ABSTRACT
This chapter challenges the myth that regenerative agriculture requires the inclusion of farmed animals, disputing claims of their role in nutrient cycling, soil health and carbon sequestration. It introduces Conservation Agriculture (CA) as a regenerative production system that is plant-based by default. CA enables organic matter incorporation into the soil and nutrient cycling without animal manure’s instability and pollution risks. The chapter critiques the dominant tillage-based agriculture paradigm for its soil and ecological degradation and excessive input use, advocating for CA’s minimum soil disturbance, permanent soil cover and crop diversification. These principles underpin soil health, reduce input needs, increase productivity, facilitate ecosystem services and offer resilience, fostering a self-sustaining system contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation. Whilst CA can include farmed animals, it is shown that CA without farmed animals is not only environmentally sound, but a just and inclusive model. The chapter underscores that a transformation to organic, farmed animal-free CA, alongside a shift towards whole-food plant-based diets and rewilding of lands used for animal farming, is imperative for an “inclusively responsible” food system. Such a system can address global ecological and climate crises and is sustainable and just for all – humans, fellow animals and the planet.
