The Loudoun County
Co-Creating Our County Event

The principles of regenerative agriculture remain consistent across countries and farm types. However, the implementation of soil-building practices varies widely between geographies, crop types, and farmer context. Regenerative agriculture necessarily requires a localized and farm-specific approach. Typically, regenerative practices include the following principles: Maximize ground cover through the use of cover crops, mulch, and intercropping; Minimize soil disturbance through conservation tillage and rotational grazing; Increase on-farm diversity through crop rotations and incorporating livestock; Reduce the use of external inputs such as fertilizers or pesticides; Promote whole-farm health by viewing the land as an ecosystem in concert with nature.

Our goal is to educate local consumers, local farmers, local policymakers, local media outlets and the general public overall on the benefits of regenerative agriculture and land management.

Network-Buildingi for all loudouners with specific emphasis on our younger generations: We already have many valuable preservation, conservation and heritage groups here in Loudoun County. This event will bring an even greater light to thses organizations to members of our county that may be unaware of their existence. We invite and encourage or young attendees to consider joining one of these aforementioned groups.

Policy Work: We will identify, promote and galvanize support for local policy initiatives that have the potential to maintain or enhance agricultural land matters.

“.... [R]egenerative agriculture is one of the greatest opportunities to address human and climate health, along with the financial well-being of farmers.” --Project Drawdown

The term “regenerative agriculture” was first coined in the late 20th century by Robert Rodale, son of American organic pioneer J.I. Rodale and founder of the Pennsylvania-based farming research center the Rodale Institute. The practices and principles of regenerative agriculture were initially proposed by Rodale out of a concern for creating healthy soil in order to ‘produce healthy food for healthy people’. The movement has gained a renewed traction in recent years as the growing body of science on the impacts of conventional farming practices, combined with the importance of soil health, has strengthened the case for changing the way food is grown. Regenerative agriculture is also becoming popular with brands as way to tackle climate change commitments, improve resiliency in agricultural supply chains and ensure the fair treatment of farm workers.

As a relatively new term in the marketplace, regenerative agriculture has multiple manifestations. Currently there are three third-party verified frameworks that define measurable standards for regenerative practices and/or outcomes. Regenerative Organic Certification: The Regenerative Organic Certification (ROC) program is a holistic practice-based certification built off USDA Organic that incorporates three pillars of responsible farming: Soil Health, Animal Welfare, and Social Fairness. NSF is the Regenerative Organic Alliance’s core partner in developing and managing the ROC program. Land to Market Verification: The Savory Institute’s Land to Market program is designed for holistic management of grasslands and grazing livestock. The Ecological Outcome Verification program measures quantifiable outcomes in managed lands, including biodiversity, soil health, water infiltration, and carbon sequestration. The Soil Carbon Initiative: The Soil Carbon Initiative measures soil carbon outcomes through testing key soil health parameters. The SCI partnered with NSF to develop the standard through a consensus-based multi-stakeholder process. Regenerative agriculture is a quickly growing movement representing diverse farmer contexts, and additional standards of measurement are sure to evolve over time. Currently, these frameworks and standards represent the leading industry guidelines for measuring the implementation of and progress towards regenerative practices.

Through a focus on soil health and diversity, regenerative farming practices have the potential to support increased resilience and financial well- being for farmers. Regenerative practices have been shown to improve profits by as much as 78% over conventional farming1, largely due to reduction in inputs. While yields of monoculture crops may be lower without the intensive interventions that are typical in today’s conventional farming industry - often to compensate for lost soil fertility - regenerative practices emphasize diversity to increasing whole-farm yield, and farmer incomes, in the long-term. Regenerative practices serve as a way to “future- proof” farms and reduce risks. As the effects of climate change exacerbate the innate challenges of farming, creating and keeping healthy soil is essential to maintain viable harvests and better weather unpredictable conditions. While more science is needed to understand the full potential of regenerative farming in the long-term, it is clear that other approaches are needed in order to reverse the soil loss and declining crop yields seen in the agriculture industry today.

Our marketplace is seeing a growing consumer demand for food and textile products made with responsible practices. This demand presents a valuable opportunity for companies to showcase