Regenerative Agriculture: Nourished by Nature and Force of Nature Meats

If you’re conscientious about buying certified organic food, you will be interested to read this blog. Organic is very important, but is not the complete picture when it comes to natural, safe, and effective agricultural practices. There is a newer label to look for. You might already be seeing this new label on food, especially on meat products. Introducing: “Regenerative Agriculture.” This is a very complicated topic that this blog will only lightly explain, but excellent documentaries and reading material are included if you wish to learn about it more in depth. 

We are excited because we now offer more Regenerative options! We are proud to offer food options that are part of the solution. 

Organic farming methods and certifications came as a response to the increasing use of pesticides on our crops in order to offer food that was not contaminated with these pesticides. Organic farming and certifications does a tremendous amount of good because it makes less toxic food available to more people. Organic is only part of the solution to the food, soil, and climate crisis. 

Regenerative Agriculture, on the other hand, is a philosophical response to how conventional farming methods cause “desertification,” or dead soil that cannot support crops, and therefore is a significant contributor climate change. Regenerative Agriculture aims to renew the health of the soil, sequester carbon from the atmosphere, return to the natural water cycle, once again respect animals by treating them humainly and holistically, and grow more nutritious food naturally. Regenerative Agriculture | NRDC 
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Allan Savory, the Grassland Ecosystem Pioneer, has spent a lifetime successfully converting deserts back into grasslands through Holistic Management, now referred to as Regenerative Agriculture. He explains how it works in his Ted Talk:

​To understand the argument for using Regenerative Agricultural methods and why you might consider purchasing “Regenerative” foods to support the system, let’s start at the beginning of the story with a simple and brief history of Modern Agriculture...  
 
Long ago, at the beginning of farming, we began to plow our fields. This was designed to break up the soil into rows in order to plant seeds of one crop in an organized fashion while controlling weeds. This was the start of “monoculture farming,” or growing one crop at a time in large quantities on one plowed field. For a while, in each civilization that used this method, the food supply flourished. The trouble, however, was that this practice led to soil erosion, in which the soil lost its nutrition and couldn’t sustain crops well anymore. The lack of plants growing in the soil interrupted the water cycle that produces rain through plants, which led to drought. This trend can be observed throughout history.  
 
In the 1930’s, for instance, the Dust Bowl caused a major environmental crisis in the USA. Within 4 generations, 6 feet of top soil in the Midwest was used up during plowing practices. This led to the death of the soil, crops died, there was very little rain, and then the sun dried it out. Wind carried the dead dirt through the air, creating dust storms over all of the country. No crops could be grown, which played a large role in the Great Depression. Dust Bowl: Cause & Impact On Great Depression - HISTORY 

In the early 1900’s a controversial German scientist, Fritz Haber, developed a way to convert ammonia in the air into nitrogen to be used as a fertilizer on crops. It was the beginning of synthetic fertilizers, which allowed German farmers to shift away from using their dwindling supplies of guano (fish and bat manure) for a nitrogen supply to feed the dead soil. He won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work, because this invention revolutionized agriculture. His fertilizer helped crops grow on the weak soil again. He is just as famous for this invention becoming "poison gas" during the World Wars, but that is another story. Soon after the World Wars, the United States purchased the technology to use on our crops. Fritz Haber, the Monster Who Made the Modern World Possible (historycollection.com) 
 
At first, it was a miracle for fixing the problems of modern agriculture. Spraying our crops with this synthetic nitrogen increased crop production significantly and helped the crops survive harsher conditions. We were able to move our livestock off the farm into feedlots and focus on growing massive amounts of single crops. We learned to feed the feedlot animals the crops, and use the rest of it in our own food products. We have been producing enough grain and meat to feed our growing population this way. The trouble began when it took more and more pesticides to continue producing the same amount of crops. We had to learn to genetically modify crops to withstand the pesticides and herbicides. Today we continue to plow our soil, increase the amount of pesticides and herbicides sprayed, and monoculture farm. Our soil continues to die and become a desert, and carbon continues to leave the soil and go into the atmosphere where it creates climate change. How long before we cannot rely on this system to grow food anymore?

The reason why tilling ruins the soil is because it actually disrupts the very important ecosystem in the soil necessary to sustain life. Carbon is the foundation of life. When the soil is broken and all plant life is removed from it, there is nothing to hold the carbon in the soil. It goes up into the atmosphere. Tilling amplifies this process by kicking up a lot of soil dust, releasing the carbon easily, destroying the health of the soil. When plant life is growing, the plants will draw the carbon back out of the atmosphere.  This is part of the "Carbon Cycle." 

