b'FAD or FUTURE?PART 2A CLOSER LOOK AT REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE AND ITS BENEFITS TO FARMERS.BY: MARCEL BRUINSSWE: CAN YOU GIVE SOME EXAMPLES WHY IT MATTERS OF THE PROGRESS YOU HAVE MADE Theres been a lot of buzz aboutTOWARDS REGENERATIVE AGRICUL-regenerative agriculture in recentTURE? Hering indicates that feed rations in live-years, with multinational companiesstock farming have a role to play in reducing such as PepsiCo, Unilever,CO 2emissions in agriculture. With a share General Mills and many others allof about 60% in CO 2emissions, feeding pledging to work hard to establishplays quite a substantial role in pork pro-regenerative agriculture practices induction. Due to its resource-efficient prop-their supply chains.erties, hybrid rye can make a significant In Part 1 of this series, we lookedcontribution to avoiding emissions. A sus-at what regenerative agriculturetainability study concluded that modern is, what the companies are doingKWS hybrid rye varieties produce about towards regenerative agriculture,20% less CO 2per ton of crop than, for and how they make sure theirexample, wheat, which is otherwise used inImke Hering, lead value offer developmentpractices are a good fit with thepig feed. Whilst maintaining a great yieldat KWS.intended region. Here in Partperformance, hybrid rye needs less water 2, we look at some examplesthan other types of cereal and requires sig-of regenerative agriculturalnificantly less fertilizer and pesticide since practices that the companies haveit generally exhibits good plant health, implemented and whether theseHering says.practices can provide the sameThe annual CO 2emissions in pig yield as in conventional agriculture. feeding could be reduced by around 20 to 30% up until slaughter by using a regional, As in Part 1, we collected replieshybrid rye-based feed that also contains a from experts of six Europeanproportion of regionally sourced proteins, seed companies: Guy Montet,such as rapeseed meal. These are the Forage & Cover Crops Technicalresults of a study on the 6-R Concept Development Manager at Lidea;with our company as an industrial partner. Bruno Hoeltgebaum, BusinessApart from the emission reduction aspect, Director at Incotec; Jason Allerding,accompanying practical studies on the 6-R Global Head, Sustainability, Health,Concept also show the positive effects of Safety and Risk Management atrye-rich feeding on animal health. We Syngenta Seeds; Martin van derexpect certification of the resulting sustain-Voort, Sales & Marketing Directorable feeding concept this year, she adds. Lorenzo Carmagnola, European sustainability at Bejo Zaden;Maria Stenull andFor cotton, we have established amanager at BASF.Lorenzo Carmagnola, Global andpartnership with the University of Thessaly European Sustainability Managers,(UTH) in 2021 to explore the potential respectively, at BASF; Valentinafor upscaling our Certified SustainableAgriculture which are minimum soil dis-Manstretta, Horta EU researchFiberMax (CSF) program, by introducingturbance through no-till and direct sowing, projects Lead; Imke Hering, Leadnovel regenerative practices and deliveringcrop diversification with appropriate rota-Value Offer Development andcertified European non-GMO regenera- tions, and permanent soil cover with natural Markus Molthan, Portfolio Managertive cotton (CSF+), says Carmagnola. Avegetation and cover crops. Smart farm-Catch Crops at KWS. triple-scale consortium was establisheding and precision agriculture techniques (three farmers, BASF, and UTH scien- through variable rate fertilization and tific team) with the scope to qualify novelspraying and justified irrigation, scheduled farming practices, transfer know-how, andthrough actual soil water information, were support farmers in the initial transition toalso implemented, Carmagnola adds.regenerative farming. An important example for Montet The regenerative practices performedis the continuous improvement of their followed the principles of Conservationgenetics by their breeders. Criteria such as 14ISEED WORLD EUROPEISEEDWORLD.COM/EUROPE'