11 www.SmallFarmCanada.ca Regenerative agriculture has become a hot topic in the last decade, particularly after huge agribusiness corporations, like General Mills, became involved in the field. For some farmers, regenerative agriculture means avoiding tillage while relying on genetically modified crops, herbicides and pesticides. This is not the type of farming covered in The Basics of Regenerative Agriculture, which focuses on “beyond organic” regenerative agriculture. Author Ross Marrs explains that the term “regenerative agriculture” was coined by Robert Rodale in the 1980s “to distinguish a kind of farming that goes beyond sustainable.” After all, keeping a depleted farm at a level of depletion can be considered sustainable whereas the goal of regenerative farming is to improve the farm ecosystem. For Ross Mars, the issue of “ethical integrity” is involved. He states “there is a moral imperative to fix the problems we find ourselves in.” Mars provides an interesting and comprehensive overview of plant and soil science and goes beyond the basic information on nutrients, soil structure, etc. He delves into the role of soil microorganisms and root exudates (the mix of sugars, amino acids and other substances released from the roots of living plants). In the plant section, he describes the rhizophagy cycle, which involves bacteria entering living plant cells and bringing nutrients into the plant. He explains that in nutrient-limiting soils plants secrete root exudates that “act as signal molecules that attract a diverse community of microbes.” The plants then increase their production of exudates which leads to more growth of the microorganisms, including bacteria which “absorb various nutrients from the soil so they are, in effect, nutrient storehouses.” The section on using plants in regenerative systems covers a range of topics from agroforestry, alley cropping, plant guilds (as described in permaculture design) and cover crops. For livestock, Mars describes various approaches to pasture management and handling animals. He also provides a comprehensive definition of integrated pest management. If you’re looking for specific details, such as what to plant where or how to control a certain pest, this isn’t the book for you. There are examples of such details in the text but unfortunately many are Australian. The goal of the book is, as the title suggests, to cover the basic principles of regenerative agriculture, and Mars does an excellent job at that and often goes beyond the basics by providing technical explanations of the science behind the farming practices. THE BASICS OF REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE: CHEMICAL-FREE, NATURE-FRIENDLY AND COMMUNITY-FOCUSED FOOD BY ROSS MARS REVIEWED BY JANET WALLACE BOOK REVIEW 1-800-387-RAIN Providing Irrigation Solutions since 1954. 2515 Pinegrove Road, Delhi ON N4B 2X1 www.vandenbussche.com Transplanters & Diggers Smart Farming Seeding Success TOP: GAJUS - ADOBE STOCK | MIDDLE: ROSS MARS AVAILABLE AT INDIGO/CHAPTERS
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