— At Our Table —

What is Regenerative?

The word gets used a lot. Here's what it actually means — and how to tell who's really doing the work.

Allen R. Williams, Ph.D.
Allen R. Williams, Ph.D.
Co-founder
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    Did you know

    The scope of the practice

    Understanding Ag — the consulting group co-founded by Dr. Allen Williams — has now helped farmers implement regenerative practice on more than 37 million acres across North America, with active projects in dozens of countries on six continents.

    Regenerative isn't a movement on the margins anymore. It's the working framework being adopted at scale, by working farms, with measured outcomes.

    Many people are hearing the term “regenerative” used more and more in reference to agriculture and food. The question is, “What does Regenerative really mean?”

    The definition

    When Gabe Brown and I founded Understanding Ag and Regenified, we defined Regenerative as:

    Farming and Ranching in synchrony with nature to repair, rebuild, revitalize, and restore ecosystem function, starting with life within the soil and expanding to life above.

    The scale of the work

    Understanding Ag is the leading regenerative agriculture and food consulting group in the world. Understanding Ag has helped farmers, ranchers, and growers implement regenerative principles and practices across more than 37 million acres in North America and has worked with farmers in dozens of other countries across six continents.

    The founding partners of Understanding Ag have been featured in multiple groundbreaking documentaries that include: Kiss the Ground, Common Ground, Roots So Deep, Carbon Cowboys, Farmers Footprint, A Regenerative Secret, Rethink Meat, and A World Without Cows.

    A journey, not a destination

    The most important thing to know about regenerative agriculture is that it is a journey, not a destination. No farm is perfect, and no farm has fully regenerated soil and ecosystems. We do not even know what perfect is, but we do know what is better and is improving.

    How to spot the real thing

    So, how do you know if a farm is genuinely on the regenerative path or is simply using the terminology? The answer is clear — Do they have the data and information to prove their progress?

    What we’ve documented at Etta Hills

    At Etta Hills Farm, we have been tracking our progress from the day the farm was purchased. The land was severely degraded at purchase and has been on the path of regeneration since that time.

    So, what have we documented?

    • The percentage of bare and exposed soil has decreased from more than 40% to under 5%.
    • The soil microbial population (the life within the soil) has improved more than 300%.
    • The ability to capture rainfall and infiltrate it into the soil has improved more than 200%.
    • Beneficial insect, bird, and wildlife populations have improved significantly.
    • Etta Hills Farm has now documented more than 160 different plant species growing on the farm, with many of those species being native to the landscape.
    • The nutritional data on the foods produced by Etta Hills Farm is significantly better than foods produced on conventional farms.
    • Eddy Covariance Flux Towers monitor our Greenhouse Gas (GHG) fluxes every moment of every day.

    So, ask your farmer about their journey and about their documentation of their regenerative progress.

    Come join us

    At Etta Hills Farm, we are serious about our regenerative journey. We meticulously document our progress through careful measurement and science. We routinely share our data. Come join us on our journey. Visitors are welcome at the farm.

    Farming and ranching in synchrony with nature to repair, rebuild, revitalize, and restore ecosystem function, starting with life within the soil and expanding to life above.

    Dr. Allen R. Williams · Co-founder, Understanding Ag

    The bottom line

    • Regenerative has a working definition — farming in synchrony with nature to repair, rebuild, revitalize, and restore ecosystem function. It's not a vibe.
    • It's a journey, not a destination. No farm is perfect. The question is whether the trend lines are moving in the right direction.
    • The test is documentation. Real regenerative farms can show their data — soil cover, microbial populations, water infiltration, biodiversity, food nutrient density.
    • At Etta Hills: bare soil down from 40%+ to under 5%, soil biology up 300%, water infiltration up 200%, 160+ documented plant species, real-time GHG monitoring.
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    Allen R. Williams, Ph.D.
    About the author

    Co-founder

    Allen R. Williams, Ph.D.

    Sixth-generation farmer and Ph.D. animal scientist
    Allen R. Williams, Ph.D.

    Co-founder

    Allen R. Williams, Ph.D.

    A sixth-generation farmer and Ph.D. animal scientist, Allen spent fifteen years on faculty at Louisiana Tech and Mississippi State before going full-time into regenerative work in 2000. He's since consulted with more than 4,000 farmers and ranchers across the Americas, co-founded Libertas Land, Understanding Ag, the Soil Health Academy, Regenified, and Grass Fed Insights, and pioneered the 6-3-4™ framework now taught around the world. You've seen him inKiss the Ground,Common Ground,Roots So Deep,Sacred Cow, on TEDxBoston and the Dr. Oz Show. At Etta Hills, he's healing the same Mississippi red clay he grew up on.

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