This online panel discussion took place on Thursday 11 January 2024 and is part of a twopart series called "Regenerative and ultraprocessed?" about the role of multinational corporations in regenerative agriculture. Find recordings and information about upcoming events from TABLE here: https://www.tabledebates.org/tableev...

‘Regenerative Agriculture’ is a concept now commonly referred to in discussions about food system transformation. Along with the farmers and agronomists who have been contributing to the regenerative movement for some time, large multinational agribusinesses, politicians, and food marketeers are now also deploying its language. Their arrival is potentially changing what it means to practise regenerative agriculture, with greater emphasis being placed on measurement, accreditation and marketing, and less on its credentials as a farmerled movement organised around the redistribution of power in the food system. Whilst some welcome this ‘broad church’ approach, others are worried that regenerative agriculture will be coopted by corporate interests, with its fundamental principles diluted.

This ‘broad church’ approach to regenerative agriculture raises the possibility (for some) of doing away with definitions altogether. Indeed, the lack of a clear definition of regenerative agriculture may be the very thing that has catalysed such a diversity of ideas as to how food production systems might be redesigned.

But the arrival of large commercial actors in the regenerative space raises questions as to whether more politically radical goals, such as the revitalisation of relations between farmers and buyers, will remain part of the regenerative model into the future.

Some proponents of regenerative agriculture, particularly farmers, are suspicious about the utilisation of the regenerative term by large agribusinesses, and wary about what will happen to aspects of the regenerative model that are less amenable to corporate dilution, accreditation and greenwash. These aspects include the importance of farmerled knowledge networks, attentiveness to context and sitespecificity and the prioritising of processes and mindsets rather than on more simple and measurable outcomes, such as tonnes of carbon stored in the soil.

Large corporate interests are not necessarily uninterested in these social and political aspects of the regenerative project. Although in their nascency, the regenerative strategies these companies are developing engage with the importance of farmerled innovation, peertopeer learning, and the need to employ contextrelevant practices. In the main, though, corporate versions of regenerative agriculture tend to offer a relatively status quo political vision for the future of food, with the dynamics between consumer, producer, distributor and processor largely unchanged.


Speakers:

Matthew Ryan, Nestlé UK & Ireland

Melissa D. Ho, WWFUS

Sara Farley, The Rockefeller Foundation

Jyoti Fernandes, Landworkers' Alliance

Chair: Dr Tara Garnett, Director of TABLE

For more about regenerative agriculture, check out our explainer: https://www.tabledebates.org/building....

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