At the recent Regenerative Agriculture and Food Systems Summit, more than 200 senior decision-makers throughout the food supply chain met to discuss opportunities and challenges for the future of the food system.

Regenerative agriculture is “a way of being, thinking, understanding who we are,” says Reginaldo Haslett Marroquin, Co-Founder and CEO of Tree Range Farms. Haslett-Marroquin urged attendees to embrace “innate intelligence” and “ancestral knowledge” to rectify the damage caused by extractive agriculture practices over the last fifty years. He also emphasizes that farmers must be part of the solution to forge a regenerative future.

Research presented by Sonya Hoo, Managing Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group shows regenerative systems may generate up to 120 percent increases in farmer profits. Despite these positive insights, many farmers fear economic losses over the first three years of implementation. Out of 100 row crop farmers surveyed in Hoo’s study, 45 percent cited potential yield declines and prohibitive upfront costs for seed and machinery as their top concerns around transitioning from conventional to regenerative agriculture practices.

Small-scale farmers who want to implement regenerative agriculture practices often face barriers to implementation. Candance Clark, Sustainable Food Resource Specialist at Tuskegee University explains that the goals of her work have been to amplify the barriers Black farmers in America face. Tuskegee Cooperative Extension assists farmers in the Black Belt region of Alabama. They provide the resources needed to build soil health and feed communities who have traditionally been marginalized. Clark stresses that policy shifts that increase access to resources for small, marginalized farmers are necessary to achieve equitable, regenerative food systems.

Read the full article about regenerative agriculture by Sycamore May at Food Tank.