Regenerative Farming / Buffalo System®

Have you seen videos showing folks planting and trying not to disturb the soil? In regenerative ag, farmers continuously cover the ground with living plants. Because the farmers are planting through existing growing plants, they must use a heavy, specialized drill to cut through pre-existing plant matter. This drill is called a no-till drill and only tills right where the seed will be placed. The seed is immediately covered by the drill’s packing wheel, which pushes dirt back over the seed. These existing plants (that the farmer must drive over) can become a thatch layer and prevent seed from making good contact with the soil. To overcome the mulching effect, farmers must use 30% more seed and terminate the existing plant. Good seed to soil contact must be achieved to ensure proper amounts of water and nutrients are there to support the fuel requirements of the new growing plant. The old plants already growing in the field should be terminated so they don’t use all of the nutrients and water for the new planting.

Regenerative Ag focuses on maintaining a healthy pool of micro-organisms within the soil. Because fertilizers use is reduced, reliance on good plant timing and termination along with the use of beneficial legumes and their symbiotic bacteria partners is necessary. An example of this, our Everest™ Forage Soybean and our ES Soybean Inoculant partner to bring loads of nitrogen to your soil. In this system, it is possible to create Nitrogen; however, all the other 15 essential plant growth elements must be brought in and conserved. Bigger plants will make bigger roots and store more carbon and nitrogen in your soil. So, it is important to pick better plants, meant to be grown in the US. As for the other 15 essential elements required for plant growth, those can come from manure. As animals graze your existing plants, they will remove needed nutrients. A small deer herd isn’t enough to replenish the soil. Over time, even with Regenerative Agriculture, your soil can become depleted. That is why it is necessary to partner grazing animals into this system or add a manure source, such as chicken litter.