Healthy soil thanks to regenerative agriculture
The soil below our feet is essential to life on Earth – and it supplies the main ingredient in bio-familia Müesli: grain.
But the condition of agricultural soil in Switzerland is worrying. That’s why we are committed to regenerative agriculture. Regenerative agriculture repairs and protects damaged and overused agricultural soil. At the same time, it promotes biodiversity, supports sparing water use and helps to protect the climate.
What is wrong with the soil?
Healthy soil is needed for a number of important tasks:
- The soil’s humus layer is able to store CO2 and thus remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. A good humus content in the soil is therefore essential for effective climate protection.
- Healthy soil is also needed to grow nutrient-rich food, making it vital to people’s health; the healthier the soil, the more nutritious the crops that grow in it. Studies have shown that the number of microbes in the soil is directly related to the microbiome in the human gut. This helps to ensure that nutrients are absorbed properly.
- Good-quality arable soil regulates water levels during heavy rainfall. It also filters out pollutants from groundwater and thus also from our drinking water.
Our soil is in poor health. It has suffered a lot in recent decades due to being overused. Invasive farming techniques such as mechanical ploughing, combined with excessive use of artificial fertilisers, hinder humus formation and upset the balance of the ecosystem. As a result, the soil is gradually becoming less fertile.
Regenerative agriculture ‘repairs’ this damage. The soil is managed on an ongoing basis in such a way that humans and nature both benefit from agriculture over the long term.
How does regenerative agriculture work?
It is mainly about how arable land is cultivated and managed, and what is used for this. It makes use of natural processes in the environment. Artificial fertilisers and invasive cultivation methods are gradually phased out.
Three examples:
Permanent soil cover
Soil should always have something growing in it. Fallow, bare fields are not natural. They warm the air and can no longer regulate the water during heavy rainfall.
One method for preventing this is undersowing, which involves sowing at least two crop species in quick succession. After the first one has been harvested, the second one stays in the ground and continues to cover the soil so that it is not left fallow. This is important, as the soil needs crops and their roots to form humus and develop nutrients. If a lot of the soil is covered, it promotes biodiversity – especially if a wide variety of species are being grown in it.
Find out more in the video or in our blog post.
Minimising soil disturbance
Healthy soil is full of small animals, fungi, plants and other organisms. These are important for water supply and nutrient development. If the soil is ploughed too deep, these organisms are killed. An earthworm lives around 20 cm below the surface, which means it falls victim to most ploughing machines. That is why artificial fertiliser is often used to replace the functions that these natural organisms would have otherwise performed. At the same time, the CO2 stored in the humus is released again.
At the same time, the CO2stored in the humus is released again. One method is direct sowing, which involves only digging a shallow furrow for the seeds, rather than ploughing up the whole surface.
Using natural helpers
The natural soil regeneration process is very slow. It takes ten times longer to regenerate than it does to degrade. The process is therefore accelerated with natural fertilisers. The most common ones are slurry and farmyard manure, which are also used in organic farming.
Artificial pesticides can be substituted with ‘compost tea’. This strengthens the crops’ defences from the inside, kind of like a vitamin. The microorganisms in the liquid make the crops more resistant to fungal diseases and pest infestation.
Regenerative agriculture doesn’t just cause less damage to the soil – quite the contrary. In this type of farming, the soil, nature and climate even benefit from the farm.
Together with the Agricultura Regeneratio association, we are committed to regenerative agriculture. We aim to increase the amount of regeneratively grown grains and thus promote healthy soil.
Our commitment
We have joined forces with the Agricultura Regeneratio Link opens in a new tab. association to promote regenerative agriculture in Switzerland. In 2022, four farms began growing grain using regenerative methods.
A farm can’t just switch to regenerative production overnight – it requires a lot of knowledge, experience and time. We therefore pay all farmers a premium on the quantities that they produce and sell on the market. A farm can’t just switch to regenerative production overnight – it requires a lot of knowledge, experience and time. We therefore pay all farmers a premium on the quantities that they produce and sell on the market. The experts at Agricultura Regeneratio Link opens in a new tab. analyse the data and offer the farms specialist support.
We aim to increase the number of farms involved in this initiative and raise awareness of regenerative agriculture.
We want and need healthy soil
Our measurements show that our carbon footprint is the largest in terms of indirect emissions. Müesli ingredients such as grain, dried fruit and almonds are the main causes of this, not least because of their high water consumption. We have faith in the natural, science-based approach of regenerative agriculture. When the soil is healthy, so are we. We therefore want to see more farms switch to regenerative agriculture. And we would also like more food companies to promote regenerative raw material production – because we can only change things for the better by working together!
