Comments on: A Regenerative Grazing Revolution Is Taking Root in the Mid-Atlantic

By: Tonilea Blevins

Tonilea Blevins — Tue, 19 Jul 2022 01:40:44 +0000

similar to efforts in regenerative farming, this is almost genuis in its applications and overall effect on the soil, the whole environment and our world. Hope the politics work out; there is money for this type of progressive thinking.

By: Terry Gips

Terry Gips — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 17:47:48 +0000

In reply to Eleanor Boyle. I totally agree Eleanor. The latest IPCC report really calls for a shift to a plant-based diet.

By: R2DMobz

R2DMobz — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 02:14:54 +0000

Excellent article. This coupled with growing a wider variety of locally optimized livestock and crops in regenerative polyculture setups will further assist in our fight against climate change. I hope vat grown spirulina for carbon sequestration becomes used in place of grain supplementation as it would further improve agricultural sustainability.

By: dchall8

dchall8 — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 15:48:22 +0000

There’s not enough room in an article like this to expand the full details, but it is clear from the other comments that there is a lot more ignorance on the topic than there is knowledge. The author said, “Grazing can eliminate the need for commodity crops grown for feed; it also spreads manure naturally, and keeps living plants in the ground at all times, trapping nutrients in place.” I’d like to focus on “…it also spreads manure naturally,…trapping nutrients in place.” How does this work? Well, if you are old enough to remember dung beetles, a.k.a. tumble bugs, it turns out they are key to the success of this system. Before livestock producers began dosing their animals with ivermectin for intestinal parasites, dung beetles would darken the morning skies swooping in to remove fresh livestock dung. It turns out Ivermec persists through digestion and kills the dung beetles. In most places today it is hard to find a dung beetle due to the massive monthly use of Ivermec. But where dewormers are not used, dung beetles continue to thrive. They fly in, roll balls of dung into holes they dig for protection, and deposit the dung balls many feet down into the soil. These fertilizer-rich holes remain open to allow rainfall to drain into the soil instead of off the soil. Within 24 hours of removing livestock from a pasture, the pasture is completely cleared of all the dung pats left by the animals. Even in a drought condition, on the one day that it does rain, ALL the rain is captured in the pasture with no runoff or erosion. Even pastures in desert conditions can be used to graze livestock as long as no dewormers are used. Not all animals get worms, but if an animal does get worms, it needs to go to the slaughter house. Soon enough the herd will be entirely resistant to worms.

Another point lost on the masses who do not get into the details is the idea of carbon and nitrogen in the soil. Black carbon dust and gaseous nitrogen are not what they are talking about. They are talking about carbohydrates and nitrogenous amino acids (protein). The soil is not collecting carbohydrates. The soil is supporting the growth of plants consisting of carbohydrates. There is no limit to how much “carbon” a soil can hold as long as plants are growing.

There is plenty of land available for livestock grazing. I’m not talking about plowing the rain forests, I’m suggesting using the unused land in “overgrazed” and abandoned areas. The ecologically brittle desert areas of the US Southwest are prime for reintroduction of livestock in a regenerative type of program. It’s been done there for decades with great success. Former dry creeks are running clear again, wild birds are returning to areas where they once lived, and producers are making money again.

By: Kenneth

Kenneth — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 12:41:56 +0000

In reply to Nandy.

“killing living beings” also includes killing plants and their babies (cereal grains, legumes, sprouts, tubers, etc). What do you suggest we eat that will not be killing living beings?……..highly processed synthetic “food”?

By: Nandy

Nandy — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 17:23:13 +0000

This kind of bucolic farming is not without causing problems to the ecosystem. Given the enormous and growing body of scientific evidence that we do NOT need to eat any kind of flesh, raising chickens, cows, or pigs to eat them remains resource-intensive. MORE wild lives will have to be killed to who pose a threat to these farmed animals. Another BIG problem is that “regenerative approach requires 2.5 times more land.” https://civileats.com/2021/01/06/a-new-study-on-regenerative-grazing-complicates-climate-optimism/
Then there’s the ethical issues of killing living beings for “food” we don’t really need.

By: Eleanor Boyle

Eleanor Boyle — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 17:18:39 +0000

Thank you, Lisa and Civil Eats.
RegenAg is important. However, no amount of carbon sequestration will obviate the fact that our planet’s not big enough to raise enough livestock animals for consumers to eat meat every day. Hand in hand with RegenAg needs to be a significant cutback in the numbers of cattle, pigs and chickens on the planet. That’s what the gutsy Netherlands govt is doing. https://www.eleanorboyle.com/blog/time-to-tackle-the-supply-side-of-a-meat-driven-emissions-problem–55. Again, thank you.