The food system is our last coal-fired power station, our last diesel engine. This book is a trans-disciplinary approach to what needs to be done to make our food system sustainable and to regenerate soil and water resources, habitat, economy and society. The book brings back classical principles of agronomy and integrates economic, agro-ecological and social perspectives, drawing on a wealth of expertise on the political economy of the food system, Conservation Agriculture, and long-term field experiments.
Regenerative agriculture builds on
known knowns like crop rotation, water and nutrient requirements, soil and water conservation, farm-gate prices, international trade and supply chains. It grapples with
known unknowns like weed, pest and disease control without agrochemicals, cover crops for profit as well as protection, mitigating and adapting to the climate crisis, resilience and tipping points in ecosystems, farming systems and societies, and how we can pay for imperative changes. Lastly, it acknowledges
unknown unknowns the things we are oblivious to but which we really must know like how to liberate the ghettos of the mind inhabited by farmers, agronomists, politicians and societies.
The Cost of Food, Consequences of not valuing soil, water and those who
manage them.- Changing the Paradigm of agricultural intensification.
Challenges faced by agriculture in Moldova.- The Alberta Experience. Climate
change action plan, cap-and-trade legislation for carbon emissions, and
carbon credits for farmers.- The Social Food Service market a lever for
change.- Discussion.- Is the future of Agriculture Perennial? The
fundamental difference between natural ecosystems and agro-ecosystems.-
Managing chernozem to achieve Sustainable Development Goals.- Quality and
health of anthropically transformed Black Earth.- Seeking an alternative for
weed control in Conservation Agriculture.- Step-by-step to fill the gaps
along the path to sustainability.- Discussion.- Agricultural Research and the
Agriculture of the Future.- The LONE Concept, Agriculture of the Future.-
Adaptation to climate change through plant breeding: the status of winter
wheat.- Long-term research on crop rotation.- Sustainable intensification of
agriculture on the Bli steppe. Crop diversity, irrigation, and no-till in
crop rotations.- Restoration of the degraded plough layer of Chernozem prior
to implementation of Zero Tillage.- The Big Picture - some ideas for research
and action: an International Hydrological Network for Food-water; needs and
opportunities for financing regenerative agriculture across the steppes
through Green Bonds.- Pointers for decision-makers, researchers and practical
farmers.
Boris Boincean knows the black earth. As a son of the steppe, he has spent his professional life cheek by jowl with chernozem. He holds the degree of Dr Hab. agricultural sciences from Moscow Timireazev Akademy (University) and, for many years, has directed the long-term field experiments at the Selectia Research Institute for Field Crops on the Bli Steppe, in Moldova - the very soil described by Dokuchaev in 1887 as 'first class'. He also holds the Chair of Natural Resources and Agro-ecology at Alecu Russo Bli State University.
David Dent is an independent scientist. He has worked in soil survey, land evaluation and land use planning on every continent - in the public service as a researcher and university teacher, and as a consultant to governments, international organisations and the private sector. Most recently, he was Director of ISRIC World Soil Information in Wageningen, The Netherlands, and he now works from his farmhouse in Norfolk.
