How can we bring back carbon home?

The answer lies in our agriculture practices

Jun 18, 2021

Last evening, I was struggling to write the opening paragraph. I thought I understood regenerative farming practices but actually, I didn’t.

So I went back to the basics. And here’s what I learnt-

Through photosynthesis, plants absorb carbon from the atmosphere (you might know this).

And then they deposit it in the soil through their roots (I didn’t know this exactly, did you?).

Through regenerative farming practices, this carbon stays in the soil. And it feeds carbon-rich organic matter to healthy plants.

One of the common regenerative practices is crop rotation (you might have heard about it).

Different crops are sequentially planted on the same plot of land to improve soil health, optimize nutrients in the soil, and combat pest and weed pressure.

On the other hand, conventional agricultural practices like plowing, using synthetic fertilizers and growing the same crop year after year release the carbon into the atmosphere.

So essentially, our conventional practices are contributing to the increased carbon into the atmosphere, which is one of the driving factors behind climate change.

And on top of that, they are reducing the carbon-rich organic matter in the soil.

Clearly, these conventional practices need to be replaced.

And that’s what these 3 startups are doing⬇️

Are we prepared?…The world population will climb to 10 billion by 2050. This would increase the demand for agricultural products by 50%. On the other hand, our farming productivity has fallen by 21% since the 1960s due to climate change. Farmlands also impact our biodiversity and Earth’s ability to absorb CO2 (remember the explanation above?). So agriculture needs to be more sustainable to feed the growing population and keep the CO2 levels in check.

An Ag tech company has a solution… Indigo Ag is applying the power of microbiology and technology to make agriculture a more sustainable and profitable business. Through their seed technologies, crops like wheat, corn, and soy can grow in tougher(not so ideal) conditions with less water. This reduces the dependency on irrigation and gives a chance of restoration to barren land.

Indigo hunts out naturally occurring organisms such as bacteria and fungi and uses them for biocoating the seeds.
Biocoating (painting bacteria/fungi onto surfaces for sustainable practices) reduces the need for environmentally taxing fertilizer and aids plant growth.
In 2018, its corn provided over 10% more yield per acre than traditional seed, and its wheat yields improved by almost 15%.

**Top left-** Founders - David Perry and Geoffrey von Maltzahn; **Bottom left-** Seedlings in the grow room at Indigo's headquarters; **Right-** Indigo Ag's office

The Terraton initiative…In 2019, they launched Terraton, a marketplace that connects farmers with companies that want to offset their carbon. Farmers can reduce and sequester CO2 while enriching their soil through regenerative practices while companies can support these farmers financially and get carbon credits. Indigo likes to call it ‘farmers’ eBay’.

The usual challenges…Regenerative agriculture is becoming popular but adoption and scaling remain a challenge. A lot of farmers are hesitant to share their knowledge in the field (literally). Others who have been working with conventional practices are not sure about the implications of shifting to regenerative practices. There are small movements that are happening across the world but there isn’t a global organized approach to the problem.

Building a structure and process…Netherlands-based reNature is on a mission to make regenerative forestry mainstream by supporting farmers and corporates in their transitions. It takes on projects around the world to support the adoption and scaling of regenerative agriculture. This helps to sequester carbon and reverse the effects of global warming while improving the lives of the farmers.

They help farmers and corporations to switch to a poly-crop structure- growing more than one crop; different types of plants and trees are grown together.
This reduces the input cost(fertilizer, pesticide) for the farmer. (research-backed)
And it helps to capture more carbon- creating an additional source of income for the farmers who can offer carbon credits.

**Left-** Renature's model schools use Regenerative Agroforestry plots as hands-on learning spaces; **Top right-** Founders Marco de Boer and Felipe Villela; **Bottom Right-** Drone image of reNature's regenerative agroforestry system in Indonesia.

Baby steps…reNature sits with its clients to first understand their strategy. They then develop a model farm and demonstration plots before scaling up. Once the results are proven on a small piece of land, these practices are implemented to the entire farmland. This makes the transition to regenerative forestry easier for farmers and corporates.

Cotton farming has the same problem…Pick up any cotton cloth manufactured in India. There’s a high probability that it would say that it is 100% organic cotton. But only a tiny %age of cotton is grown in the country without pesticides. So it doesn’t really add up there. In South India (a major hub of the fashion industry), textile manufacturing has destroyed rivers, depleted topsoil and have exposed the farmers to toxic chemicals.

A vicious cycle…Private seed companies convince the farmers to buy GMO cotton seeds, which provide great yield in the first year but depletes the soil. To treat that, the company provides them with more chemicals. These chemicals work great in the first year but then they start showing their effect on the land. So the farmer goes back and gets more chemicals to treat it…you get the picture. Nishanth Chopra saw this first hand and its effect on the farmers and the ecosystem and built a seed to sew regenerative farming model called Oshadi.

A vertically integrated business model, Oshadi has a cotton plantation, a weaving studio and a sewing facility.
They use regenerative practices that have been part of traditional Indian farming- cover crops, trap crops, pollinated strips and no pesticides.
Instead of getting dubious certificates for organic cotton, their efforts are focused on actually growing it.

**Top Left-** Sorting of the yield; **Bottom Left-** Inside Oshadi's weaving studio and to the right a model donning a dress from Oshadi; **Right-** Founder Nishanth Chopra

There’s more to it…While building the supply chain, Nishant realized that cotton farming is just part of the problem. Most of the dyes used in the process are toxic and pollutes the rivers. So Oshadi decided to grow indigo for natural dyeing. Apart from becoming self-sufficient, Oshadi also wants to empower the farmers and artisans by offering them a way of working true to their own terms and capacity.