Regenerative agriculture may be a newer phrase, but soil scientist Kris Nichols argues that its central idea is old: work with natural processes and treat soil health as the foundation of production. The practices vary because farms operate in different climates, markets and financial conditions.
Principles instead of one recipe
Nichols describes a systems approach built around keeping soil covered, minimising disturbance, increasing plant diversity and integrating animal life—from grazing livestock to insects and microorganisms. In North Dakota, she worked with farmers replacing bare fallow periods with managed cover.
Her phrase “growing soil” reframes crops and livestock as tools for building a more functional soil system. She also stresses context: weather, prices, equipment, labour and a farm’s starting point determine how the principles are applied.
Biology must support the bottom line
Iowa farmer and Continuum Ag founder Mitchell Hora connects soil biology with profitability. His family uses no-till and cover crops as management tools that must protect yield, manage fertility and contribute to the business now—not only promise distant environmental gains.
The article also describes soil testing and commercial biological technologies. Those claims deserve independent evaluation, but the larger lesson remains useful: regenerative change succeeds when ecological goals, measurement, logistics and farm economics are considered together.
Read the full Seed World article.