Regenerative farming to fight global warming

Some animal rights activists and vegans say climate change, which the World Economic Forum calls one of the biggest threats to humanity, can be reversed if people stop eating meat and shift production and demand to plant-based food.

Studies have found animal agriculture contributes 14%-16% of human greenhouse gas emissions. But the regenerative farming movement says agriculture is the best way to address climate change, and encourages people to eat more grass-fed or pasture-raised beef.

“Putting a stop to animal agriculture won’t reverse climate change. Animals are in fact the

solution. If done in a way that is not destructive like conventional agriculture, and seeks to regenerate the soil, we will reverse the damage,” says Angus McIntosh, a regenerative farmer based in Stellenbosch. He provides a variety of meat and egg products under the Farmer Angus brand.

Regenerative farming aims to raise biodiversity and enhance the ecosystem by putting carbon back into the soil. There is evidence of climate change around the world threatening freshwater shortages, climate instability and famine.

According to the UN framework convention on climate change, Africa is feeling climate change, with extreme weather, such as crippling droughts, in recent years. Africa’s vulnerability is due to its reliance on agriculture, which is hit by climate fluctuation, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute researchers.

McIntosh said regenerative farming is “a reversal of destructive agriculture which takes carbon out of the soil and puts it in the atmosphere”.

He said there are two ways of storing carbon in the soil, which is the safest place to store it, according to environmentalists.

Land absorbs and stores excess carbon dioxide and slows climate change. The first method is during plant growth. The second is when plant are grazed and root shedding or sloughing occurs. On McIntosh’s farm, both processes are supercharged through animal concentration on pasture followed by a six-week recovery. High concentration of animals means a lot of manure and urine, which helps grass regrow.

Having a big herd in a small space ensures all the plants are eaten, so a lot of root shedding takes place during grazing. This is true regenerative farming, says McIntosh.

“Agriculture is the best chance for addressing climate change on a massive scale. If all farmers, landscapers and gardeners aimed to rather invest in building the soil and stop poisoning it with chemical fertilisers and other toxic poisons like glyphosate, we will begin to recapture and store atmospheric carbon dioxide, and reverse climate change.”

But he says plant-based diets for humans can mean using more artificial fertilisers. Their production is linked to higher emission of methane, which has been found to be 84 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

But, according to a report in August by scientists for the UN’s intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC), switching to a plant-based diet can help fight climate change. The report suggests animal agriculture puts a lot of pressure on the environment, using many natural resources and producing large quantities of methane. The UN report says “a shift towards plant-based diets” is one of the most significant ways to reduce greenhouse gases from the agriculture sector.

“Some dietary choices require more land and water, and cause more emissions of heat-trapping gases than others,” says Debra Roberts, co-chair of IPCC working group II.

“Balanced diets featuring plant-based foods, such as coarse grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables, and animalsourced food produced sustainably in low greenhouse gas emission systems, present major opportunities for adaptation to and limiting climate change,” she says.