Perspectives on regenerative agriculture: Dr. Sara Rosenberg

Groundwork was one of the first roasters to bring Regenerative Organic Certified coffee to the U.S. Other pioneering companies, farmers, researchers, and agriculture (ag) professionals are propelling this movement in California. One such pioneer is Dr. Sara Rosenberg, one of  the first Regenerative Agriculture Farm Advisors for University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources Cooperative Extension in Mariposa, Merced and Stanislaus counties.

I met Sara several years ago through the International Agricultural Development Master’s program at U.C. Davis, where she continued onto her PhD in Horticulture and Agronomy. As a farm advisor, Sara supports farmers in their efforts to achieve sustainability goals. In order to develop a place-based and grower-focused program, she conducts comprehensive needs assessments. This entails collaborating with farmers, land managers, and other stakeholders and farm advisors to determine challenges, needs, and assets of farming communities around the Central Sierra Nevada foothills and South San Joaquin Valley. She shared her preliminary knowledge regarding the region’s regenerative ag landscape.  

Regenerative ag techniques aren’t new 

Before the term “regenerative” existed, Indigenous land stewardship included many ecological practices that the ag sector long forgot then re-discovered. 

“Alternative agricultural movements and the terminology behind them have been promoted for decades,” Sara says. The initial push in the U.S. for returning to ecological farming began in the 1940s as a reaction to the Dust Bowl and the rising agrochemical industry. The battle against agrochemicals continued into the 21st century, primarily through Organic certification, then "climate-smart" and “conservation” ag as our climate reality became clear. 

Whereas organic farming fosters ecological sustainability, the certification system communicates what Organic farms are not doing (applying agrochemicals) more so than what they are doing (to restore the environment). 

“Terminology has been transforming over time to meet the current needs,” Sara says. “Regenerative” builds on the terms of the past as farmers are realizing that conservation and sustainability is not enough. 

“Regenerative” has no universal definition, and certifications don’t tell the whole story 

Across farmers, academia, and certification bodies, the many definitions of regenerative ag vary based on practices (e.g. cover crops, livestock integration, no-till), outcomes (e.g. improved soil health, increased carbon sequestration, increased biodiversity), or combinations of both.

The lack of a universal definition leaves farmers confused and frustrated behind the obscurity of the term paired with the demand by the scientific community and consumers for regenerative crops. Adding to the complexity, a host of certifying bodies have cropped up in recent years hoping to standardize these definitions. Although having a third-party certification for regenerative can be a “leg up for farmers,” Sara calls this certification landscape the “Wild West.” 

Some reputable certifiers in California are Savory for livestock integration/conservation grazing, RegenScore for a verification program using a comprehensive scoring system, and the Regenerative Organic Alliance for taking the Organic certification a step further. 

Regenerative certifiers assess farms with their own set of indicators. However, consistently achieving certain indicators can be difficult despite a farmer’s best efforts. Therefore, Sara says the best approach is for farmers to develop their practices based on their unique specific goals.

“You can't slap a bunch of practices together, put them on any farm and say it's regenerative. Context matters in terms of the outcomes that you're going to achieve,” she says.

No two regenerative farms are alike 

Farming systems are diverse and context-specific, and no one strategy is best. For example, Burroughs Family Farms is an ROC almond farm that grazes sheep to help restore native grasses and mow their orchards and utilizes native predatory insects to prevent pests, while Hen and Harvest is uncertified but grazes chickens on no-till pastures with integrated cover crops, compost and native plants. LODI RULES is a grassroots network that certifies vineyards using its own all-encompassing scoring system, while TomKat Ranch promotes rangeland conservation through monitoring and sharing data with a conservation non-profit.

Almond hosting the eggs of the lacewing, a beneficial natural predator to common orchard pests like mites (Burroughs Family Farms) 

Farmers face financial, logistical and cultural barriers in the transition to regenerative 

Some farmers are reluctant to invest extra time and money into transitioning to regenerative systems. Establishing strategies that rely on the ebb and flow of nature is inherently risky for farmers. Costs that come with this transition are higher for farmers in remote communities or those lacking robust local support networks. For example, adequate supply of affordable, certified Organic amendments like compost and fertilizers  is hard to come by for farms tucked away in the Sierra foothills –  meaning they must ship it from the valley.

