Regenerative agriculture, a farming approach that focuses on soil health and ecosystems, has recently received considerable attention, particularly as an essential element of sustainable agriculture in the context of climate change. This paper reviews quantitative evidence of regenerative agriculture’s impact on productivity, resilience, and climate change mitigation—through carbon sequestration in soil. The effectiveness of regenerative agriculture depends on local climate conditions and existing practices. In addition, large-scale adoption of regenerative agriculture faces multiple challenges, such as the trade-off between short-term loss and long-term gains, smallholder farmer profitability, and other common market failures in agriculture. These challenges are especially salient in African agriculture. However, payments for ecosystem services, though yet to be carefully designed, can potentially incentivize farmers to adopt regenerative agriculture and create an additional source of income. Finally, further empirical evidence on the causal impacts of regenerative agriculture is needed to support policy design and recommendations. The paper concludes with open questions on regenerative agriculture for future study.
Authors
Organizations mentioned
- Citation
- “ Dabalen, Andrew ; Goyal, Aparajita ; Song, Ruozi . 2024 . Regenerative Agriculture in Practice: A Review . Policy Research Working Paper; 10919 . © Washington, DC: World Bank . http://hdl.handle.net/10986/42192 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO . ”
- Collection(s)
- Policy Research Working Papers
- DOI
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1596/1813-9450-10919
- Identifier externaldocumentum
- 34393095
- Identifier internaldocumentum
- 34393095
- Pages
- 26
- Published in
- United States of America
- RelationisPartofseries
- Policy Research Working Paper; 10919
- Report
- WPS10919
- Rights
- CC BY 3.0 IGO
- Rights Holder
- World Bank
- Rights URI
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/
- UNIT
- Office of the Chief Economist (AFRCE)-210
- URI
- https://hdl.handle.net/10986/42192
- date disclosure
- 2024-09-24
- region geographical
- World
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Table of Contents
- Regenerative Agriculture in Practice: A Review 3
- Abstract 3
- 1. Introduction 4
- 2. What Is Regenerative Agriculture? 5
- 2.1 Origin and Evolution of Regenerative Agriculture 5
- 2.2 Distinctions from Climate-Smart Agriculture and Conservation Agriculture 6
- 2.3 Regenerative Agriculture in Practice 8
- 2.4 Adoption of Regenerative Agriculture 9
- 3. Evidence of Impact on Global Agriculture 11
- 3.1 On Productivity 14
- 3.2 On Resilience 15
- 3.3 On Mitigation 16
- 4. Barriers to Large-Scale Adoption 17
- 4.1 Trade-Offs 17
- 4.2 Costs and Benefits 19
- 4.3 Lack of Local Knowledge Support and Information 19
- 4.4 Lack of Insurance and Income-Smoothing Mechanisms 20
- 4.5 Factor Market Failures and Distortions 20
- 5. Challenges and Opportunities for Africa’s Agriculture 21
- 5.1 Low Yields and Technology Adoption for Smallholder Farmers 21
- 5.2 Lack of Institutional Support 21
- 5.3 The Potential of Climate Finance 21
- 6. Open Questions and Future Research 22
- References 23