ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews a number of subjects about which scientific and popular thinking needs some reorientation for agriculture to move in more regenerative directions. It discusses major areas for improving the management of soil systems. Regenerative agriculture must attempt, among other things, to countervail the changes occurring in our climate, recognizing that sustained extremes in temperature and precipitation will make agriculture infeasible. Learning that microbes could enhance the productivity of cropping beyond just providing crops with more nitrogen, by also protecting them and accelerating growth, should have prompted some revision of agronomic thinking. Soil is inherently three-dimensional, best considered in terms of volume. Soil systems can provide a major benefit to society by storing, filtering, and purifying water flows. Water and air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions are major externalities that emanate from agriculture, imposing costs upon others in society.
