Regenerative Agriculture

Medicinal plants are often classified as either wild harvested or cultivated. While this is an important distinction, we also need to ask how cultivated herbs are cultivated. Are they grown in ways that support the health of the soil, the water, the air, the atmosphere, and communities that depend on producing those crops for their livelihood? Or are they grown in ways that deplete or poison those human and ecological communities?

Regenerative organic agriculture puts soil health at the center of farming practice. In doing so, it goes beyond not using chemical pesticides and fertilizers. It incorporates techniques like cover cropping, crop rotation, rotational grazing, and minimal soil disturbance. And it recognizes farmers as stewards of the land.

These improvements in the soil increase percolation, nutrient accessibility, and carbon sequestering. Similarly, they reduce erosion, encourage biodiversity, and help to sustain livelihoods.

At the current rates of soil degradation, the world’s topsoil could be lost within 60 years, a senior UN official has said. Herbal products companies are already experiencing disruptions in their supply chains from shortages due to unprecedented rains, droughts, fires, hurricanes, and other weather events caused by climate change. These disruptions will only increase in the future. In the light of this, we need to look for alternative approaches to farming medicinal plants in order to secure herbal supply chains in our changing world.