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Forty percent of the world’s soils are degraded. This means previously fertile soils have experienced a reduction in the benefits they provide to humans and nature, as they are no longer able to support plant growth, retain water, or store carbon. Soil degradation has been caused by numerous factors, including urbanization, overdevelopment, pollution, erosion, and conventional farming practices that deplete organic matter and soil biodiversity. This is a serious crisis that threatens our food security, economic stability, and climate.
But there is a solution. By shifting to regenerative agriculture, farmers can simultaneously rebuild soil health, increase crop yields, and capture and store atmospheric carbon.
In this article, we dive into seven regenerative practices, explaining how they restore soils by drawing down carbon from the atmosphere as fertile soil organic matter.
When soil is left bare, landowners lose the opportunity to sequester carbon. Bare soil is prone to erosion, resulting in the loss of valuable topsoil—the most fertile horizon of the soil—rich in nutrients, carbon, and essential microbes. Cover crops—plants grown during the off-season—act as armor for the soil. Their roots prevent erosion and improve the soil structure. They increase the soil’s infiltration and water capacity. Through photosynthesis, plants provide sugars, proteins, and organic acids to carbon-limited soil microbes, like mycorrhizal fungi and bacteria. In exchange, the soil-dwelling microbes provide the plant with the necessary nutrients. The microbes then decompose organic matter, converting it into stable organic compounds, resulting in the storage of carbon in the soil. Cover crops facilitate year-round carbon sequestration while simultaneously providing a host of other benefits. They fix nutrients into the soil, smother weeds, and can increase cash crop yields.
Exposed soil is vulnerable to soil structure degradation, surface crusting, and accelerated erosion. Mulching, the practice of spreading organic material (like straw, leaves, or compost) over the soil surface, protects it from erosion, moisture loss, and extreme temperature swings. As the mulch decomposes, it feeds soil microbes and adds organic matter to the soil. This increases carbon sequestration and enhances soil health. Mulching also suppresses weeds, reduces water loss through evaporation, and improves crop yields, making it a simple yet powerful tool for restoring soil health.
Planting the same crop year after year depletes soil nutrients, attracts pests, and lowers yields. Crop rotation, a centuries-old farming technique, involves alternating crops grown on a piece of land from season to season. Different crops have unique nutrient demands and root structures, which help maintain soil fertility. For instance, legumes replenish nitrogen in the soil, preparing it for nitrogen-demanding crops like corn. Crop diversity also disrupts pest and disease cycles, reducing the need for chemical pesticides. Farmers can also grow more than one crop throughout the same growing season, such as corn and squash. This practice ensures the ground is continually covered, preventing soil erosion and water loss. This increased diversity and continuous crop coverage enhance soil health, boost soil organic carbon levels and contributes to more sustainable agricultural systems.
Intercropping involves planting complementary crops together to enrich soil and improve yields. For example, pairing nitrogen-fixing plants like beans with grains creates a more balanced system where the soil is constantly replenished. These diverse plant roots enhance soil structure, improve aeration, and promote moisture retention. Intercropping provides natural pest control by breaking up monoculture environments that favor pests, reducing the need for chemicals. Over time, intercropping enhances soil fertility, reduces erosion, and supports an intricate web of beneficial organisms that make the soil a more productive and resilient ecosystem.
Tilling, also known as plowing or cultivation, refers to turning over the soil in preparation for planting crops. It aerates the soil, incorporates plant matter, and controls weeds. Even so, farmers can gain numerous benefits by reducing or eliminating tillage.
Turning over the soil destroys soil aggregates and exposes the soil to oxygenation, drying air, and sunlight. This accelerates carbon release into the atmosphere, destroys fungal networks, and soil fauna, and reduces plant cover. As a result, the soil becomes bare and highly vulnerable to erosion. When farmers reduce or eliminate tilling, they sequester more carbon, lower costs, improve soil fertility, and increase yields.
Industrial agriculture has traditionally relied on agrochemicals or tillage to maintain clean fields without spontaneous weeds. These long and ‘clean’ fallows were supposed to boost nutrient and water availability for the next crop.
However, this approach is now known to contribute to herbicide-resistant weeds, soil erosion, increased costs for farmers, and negative impacts on pollinators. In contrast, short and managed fallowing practices—such as planting cover crops, applying mulch, intensifying crop rotations, or adopting integrated weed management—can add organic matter, prevent erosion, and enhance soil health. This practice allows soil microorganisms and essential minerals to regenerate, readying the land for the next productive cycle. Managed fallowing supports long-term soil structure and fertility, creating a regenerative cycle of restoration and use.
If livestock graze on a plot of land for too long, they can destroy plants and compact the soil. When animals are left to graze freely on one plot, they tend to feed on the most palatable and nutritious grasses selectively. Over time, this repeated grazing depletes those species, leading to grassland degradation. But, if pastureland isn’t grazed, it does not benefit from livestock’s nutrient-rich manure, nor the benefits of their hooves turning over organic matter.
Rotational grazing is the practice of moving livestock between set portions of land, called paddocks, to rest and regrow while other paddocks are grazed. This approach to grazing mimics the movement of wild herds, stimulating plants to cultivate deeper and more abundant root systems. These strong roots sequester carbon, aerate the soil, allow water to infiltrate the soil, and enhance soil biodiversity.
Boomitra works with farmers and ranchers worldwide to implement these techniques, among others, to transform degraded lands into productive, carbon-storing ecosystems while improving livelihoods and building a more sustainable future. Learn more about our soil carbon projects.
Set up a call with our team to learn how to invest in soil health and carbon drawdown.
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