultural lands, providing various benefits for the farmer, the environment, and businesses. 

For the farmer:  

Regenerative agriculture increases crop yields, profits per acre, and resilience to extreme weather events while reducing input costs and providing multiple revenue streams.  

For the environment:  

Regenerative agriculture is a key tool in building soil health, mitigating climate change, ensuring clean waterways, and preventing biodiversity loss. Notably, many studies have found that the carbon sequestration potential of improving soil health through regenerative agriculture could be significant.  

For businesses: 

Regenerative agriculture can improve businesses’ supply chain resilience; essential against the growing threats of climate change, disease, and other business-disrupting crises. 

Regenerative agriculture can provide a distinct marketing advantage. Across business sectors, companies are driving the growth of regenerative agriculture to attract new customers and demonstrate their commitment to sustainability which consumers increasingly demand. 

Justice & Equity in Agriculture 

ASBN’s campaign directly addresses social inequities within the agricultural system.  In building more regenerative systems, we aim to ensure that: 

Family farmers receive fair prices that cover the price of production and provide them with a decent livelihood; 

All farmers, especially historically underserved Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and women farmers, receive equitable access to markets and government farming programs; 

Food and agricultural workers receive living wages and have safe working environments.