Some Californian farmers tell Sara they haven’t earned premium prices from a regenerative certification (like they do with Organic certification). Still, certification is a way to communicate their values to their clients and attract new ones. Some farmers mentioned that their clientele still stuck around when they fell behind on administrative requirements and lost certification, but maintained their ecological practices.

Some farmers must challenge cultural norms in regions with no precedent for regenerative ag or ranching. In the central Sierras for example, a handful of pioneers practice small-scale homesteading or diversified crop and livestock management, but the culture of the region is built upon largely non-irrigated rangelands. Today’s farmers grew up being taught conventional methods, making the learning curve steeper and amplifying concerns over gaps in research – such as lower profitability of diversified farms and food safety risks of integrating livestock. (Chief Coffee Guy and Co-Founder Jeff adds that, on a global scale, fears of organic and regenerative farming leading to financial ruin are stoked by agrochemical mega-companies like Bayer and Monsanto).

Grazing sheep in orchards promotes natural landscapes (Burroughs Family Farms) 

Our drought-stricken state relies on regenerative farmlands 

California's most grave issue is that water is no longer a renewable resource. Climate change has turned farms into water-scarce environments, which has forced farmers to fallow fields more often and has increased statewide water regulations. Evidence shows that ecological management and water conservation technologies can increase climate resilience. To support farmers in adopting these measures, the state offers farmers a number of sustainability incentive programs, technical assistance, and support from professionals in interdisciplinary fields. Still, Sara hasn’t seen widespread adoption of regenerative management yet. 

California needs ecologically-managed farmlands more than ever. During droughts,  diversified farms offer more stable crop yields and income diversity for farmers. Regenerative land management conserves water by promoting organic matter that increases soil water-holding capacity, and stores and recycles rainwater. During California’s past several scorching summers, Sara saw that farms utilizing practices like cover crops, compost, and minimal tillage and water-efficient crops maintained crop health much better. Simultaneously in extreme wet years, these farms had reduced flooding and erosion issues. Still, Sara worries that this may not be enough on a statewide scale. California’s water needs still outpace groundwater recharge, and researchers have yet to determine if on-farm water conservation is enough to make up for lack of rainwater.

We need more comprehensive research 

Scientists and farmers still have many questions about regenerative ag, while regenerative marketing is outpacing what we know for sure. 

“People talk about regenerative farming like a silver bullet solution,” Sara says. But in the face of climate change, all farms still battle pests, disease, drought and depleted soils – and may still need to use chemical inputs to battle these rising risks. 

The isolated impacts of regenerative practices are well-studied, but the impacts of combining or “stacking” practices are less known. 

“We need to focus on research involving stacking practices to see the multiplying effect of integrative management approaches rather than just siloing them,” Sara says – but that’s much more complicated. 

Because regenerative farming knowledge is only beginning to spread to consumers, Sara worries that “regenerative” can become a greenwashing term if used too loosely or too exclusively. Sara urges consumers to think critically about how farms achieve regenerative goals, and not get caught up in the labels and buzz words.

The regenerative movement should meet farmers where they're at, without judgment. 

The regenerative movement isn’t about dividing the farming community into “conventional” vs. “organic” vs. “regenerative,” but instead bringing everyone along on the ride from their unique starting points. In this movement, Sara advises against taking a reactionary view of farmers using conventional methods as the “perpetrators.”

“I stay away from building that mentality because it's systemic, it's not individually perpetuated,” Sara says. 

A farmer using conventional methods isn’t out to destroy the environment. Rather, they likely also implement sustainable practices because farmers are naturally innovative and keen on improving their systems, Sara says. 

Categorizing farms on a sustainability spectrum is more realistic because farmers start with different opportunities and resources.

“It's really challenging to become an integrated farm in the systems that we have in place, unless you already have assets that others don't,” Sara says. 

For example, a farmer near a university might have access to innovative organic composting facilities and extension programs, while another farmer may only have the capacity to reduce chemical inputs gradually as they start organic composting from scratch.  

As a regenerative farm advisor, Sara aims to maintain neutrality and meet farmers where they're at as they strive for building regenerative systems.