Comprehensive land health analysis: the 1,000 Farms Initiative

[Linda Poole]

In a March 7, 2022, article Civil Eats explored the landmark 1,000 Farms Initiative of the Ecdysis Foundation and Jonathan Lundgren:

Lundgren, an entomologist who left a role at U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Research Service as a whistleblower in 2015 to found the Ecdysis Foundation, is embracing an approach that breaks the sterile, monocropping mold—on farms like Burroughs, where sheep graze between the trees and beneficial insects abound.

The foundation has taken an unusual approach to scientific research—carrying it out on its own working farm and others. For years, Lundgren and the team at Ecdysis have been studying and documenting the impact of regenerative practices—everything from reduced tilling to compost applications, cover crops, and prescribed grazing. Now, they’re embarking on a national, 10-year study they’re calling the 1,000 Farms Initiative.

For years, Lundgren and the team at Ecdysis have been studying and documenting the impact of regenerative practices—everything from reduced tilling to compost applications, cover crops, and prescribed grazing. “For years, success stories about regenerative food systems and their potential for carbon sequestration, water retention, promotion of life, and profitability have been dismissed because critics insisted on data to ‘validate’ the impact of regenerative agriculture at a mass scale. This is that study,” Lundgren said in a January press release announcing the research.

If you are a regenerative rancher, farmer, forester, or gardener, consider nominating your property for this project by completing the form at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScFHeTtcOKjhMYkNd4G8j_vsv1lKnFLZFXGXOFh9LE3AGCz_Q/viewform.

Soil Proof: The Plan to Quantify Regenerative Agriculture

With the 1,000 Farm Initiative, Jonathan Lundgren will spend the next 10 years studying the potential to draw carbon into the soil and bring life back to farm fields.

civileats.com