How family farmers are working to get federal support for regenerative agriculture

韦恩·斯旺森（Wayne Swanson）32英亩的家庭农场在佐治亚州的亨利县，试图说服他的农民重新考虑对他们的贸易的长期信念。斯旺森说：“自从孩子们[认为]农场是拥有大而巨大的孤岛和1000英亩的地方，我们就接受了培训。”但是他的理念是，少更多：农民干扰土壤，从中获得的农产品就越多。它们喷洒的合成化学物质越少，食物的营养越多。花费的钱越少，赚钱就越多。而且这一切都是可以在较小的土地上完成的。

他前往其他农场，将它们转换为他的信条。他告诉其他农民：“我很明显，因为我告诉你的东西你可能已经知道了。”“您只是从不练习它。您认为这可以做到。”

The “less is more” principles are the backbone of再生农业，a holistic way to farm that’s rooted in Indigenous traditions, where farmers ensure animals, plants, and ecosystems all work in tandem to produce healthy and fertile soil for rich food production, without the use of artificial additives. Though it’s an age-old practice, it’s one that’s become overshadowed for decades now by massive-scale industrial farming, which has eroded America’s soil through aggressive tilling and liberal chemical usage.

斯旺森家庭农场是至少14个家庭农场之一再生美国，一个独立农民和牧场主的联盟；专家；诸如Applegate，Ben＆Jerry's，Timberland，North Face和Bronner博士等公司；以及从农场和牧场自由联盟到Earthjustice的农业协会。所有希望在面对土地短缺，水污染，气候变化，生物多样性损失和农民债务的情况下，能够恢复再生耕作。The campaign is advocating for the practice to be generously funded by the next Farm Bill, Congress’s $1 trillion budget for the farming industry that’s renegotiated every five years, and which provides funding across 12 areas, including nutrition, conservation, crop insurance, and rural development.

The campaign spun off from亲吻地面，，，，an organization cofounded by Finian Makepeace, which uses storytelling to awaken the public to the possibilities of regenerative agriculture—of which most people, including many farmers, are unaware. On May 16, it launched its initial public call for support, ultimately hoping to help drive regenerative agriculture into the agenda of the 2023 Farm Bill, which currently only earmarks about 1% of its funding for the practice, and is not addressing the average 5.6 tons of topsoil that’s being lost per acre per year in America.

联盟政策总监和首席教育工作者MakePeace说：“农场法案是那些将要通过的法案之一。”“这决定了我们大多数食品系统。”这次，联盟希望每天的农民根据他们的需求决定政策，而不是大规模的农业综合企业，“当农场账单最终确定时，他们总是总是在地板上获得地板，”他补充说。

Though not suggesting specific dollar investments, the group is emphasizing six priority areas for the Farm Bill, including asks for Congress to expand regenerative education to both farmers and technical service providers, the public employees tasked with helping to train farmers; improve access to markets for local regenerative farmers; and ensure economic opportunities for the historically underserved, including Black and Indigenous farmers, with the help of theNational Black Farmers Association.这些农民的许多祖先都从事再生农业，但剥夺了他们的土地由种族主义政府政策。MakePeace说：“这真是令人作呕。”“这是故意的歧视和推出。”

Currently, 75% of Farm Bill spending goes to nutrition programs, the biggest being the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which helps feed 42 million people in America, and another recommendation is to maintain recent increases to its funding, and to support local and small-scale producers in provisions for federal nutrition programs, to make meals healthier for all. Many of these policies would be sharp changes from decades in which the omnibus bill’s policies have favored large-scale agribusinesses over family farmers; the last one, in 2018,还削减了支出用于联邦环境和保护计划。

Conventional farming practices have prioritized short-term yield over all else, which has served to erode the soil with excessive tilling and pesticide use. Regenerative methods keep soil more productive in the long term, also promising more biodiversity, including natural pest controllers like insects and birds. Healthier soil captures more carbon, and lack of chemical runoff producers cleaner water. According to a2021年评估再生实践的研究in Midwest cornfields, California almond farms, and Plains rangeland systems, the practice increased soil organic matter, and carbon and minerals within; water infiltration rates; and the diversity and biomass of plants and invertebrates.

