As regenerative agriculture moves from being more of an elusive concept to a proven solution and an answer to the future of farming, extending its reach is vital. According to the Sustainable Markets Initiative, to limit climate change to 1.5 degrees, it must be scaled faster, and move from covering around 15% of global cropland today to 40% by 2030.
Despite pockets of progress, adoption rates are far too slow as the short-term economic case for change is not compelling enough for farmers. A farmer-first approach must be implemented, and immediate action must be taken to scale support for farmers by creating mechanisms and developing new sourcing models to share the cost of transition, building farmers’ income from environmental outcomes, and advocating for government policy that enables and rewards farmers for the transition.
Focusing this year on moving pilot projects to scale, the Regenerative Agriculture and Food Systems Summit Europe will facilitate and accelerate adoption and provide insights to inform corporate strategies to effectively achieve sustainability goals.