Regenerative agriculture: Difference between revisions

One of the primary claims of Regen Ag is that ruminants, especially bovines, can be used to sequester carbon back into the soil and so helping to reverse CO2e-induced climate pollution. This claim was popularised by Allan Savory in a Ted Talk given in 2013<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Savory</ref>. Since his talk the claim has been studied and debunked. A 2016 study published by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences found the actual rate at which Savory's proposed grazing management could contribute to carbon sequestration is seven times lower than his claims. The study concludes that holistic grazing management cannot reverse climate change<ref>https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309589057_Holistic_management_-_a_critical_review_of_Allan_Savory's_grazing_method</ref>, while a study by the Food and Climate Research Network in 2017 concluded that Savory's claims about carbon sequestration are "unrealistic" and very different from those issued by peer-reviewed studies<ref>https://www.tabledebates.org/sites/default/files/2020-10/fcrn_gnc_report.pdf</ref>.

More broadly, soil scientists have challenged the notion that ruminants can be employed to permanently sequester carbon at all, due to new understandings of soil composition suggesting carbon is only 'locked' in soil temporarily before being released back into the atmosphere through the process of bio-decomposition<ref>https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-soil-science-revolution-upends-plans-to-fight-climate-change-20210727/</ref>. This new understanding of soil asserts there is no such thing as the traditionally described 'humus' layer.