但是，为了影响立法者，尤其是在过道中，最关键的信息是，再生耕作在经济上是可行的，实际上比传统的耕作更有盈利。目前，农民债务每年增加4％；竞选估计，到2025年，再生农业可以将所有农民和牧场主的投入成本降低25％。启动成本，主要用于设备；它可能需要新工具，例如无钻钻，而不必扔土壤，就可以种植种子。一些农民彼此分享这些，而其他人则从外部团体那里获得帮助，但需要更多的支持。MakePeace说：“在美国，推进采用再生实践的设备几乎不足以延续。”

但是，一旦事情运行，日常成本就会变得更便宜和便宜，因为它们完全消除了合成投入的成本，巨大而上升的成本，这是40% of farmers struggleto afford. On his 7,000-acre row crops, Rick Clark, a fifth-generation farmer in Warren County, Indiana, is saving $171 to $240 per acre on his soy crop, and $430 to $570 per acre on corn. For every 1,000 acres of corn he plants, he saves an average of $500,000—without a sacrifice of yields.

斯旺森长期以来一直在自己的农场实践再生农业。他不会直到土地或使用合成输入，例如农药，除草剂和肥料。有覆盖物的种植：全年种植庄稼，而不是在收获后裸露田地，以使土壤继续繁衍生存的植物。有旋转的放牧：定期将牲畜从牧场转移到牧场上，以便放牧，因此它们都长大了，牲畜有新鲜的草，模仿了群群的本土习俗，遍布平原。这一切都允许土壤产生更多的养分密度食物，而没有化学物质的人类健康风险。

他还一直在教佐治亚州南部的一名农民，通过使用绵羊作为“员工”将其放牧和清除，以使他们保持健康和健康。通过将动物整合到系统中，而不是将它们放在饲养场中，它们正在处理害虫并自然施肥。斯旺森建议使用七天的旋转放牧周期，然后绵羊移至下一个围场。(The sheep now know the schedule, Swanson says. “Tuesday morning, it’s time for us to move up to this next paddock, and they start talking to him.”) Crucially, the farmer is getting better yields with less spending, creating a bigger budget for other (non-baaing) employees. “And, believe it or not, his blood pressure’s going down,” Swanson says, “because every morning he comes out, and he talks to the sheep.”

该联盟还希望已知的品牌在立法推动中发挥重要作用，以支持再生方法，但它挑选了已经表现出影响的人。再生农业become increasingly importantfor a company like Applegate, whose business is meat; it makes for a better, more nutrient-packed product, especially at a time of increased calls for less meat intake to curb climate change. “We think this is a great story for a meat company to be telling,” says Gina Asoudegan, Applegate’s VP of mission and innovation.

Applegate正在从农场采购一些肉，例如沉没的牧场，，，，1.5 million acres of regenerative land, mostly in California. SunFed is the source for Applegate’s first fully regenerative product: the做好狗，有1,000多个沃尔玛提供。他们有意识地选择了标志性的美国热狗，以表明再生方法可以为大众服务，而不仅仅是高档餐馆和农贸市场。一项独立的研究估计，热狗正在促进超过260,000英亩的美国草原的再生。同时，Applegate与联盟Timberland的另一家公司合作，使用皮革from the same cows for its boots.

该联盟最近还开始与政策制定者进行交谈，包括美国农业部秘书汤姆·维尔萨克（Tom Vilsack）和房屋农业委员会主席戴维·斯科特（David Scott）。在该法案通过的接下来的18个月中，该活动将放大主要地区，获得当地选民的支持。他们将举行农场之旅，邀请政客进入农场，以详细了解一切的运作方式，而不是“快速掌握gander，发表树桩演讲并继续前进”，就像选举周期中的常态一样。他补充说，到目前为止，农场之旅一直是许多立法者的“啊哈”时刻。2021年8月，亲吻地面组织了爱荷华州的众议员兰迪·费斯特拉（Randy Feenstra）的巡回演出，到爱荷华州第三代复兴家庭农民霍华德·弗里格（Howard Vlieger）的农场，，，，led by soil scientist Ray Archuleta. Makepeace says the Republican representative learned the importance of soil cover, and was admittedly impressed.

令他们惊讶的是，这场运动一直是两党的努力。从学术到牧场主的联盟成员在政治上是多元化的，但共同努力。MakePeace说：“人们正在推动一些硬议程，但我们没有任何奇怪的八卦或指尖。”Applegate的Asoudegan说，“再生农业并不是两极分化”，对公司的一些保守派中西部农民。“谁不能落后鸟类，土壤，清洁空气，清水？”

即使是黑人的斯旺森本人，也期望在训练之旅中，在佐治亚州南部的训练之旅中。“没有人在乎，”他说。“如果您可以提高我的利润，并且可以改善我的祖父的羔羊，让我们来了解一下。我们开始做吧。”