Winter on the farm
What is it?
#REGENUARY
Pronounced 're-jen-uary' - as in regenerate.
Regenuary is simple. For a month source as much of your food as possible from regenerative farming.
In many cases this is difficult so consider as much as possible low impact or positive impact production methods, this applies to all foods, meat, fish, dairy, grains, nuts, seeds, legumes and vegetables.
Where possible source from British suppliers, and do what you can to minimise the impact of transportation.
If it is difficult to source regeneratively produced ingredients look for organic, biodynamic and buy direct from small producers wherever possible.
Look for farm shops and farmers markets, ask questions, do research.
So what is Regenerative Agriculture
“Regenerative Agriculture” describes farming and grazing practices that, among other benefits, reverse climate change by rebuilding soil organic matter and restoring degraded soil biodiversity – resulting in both carbon drawdown and improving the water cycle.
It is a system of farming principles and practices that increases biodiversity, enriches soils, improves watersheds, and enhances ecosystem services.
The processes aim to capture carbon in soil and aboveground biomass, reversing current global trends of atmospheric accumulation.
At the same time, it offers increased yields, resilience to climate instability, and higher health and vitality for farming and ranching communities.
The system draws from decades of scientific and applied research by the global communities of organic farming, agroecology, Holistic Management, and agroforestry.
Where it started
The idea
In theory, someone could participate in veganuary eating any kind of processed and imported foods and to the inexperienced vegan shopper this is what is likely to happen, the meat will likely be replaced with fake meat substitutes.
The problem is that many fake meat substitutes are produced from highly processed plant based products grown as environmentally damaging mono crops and more often than not imported into the UK from other parts of the world, we consider this to have worse impact than the UK sourced meats they are replacing. This especially true is the meat comes from regenerative agriculture such as we source, then this trade off truly does more harm than good.
Thinking about what could happen if instead of encouraging people to avoid animal products at all costs they were persuaded to source their food from regenerative agriculture as much as possible, be it animal or arable, we coined the idea of #REGENUARY
The start
On 3rd January 2020 we posted a picture on facebook with the word Veganuary crossed out and replaced with the word Regenuary and wrote a couple of paragraphs about our thoughts on this, it was a simple idea, just another post challenging people to think, we didn't think too much about it.
By the end of the month the post ahd over a million impressions, had been shared nearly 6000 times with as many comments which were as polarised and divers as they were numerous.
The comments on the post ranged hugely from an outpouring of support to a large numebr of vegans who thouth we were attacking their beleif system.
The point was not to drive a divide between those who have removed animal products from their diet and those who consume them but simply to create an awareness that is possible to consume either diet in a low or a high impact way.
Regenerative Produce - What to look for
Meats
Grazing animals are 100% pasture fed.
Ruminants treated as part of an ecosystem
Poultry and pork are fed a natural diet and have a benefit to soil ecology
No soy is used in animal feed
Farmers strive to improve and increase biodiversity on their land
New soil is formed and carbon is sequestered
Seafood and fish
Farmed or fresh seafood and fish (and seaweed) suppliers.
Uses no foreign or introduced external inputs in the form of feed, fertilizers, antibiotics, etc.
Minimizes deleterious outputs and waste products.
Does not inhibit the ability of cohabitating wildlife to thrive in a natural way.
Contributes to the environment positively through habitat creation and/or water filtration.
Dairy Produce
Cow, goat and sheep milks, cheeses, butters and yoghurts.
Grazing animals are 100% pasture fed.
Ruminants treated as part of an ecosystem
No soy is used in animal feed
Farmers strive to improve and increase biodiversity on their land
New soil is formed and carbon is sequestered
Grains, seeds and pulses
Regernatively produced crops
Minimising soil disturbance.
Minimising the use of chemical inputs.
Maximising biodiversity, both animals and plants.
Keeping the soil covered with crops as long as possible.
Adapting to the local environment.
Vegetables and fruits
The use of cover crops, crop rotations, compost, and animal manures, which restore the plant/soil microbiome
Building biological ecosystem diversity and restoring soil system energy via “inoculation of soils with composts or compost extracts” and “full-time planting of multiple crop intercrop plantings, multispecies cover crops, and borders planted for bee habitat and other beneficial insects
Stimulate plant growth, while also increasing soil carbon deposits and fertility, insect and plant biodiversity, and soil carbon sequestration via well-managed grazing practices.
Oils and fats
Regernatively produced crops
Minimising soil disturbance.
Minimising the use of chemical inputs.
Maximising biodiversity, both animals and plants.
Keeping the soil covered with crops as long as possible.
Introducing animals to the system to control weeds and pests
Using companion crops and planting to restore soil health and carbon.