This is where the philosophy of Regenerative Agriculture comes in. It is a return to growing food as nature intended it. It isn't only concerned with ending the use of synthetic crop sprays like organic farming is. It is also designed to renew our soil to sustain plant and animal life, renew the harmony between plant and animal life, as well as sequester carbon out of the atmosphere so that it can return the soil where it is needed to sustain the life. Regenerative Agriculture is not about fixing or reinventing the modern agricultural system, it is about allowing the earth to operate how it naturally would to support life.

​You can choose to buy food from Regenerative Farms now. 
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Brands like Dr. Bronner’s are already growing regeneratively to produce plant-based herbs, foods, and body care products.  You can eat a plant-based diet and support Regenerative Agriculture, and more brands are rising to the occasion with how they grow their plants. Click the photo to read Dr. Bronner's blog about their Regenerative Organic Certified practice. 

Oregon's Wild Harvest is also growing Regeneratively for their herbal supplements. They are an excellent choice for potent herbs grown on nourished soil!

But it’s not just about plants.  
 
In order to repair the soil to grow healthy crops naturally again, animals are necessary. When cows, bison, and other herding animals poop on the soil, trample it into the soil and graze on the plants growing from it, they compact the nutrition into the soil and make it much stronger and healthier. Regenerative Agriculture supports the most humane animal practices: allowing animals to be free in nature and do what they would naturally do to preserve the soil and ecosystem.  
 
If you're a meat eater, then meat from regenerative agricultural farms is worth seriously considering.  ​

The animals used on regenerative farms get to live their lives saving the planet from climate change and restoring necessary and beneficial plant life, but in the end they can also feed us very nutritious meat. Just like humans, animals are what they eat. When they are in a feedlot eating GMO corn, soy, and other chemically sprayed plant matter they’re not designed to eat, they become sick. A poor diet means poor nutrition in their meat, and then we eat the sick animals. Feedlot beef tends to be very high in inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids. Grass-fed, pasture raised beef tends to be high in anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids, as well as high in many other nutrients.  Feed lot beef has no benefit to nature, the cows put more carbon into the atmosphere with no plan to recapture it, and they cannot nourish the soil. Pastured cows nourish the soil and eat grass to manage it, do not add excess carbon into the atmosphere because they help maintain plant life that will recapture it, and they are very high quality source of nutritious food. ​

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Introducing two brands of regenerative meat that we now offer at Terry’s:


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Nourished by Nature 

Nourished by Nature is based out of Bismarck, North Dakota. Gabe Brown is the founder and innovator of Brown's Ranch in Bismarck, which was heavily featured in the documentary Kiss the Ground on Netflix. He has been so successful with Regenerative Agriculture on his own land that he laid the foundation for Nourished By Nature to make the business possible. 

We offer many Nourished by Nature choices: Eggs, ground beef, taco meat, sausages, and jerkies.  What is better than local regenerative food for climate change and nutrition? 

"Our cattle and sheep are very integral parts of our operation. They spend their time grazing a diverse sward of plants, moving across the landscape and helping to regenerate our soils. They are alloted fresh grass every day throughout the growing season. Cattle and sheep are ruminant animals, meaning that they are designed to graze forage and convert that forage into protein without consuming any grain. When these animals are fed a forage-only diet like they are designed, they provide a much healthier end product for the consumer. Ruminants raised this way have been shown to contain higher levels of omega 3 fatty acids, conjugated linoleic acids, beta-carotene, and vitamin E. These attributes are all very important for a healthy human-being." About Us - Nourished By Nature

​Force of Nature

"We spent the last 6 years studying regenerative agriculture and visiting ranches all over the world before deciding to create our company, Force of Nature, with the intention to accelerate the creation of a global regenerative supply network. Never before has a company founded in the principles of regenerative agriculture curated a vast collection of land stewards, ranchers, and farmers who are committed to creating a positive return on the planet. Force of Nature now exists to give consumers the ability to vote for environmental regeneration by consuming meat that is actually good for the planet." Our Story – forceofnaturemeats

We offer Force of Nature venison, wild boar, and a ancestral beef blend (this ground beef includes organ tissues.) You have excellent choices for high quality meat that sequesters carbon and renews the soil. 

Continuing Education:
If you would like to learn more, we recommend these excellent sources.

Kiss the Ground, Netflix Documentary 

Dirt to Soil: One Family's Journey into Regenerative Agriculture by Gabe Brown and Courtney White (of Brown's Ranch in Bismarck, ND.) 

​Why Regenerative Agriculture? - Regeneration International

​Author: Sarah Langer