Growing Regenerative Agriculture: How businesses can help deliver impact at scale

Climate volatility demands a radical change in farming. This report, "Growing Regenerative Agriculture," examines the urgent need to scale regenerative agriculture (RA) swiftly to build resilience against increasing climate volatility and address the financial precarity of conventional farming. It emphasises that RA, while lacking a single standard, is a spectrum of practices focused on outcomes like healthier soils, biodiversity, and greater climate resilience. 

Major food businesses, like Nestlé, PepsiCo, and McCain, have set ambitious targets for sourcing ingredients from RA systems, recognising the foodservice sector's crucial role. The report stresses that scaling requires cross-sector collaboration—including businesses, scientists, financial institutions, and policy makers—to overcome barriers like lack of unified metrics and significant upfront costs for farmers.

Case studies and initiatives, such as Exchange Market and 'Routes to Regen,' show companies are increasingly offering financial and technical support to help producers de-risk the transition, which studies suggest is financially positive within 3-5 years. Dr. Vincent Walsh, a FixOurFood commissioner, also features in this report, advocating for a holistic approach to measuring farm-level impact beyond isolated carbon metrics. Ultimately, the report concludes that genuine impact requires supporting farmers from the start and ensuring the term 'regenerative agriculture' maintains its integrity by focusing on verifiable outcomes beyond just carbon.