What is Regenerative Agriculture?
Regenerative agriculture is an evolution of traditional farming and ranching practices, aimed at nurturing and restoring farming environments. An outcome-based system, it works on a foundation of protecting soil and water resources, safeguarding forests and grasslands from conversion, and maintaining and improving wildlife diversity, while also seeking to enhance farm and livestock profitability and productivity.
There are no hard and fast rules for regenerative agriculture, as many strategies and methods that work in one region may not work in another. Many farmers and ranchers take unique approaches that work for their livestock or produce, their land, and the climate they live in.
In livestock production, regenerative farming often looks at a few areas for more sustainable livestock production, including:
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Rotational grazing
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Reducing land conversion and protecting vulnerable lands
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Methane emissions monitoring and reporting
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Soil carbon sequestration
The role of data in making regenerative agriculture decision is vital, as it allows farmers and ranchers to make the right decisions, at the right time.
Rotational Grazing
Rotational grazing is the practice of rotating livestock through different paddocks or pastures, to allow grazed areas time to rest and for sufficient pasture regrowth. Many farmers and ranchers already implement rotational grazing into their land management practices, but with accurate, verifiable location data from CERES TAG it is easier than ever to know when to move livestock from paddock to paddock.
CERES TAG devices come with automated GPS location monitoring, giving producers access to the location data of their herd overtime, allowing an accurate picture of where livestock are grazing. This data gives insight into areas that may be overgrazed and those that may be underutilised, allowing for farmers to make informed decisions about when and where to move their herds to maximise pasture utilisation.
Reducing Land Conversion
As part of sustainable land management, regenerative agriculture often looks to minimise the impact of farming on the land by protecting vulnerable areas from further deforestation and instead focusing on how to improve the productivity of already cleared land. By reducing land conversion, farmers and ranchers can protect soil health, water ecosystems, and delicate wildlife habitats that are all important for the biodiversity of the areas we live and work in.
Without the right data, improving the productivity of land can feel overwhelming, but CERES TAG devices offer a wealth of information to make it easier, like the Pasture Feed Intake algorithm and Geofencing capabilities.
The innovative Pasture Feed Intake algorithm that offers ranchers and farmers insights into how much their livestock are eating, even in a grazing environment. This crucial information means that farmers and ranchers can breed more efficient and productive animals over time.
With geofencing capabilities onboard each device, farmers and ranchers can be alerted when animals move outside of predetermined boundaries. This can be used to designate wildlife tracts as off limits to protect vulnerable areas of land and ensure that more land is not deforested.
Methane Emissions Reporting
In agriculture, enteric fermentation in ruminants is a major source of methane emissions.
Our technology offers a breakthrough in monitoring and reporting these emissions by providing farmers and ranchers with detailed data on the health, pasture and forage intake, and behaviour of their livestock. This data is critical for understanding the factors that influence enteric emissions and for developing targeted mitigation strategies, such as improved grazing practices.
With CERES TAG, farmers and ranchers can make data driven decisions that lead to reductions in enteric emissions that support broader environmental goals and ensuring more sustainable, climate friendly farming operations.
Soil Carbon Sequestration
Soil carbon sequestration are practices that increase the amount of carbon stored in soils. Soil carbon sequestration practices will vary from property to property, but they can include:
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Increasing plant growth or cover through reforestation
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Adding compost or mulch to soil in degraded areas
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Optimising grazing patterns to allow soil time to rest and regenerate
Farmers and ranchers who adopt management practices that sequester soil carbon stand to gain a benefit from a more productive, sustainable and resilient farming system.
At CERES TAG, we’re dedicated to working with farmers and ranchers which is why we partnered with AgriProve in a world first program, Tags for Tonnes, a program aimed at delivering valuable on-farm insights to unlock soil performance for farmers and ranchers. With a simple, user-friendly experience that delivers actionable data insights to provide more effective decision making for optimised herd management, pasture performance, and soil performance.
Data and the Future Livestock Production
With the world increasingly looking to improve on farm productivity without encroaching on vulnerable and protected land, data is set to play a critical role in enabling farmers and ranchers across the globe to make more informed decisions about how to meet these demands. Solutions like CERES TAG offer invaluable insights into more than just animal movements, giving livestock producers insights into animal health, behaviours, pasture utilisation, methane emissions, and soil carbon sequestration.
These data insights don’t just allow for higher gains from herds, but also a chance for producers and the agriculture industry to move towards a more sustainable, regenerative foundation of farming that protects our environment for future generations.