Expansion of Regenerative Organic Agriculture Across the USA: Trends & Impact
Posted on August 20, 2025
As soil degradation continues with regular farming practices only 60 years of farming is left if the current agricultural practices continue, according to Reuters. So, what is the most important thing to do right now to avoid this bleak future? It is to maintain soil health. Soil health affects everything, from plant and animal health to human well-being.
Regenerative agriculture was first introduced by Dr. George Washington Carver, and later on, popularized by Robert Rodale, who coined the term “regenerative organic” to develop a kind of farming that goes beyond sustainability and prioritizes soil health. In addition to improving soil health, Regenerative Organic Agriculture (ROA) aims to establish higher standards for farmworker fairness and animal welfare.
Food produced through sustainable practices like ROA has been unlocking new barriers and reaching people, as organic food sales in the United States amounted to around $63 billion in 2023. However, popularity and trend should not be the only factors driving sales, as we have the power to heal our planet. Therefore, the sole aim of adopting ROA practices should be to heal our planet by improving soil health, worker fairness, and animal welfare.
The vast range of what ROA encompasses needs to be understood first before implementation, so let’s take a look at its scope in an effort to build a better and sustainable future.
How is Regenerative Organic Agriculture Possible in the USA?
According to a recent 2022 report, only about 1.5% is being farmed in the regenerative organic way out of 900 million arable acres in the US. Although the growth of the regenerative agriculture movement is in its beginning stages, according to the non-profit organization Forum for the Future, this movement “never had more momentum”.
In this ongoing momentum, there are also ongoing challenges and barriers facing the movement of regenerative agriculture. In 2018, an unlikely alliance was formed between groups, namely Unilever, PepsiCo, Cargill, ADM, and the farmers of Iowa, to overcome all the challenges. They began working together on a regenerative agricultural project, and all of them came to realize that there was an overlap between where they sourced soy and corn and their sustainability in the long term.
When non-profits and food brands can join hands together to bring in the regenerative agricultural movement, and there is a steady momentum where farmers and consumers alike are contributing their own role towards this movement, it does not seem impossible for ROA to make its place in the USA.
Benefits of Regenerative Organic Agriculture
While we have already discussed the environmental benefits, there are other benefits that must be acknowledged when discussing regenerative organic farming. This includes:
- Economic benefits: Regenerative agriculture focuses on abandoning the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which can significantly reduce production costs.
- Community benefits: ROA strengthens community relations and creates employment opportunities at a local level due to its labor-intensive yet socially responsible nature.
- Climate benefits: Improved soil health has the potential to sustain diverse flora and fauna, allowing natural ecosystems to thrive and counteracting the negative effects of environmental pollution, which leads to climate change.
Challenges of Regenerative Organic Agriculture
Right off the bat, two challenges have existed since the inception of regenerative agriculture:
- A lack of awareness and knowledge about regenerative agriculture and its practices among farmers, consumers, and policymakers. Just like we aim to educate everyone about the benefits of regenerative agriculture worldwide, many farmers, policymakers, and consumers are unaware of how to adopt these practices and how they can change the landscape of farming in the USA.
- Secondly, access to the resources required for building a regenerative agriculture environment on a farm and dealing with market demand simultaneously is a tough job when starting out. There is a growing interest in products produced through regenerative agriculture; however, most consumers still continue to shop for conventionally produced materials. The technical and financial support required initially while transitioning to regenerative agriculture is not easy.
Scope of Regenerative Organic Agriculture
As discussed before, almost a decade-old study shows that the global topsoils will be depleted by the next 60 years at the current rate. Depleting topsoil levels endangers the complex balance of our natural ecosystem, and it doesn’t only affect farmers. It can gradually trigger scarcity of food and depletion of materials used for clothing, building and our overall survival. By understanding what regenerative organic farming is and where it focuses, we can shift collectively towards a sustainable future.
Look at ROA as a collection of practices. This collection involves starting with never using synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, using cover cropping, crop rotation and compost. To truly follow the “regenerative organic” practice, one needs to consider all the players involved in it, including the farmers. Even you, the consumer, are a contributor towards regenerative agriculture by choosing products that are produced by using all the ROA practices and making an environmentally, ethically and socially positive impact.