When Regenerative Becomes a Buzzword

    Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about how quickly the word regenerative has been adopted in agriculture. In many ways, it reminds me of other well-intended terms like “free-range”, “grass-fed” or even “organic”.  All of these lost their true meaning, eventually becoming marketing shortcuts. Today, just about everyone seems to be jumping on the “regenerative farming” bandwagon—but too often, it’s becoming just another label rather than a lived practice.

    I see this most clearly in poultry. Simply putting chickens on pasture does not automatically make a system regenerative. I am regularly seeing operations running far too many birds per acre, far too many times per year. When that happens, soil biology cannot keep up. The microbial community simply cannot process excessive nitrate loads at that speed, and instead of building soil, the system begins to deplete it. On paper, and in pictures, it looks regenerative. In reality, it’s extractive.

    The same applies to cattle. Animals being on grass is not the standard—outcomes are.  True regenerative farming requires that the land be better every year as a direct result of our management: improved soil structure, deeper root systems, more biological activity, better water infiltration, and greater resilience overall. In many cases across the industry, that simply isn’t happening—because “regenerative” has become a broad, generic term that’s easy to promote but difficult to verify.

    Regeneration isn’t accidental. It must be intentionally pursued, and measured.  We rely heavily on cutting-edge science to guide our decisions—ecology, soil biology, plant physiology, and animal behavior all matter. Regenerative systems only work when the right animals are in the right place, at the right time, for the right amount of time. Miss any one of those variables, and the system breaks down

    That level of precision takes restraint. It takes observation. And it often means choosing slower, more deliberate progress over rapid expansion.

    Erin and I have remained deeply committed to the core values of what regenerative farming is supposed to be.  “Healing relationships with land and animals” forms the foundation of our mission, but more importantly, it shows up in how we make decisions every day. We don’t use labels. We don’t chase trends. We seek tangible outcomes that are measurably improving our stewardship of land and animals.

    For us, regenerative farming isn’t a buzzword—it’s a responsibility. If the land isn’t improving year after year, then we’re not doing our job. It really is that simple. -- 🙏  Dustin