By Kate Congreves
Sustainability has become something of a buzzword over the years. From the clothes we wear and the energy that powers our homes to the way we live our lives, the idea of sustainable production and consumption has become commonplace.
That is also true about the way we grow and consume food. Recently, however, another term has come to the fore: regenerative agriculture. It sounds attractive, somehow better than sustainable, but what does it really mean?
Regenerative agriculture began as a grassroots approach to farming led by farmers. It has been described in many different ways, but a common thread is a set of values.
People might be drawn to the word "regenerative" because it evokes a sense of improvement rather than just maintaining the status quo—for example, efforts to rebuild a system and our values. That last bit—rebuilding not only the system but our values—is really important.
Values often include care for the environment, a responsibility to nature and cultivation of good food. Just like there are many ways to grow food, there are also many languages, voices and histories that express the ways that food can be cultivated in alignment with values.
The need for an agricultural ethic
It is easier to standardize and market a simple list of practices than a philosophically sound ethical framework, but that doesn't mean ethical frameworks are irrelevant. Ethics is a branch of philosophy that examines concepts of good and bad, right and wrong and our values.
Ethics might be the one thing that agricultural science has been missing but needs the most. Agriculture has been rudderless when it comes to collectively deciding what is or isn't good for humans and the environment.
Cornerstone ethical frameworks have provided reasons for taking care of the environment, such as the land ethic and deep ecology.
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