Dartmouth Study: Improving Soil Health Yields Unexpected Benefits for Farmers

ATTRA: Researchers at Dartmouth University found that farmers’ motivations for adopting regenerative agriculture were not entirely monetary. Their study revealed that many farmers view improving soil health as a way to improve their quality of life by reducing their dependence on outside inputs. In addition, some farmers indicated that using regenerative practices made their work more enjoyable and interesting.

“In the U.S., as farmers wrestle with extreme heat and drought, heavy rainfall and flooding, and erosion—all factors of climate change that can take a toll on crops—there’s been a lot of buzz over regenerative agriculture over the past few years, as big agriculture companies promise opportunities to make money from “carbon farming” while also improving soil health.

Regenerative farming strives to improve soil health through various methods, including reduced or no tillage, keeping the soil covered year-round through the use of cover crops, integrating livestock into crop farming, and rotating crops to encourage both above- and below-ground biodiversity.

Such practices can also be used to create carbon credits for carbon offset programs, which enable polluters to mitigate their greenhouse gas emissions through the purchase of credits.”