Over six decades, intensive agricultural practices in India, as opposed to regenerative farming in India, have reduced natural capital, including the stock of all-natural assets (land, air, water and biodiversity), from which ecosystem services flow. Ecosystem services are the benefits provided by nature and managed by farmers on their farmland. For example, soil and vegetation on farms remove carbon from the atmosphere, regulate hydrological flows, and shelter pollinators who pollinate crops. Farm margins give refuge to several beneficial insects that, in turn, provide biological control of insect pests and diseases, nutrient cycling by soil micro and macrofauna, and social benefits supporting culture and heritage. These are the benefits nature provides to support agriculture and the broader economy. Some of these, such as food, fiber, and energy, are marketed, and the market compensates farmers. However, other ecosystem services remain out of the market as there are no buyers. Just as we do not pay nature to provide these ecosystem services, we do not compensate farmers for managing them. Farmers manage these subsidies of “nature” on their farmland, free for the public.

Natural capital and ecosystem services also contribute trillions of dollars to the economy. But intensive agricultural practices prevalent since the Green Revolution began in the 1960s in India suppressed many ecosystem services and threatens India’s food, ecological, and nutritional security. Soil organic carbon in arable land in India has been reduced from 2.4 percent in 1947 to 0.4 percent, well below the 1.5 percent threshold needed for food security. Mineral density in rice and wheat has declined, while toxic elements have increased over this period, compromising nutritional security.

Industrial agri-food systems in India, as opposed to regenerative farming in India, also cost US$1,338 billion annually in hidden damages to health, society, and the environment. The current fertilizer industry, subsidized at US$20 billion, causes 25 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, and intensive practices continue to promote their injudicious use. Because of the loss of soil health, fertilizer response has reduced drastically. Two-thirds of the fertilizers applied on the farm are not available for the plants due to loss of organic matter. Under the current intensive agriculture regime, India risks food shortages driven by rising demand, climate impacts, soil degradation, loss of natural capital and ecosystem services and declining fertilizer efficacy.

Read the full article about regenerative farming in India by Harpinder Sandhu and Rajiv Kumar at Food Tank.