What’s the difference between “Regenarative Farming” and traditional “Mixed Farming”?

[Nithsdale]

Oh just don't start.

You didn't know it...


But you chose your avatar, specifically for this comment.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Not sure what this topic is about , nearly all farms have turned down the re-gen road all be it in a small way the last few months

 

[ajd132]

Not sure what this topic is about , nearly all farms have turned down the re-gen road all be it in a small way the last few months

It’s a worthless debate to have really.

 

[Pilatus]

So I have a field split into 4, DD, min till, max till, plough. The brome and BG in the DD is so bad it may force me to glypho the crop. The min till is not as bad, the maxitill is okay, meanwhile the ploughed section is almost weed free. When a spring SU is £45ha or whatever I can do a lot of ploughing for that. Tell me which is sustainable? I must admit the field is in continuous wheat, but last year's weed burden was very acceptable.

Farming different soils is definitely a case of “horses for courses”.
A lot of Cotswold brash is so shallow,one can’t plough it you just push it to one side!!!

 

[Drillman]

To me Regenerative seems to be a catchphrase coined by Large arable units who have reinvented the wheel by pretty much copying what smaller mixed farms have been doing for years by adding organic matter to the land in the form of muck and cover crops.

yes it’s probably the right thing to do in there situation but many of them are just playing catch up to the mixed Farms who have been doing it for generations.

 

[steveR]

I remember reading that FYM did more good spread thinly over a lot of acres than spread thickly over a few (mind you that depends on how may acres you have suitable for spreading on).

I am deffo in the small amount of fym over my modest acreage...

 

[glasshouse]

To me Regenerative seems to be a catchphrase coined by Large arable units who have reinvented the wheel by pretty much copying what smaller mixed farms have been doing for years by adding organic matter to the land in the form of muck and cover crops.

yes it’s probably the right thing to do in there situation but many of them are just playing catch up to the mixed Farms who have been doing it for generations.

Re inventing the wheel, thats the phrase i have been looking for

 

[steveR]

No

I would say VERY small seeds might struggle with a thick mat, but it will all depend on how much the back tines cover the earlier drills!!

 

[steveR]

I do think it is more about 'branding'.

A bit like people trying to sell 'Bokashi'. Is it really that different to traditional middens?

I will admit, I had to look this one up.....

 

[steveR]

Interesting that we are talking about regen ag vs rewilding. When the whole holistic planning thing started, it was very interesting.... the regen ag movement took this further and began to build a momentum and some very interesting and pretty well thought through stuff started to happen. Then as far as I can see, it got hijacked by the rewilders, and if I’m honest, deconstructed because a rewilders worst nightmare isn’t conventional farming ...... it’s regenerative agriculture. Rewilding says we must not farm to fix the planet, regen ag says we can farm, produce food and make money, whilst fixing the planet. Rewilders hate this......

And don’t get me started on ms Grindods ‘wilderculture’ rubbish

Go on, expand on that. Let us know your thoughts...

 

[beltane]

In my humble opinion that is virtually the same as what was subconsciously trying to achieve with traditional mixed farming, but as @Bucks Boy says, it is now called “Regenerative Farming” so one is being politically correct.

I think the term regenerative is just a buzzword for the political non-farming types to understand something they fundamentally do not understand. Easier to say than "mixed traditional farming" which always gets people with a screwed up expression on their face and asking questions what that means.

I just explain its how we farmed before the industrial revolution and that tends to be enough information for people. No one really cares or wants to know the details.

 

[Ffermer Bach]

I think the term regenerative is just a buzzword for the political non-farming types to understand something they fundamentally do not understand. Easier to say than "mixed traditional farming" which always gets people with a screwed up expression on their face and asking questions what that means.

I just explain its how we farmed before the industrial revolution and that tends to be enough information for people. No one really cares or wants to know the details.

I disagree, regen ag is not mixed traditional farming, come to Groundswell!

 

[Lowland1]

To me Regenerative seems to be a catchphrase coined by Large arable units who have reinvented the wheel by pretty much copying what smaller mixed farms have been doing for years by adding organic matter to the land in the form of muck and cover crops.

yes it’s probably the right thing to do in there situation but many of them are just playing catch up to the mixed Farms who have been doing it for generations.

It is a catchphrase used to sell something. When we tell our customers we are using regenerative techniques there eyes light up. They think we are saving the planet when actually what i’m doing is saving myself money. The traditional mixed farm is practising something different because it has all the resources at hand feed goes to the animals muck goes back on the land etc. If you don’t have the resources that a mixed farm has you have to do things differently. Modern machinery allows people to do things today they might have liked to have done years ago but couldn’t .

 

[Sid]

what everyone calls rewilding ~ locking the gate and walking away is not rewilding, it is abandoning.

What makes you think I am in favour of rewilding?

I didn't. You mentioned OM as a measurement.

Is rewilding the best way to max it out?

 

[ajd132]

Traditional farming is not the same as ‘regenerative’ or whatever you want to call it.
Regenerative is trying to understand and harness natural biological processes. Essentially free inputs. This has been something completely overlooked by science and agriculture in general because it does not generate money in sales of product.

 

[Ffermer Bach]

I didn't. You mentioned OM as a measurement.

Is rewilding the best way to max it out?

I guess probably it may be, but it wouldn't be producing food, which has to be in the consideration. I think the best way to build OM is probably Mob grazing, the plants being 30% squashed into the ground.

 

[Sid]

I guess probably it may be, but it wouldn't be producing food, which has to be in the consideration. I think the best way to build OM is probably Mob grazing, the plants being 30% squashed into the ground.

But food wasn't mentioned, only OM.
Setting targets like that can be very misleading.
Mob grazing is that 30% waste....or is it recycling?

Given that takes energy to break down .

 

[Bogweevil]

As above.
I would have thought that the traditional mixed farming system ,utilising Grass leys for livestock, and then planting cereals into those leys is the same as regenerative farming
I am obviously missing something??
Is it the economics of the system , especially if one is paying a high rent or mortgage equivalent..
Forgot to say.
As mixed farming/regenerative farming needs livestock, that is at direct odds with Supermarkets , Vegans etc etc , trying to manipulate the general public to switch to a vegan diet , to enable the supermarkets to increase there profits !!!

Simples:

Regenerative farmers practice agroecology, grow cover crops and use livestock to transform soils.

Mixed farmers practice IPM, grow fodder catch crops and manage livestock to maintain fertlity.

 

[CopperBeech]

I think the term regenerative is just a buzzword for the political non-farming types to understand something they fundamentally do not understand. Easier to say than "mixed traditional farming" which always gets people with a screwed up expression on their face and asking questions what that means.

I just explain its how we farmed before the industrial revolution and that tends to be enough information for people. No one really cares or wants to know the details.

Yawn. Same thing over and over...... and it’s not true. And your last sentence is deffo not true .....

 

[CopperBeech]

Traditional farming is not the same as ‘regenerative’ or whatever you want to call it.
Regenerative is trying to understand and harness natural biological processes. Essentially free inputs. This has been something completely overlooked by science and agriculture in general because it does not generate money in sales of product.

Thank you!!!