· By Scott Wells
What Percent of U.S. Farms and Ranches are Regenerative?
Approximately 1.5% farms in the United States are regenerative, compared to 5% being certified organic, and 15% using some regenerative practices, but not fully regenerative.
Regenerative ranching and farming is making a comeback. More and more people are paying attention to the concept of regenerative agriculture and ranching, which essentially means fostering the natural relationship between plants, animals and the soil, which each contribute to each other in a cycle. A regenerative farm or ranch uses practices that improve the land over time by building up soil health, increasing biodiversity, supporting natural water cycles, and sequestering carbon - essentially improving the land to ensure it can be be farmed well into the future.
What Makes a Farm or Ranch "Regenerative"?
A regenerative farm or ranching operation focuses on:
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Building soil health naturally
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Minimizing soil disturbance or erosion
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Keeping soil covered with grass, crops or natural foliage
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Maintaining living roots
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Integrating animals including cows, sheep, chickens, pigs, turkeys and/or ducks
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Working with nature's cycles
A Brief History: From Traditional to Industrial
Before the 1950s, basically all American farms were regenerative. Farmers worked with natural cycles based on their climate, rotated crops based on the time of year, and integrated livestock to graze and fertilize the soil with their manure. Then came the "Green Revolution" with its promise of higher yields through:
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Chemical fertilizers
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Pesticides
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Monoculture farming
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Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs)
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Irrigation systems like sprinklers and drip
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Mechanized farm tools and advanced machinery
While the Green Revolution was able to increase the quantity of crop outputs, the quality of the fruits and vegetables in terms of their nutritional value is questionable. In addition, the long-term environmental impact on water and soil quality was not considered, perhaps as much as it should.
The Current Farming Landscape in the US
According to the USDA, there were 1.89 million U.S. farms in 2023, down 7 percent from the 2.04 million found in the 2017 Census of Agriculture (source: USDA). At its peak, there 6.8 million farms in 1935.
Out of the roughly 2 million farms in the US today:
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Less than 5% are certified organic
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Only about 1% practice true regenerative agriculture
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Around 15% use some regenerative practices but aren't fully regenerative
The breakdown of US farms:
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98% are family farms
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88% are small family farms, meaning they make $350K or less
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48% are industrial conventional
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39% are small conventional
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8% are alternative farming methods
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~ 5% organic (source: Non-GMO Report)
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~1.5% regenerative
To clarify this last stat of 1.5% of US farms being regenerative: according to Dr Kristine Nichols, a soil microbiologist and regenerative agriculture expert, of the 900 million arable acres in the U.S., only about 1.5% is being farmed regeneratively. (source: Reuters)
Growing Movement
Despite only 1.5% of US farms and ranches being regenerative, there is a growing movement of both farmers and consumers that could increase this number. Honestly, more of this is needed as the negative environmental impacts of monocrop farming and feedlot style industrial ranching is hurting our environment by depleting the soil, contaminating and draining water supplies and damaging ecosystems.
While large companies like General Mills, for example, which has committed to advancing regenerative practices on 1 million acres of farmland by 2030, and major retailers like Walmart which is investing in regenerative supply chains, more support is needed. Perhaps most important, is the shift in consumer demand for sustainable food through regenerative agriculture and ranching.
At Wild Horizon, we're proud to work exclusively with regenerative ranchers and farmers who are rebuilding soil health while producing nutrient-dense grass-fed and pasture-rasied beef. While regenerative farms may be a small percentage of total farms today, we believe regenerative agriculture represents the future of farming – and the key to healthier food, healthier soil, and a healthier planet.
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