Regenerative Agriculture: Principles and Terminology

Note: As requested by the responsible SDO, this NOI (originally published on December 6, 2022 and previously reissued on January 16, 2024) being reissued as the standard was in the initial stages of development for more than 12 months. An additional comment period of November 19, 2024 to December 10, 2024.

Regenerative agriculture is gaining traction in Canada, with farms across the country starting to adopt healthy soil practices, reducing impacts and amendments to the land, introducing nature-based solutions, and supporting increased biodiversity across farmland. However, there is a lack of information, awareness, and consistency regarding the terminology associated with regenerative agriculture, as well as the key principles, protocols, and expected outcomes (ecological and social, at the farm level, community level, and eco-system level) central to the practices of regenerative agriculture. From practitioners adopting or maintaining regenerative practices while producing food and other resources through to the consumers seeking to make environmentally-responsible and sustainable choices, it is critical that all parts of the agri-food value chain are aligned on what is meant by ‘regenerative agriculture’ and what its central, guiding principles include, particularly in the Canadian context and climate. Without supporting this alignment, there is a growing risk of dilution of the practice, greenwashing, and/or disagreement in regulatory spaces and markets.

In order to support and help scale up regenerative agriculture across Canada, this standard will provide a consistent definitional framework for identifying, discussing, and recognizing actions and practices central to the movement. This foundational standard will play an important role in addressing and mitigating the potential risk of inconsistencies in the field and misappropriation of the meaning of the associated term(s) while also encompassing the necessary flexibility required to enable adaptation across Canada’s diverse soils, climate conditions, and management histories. The standard will enable a consistent understanding of regenerative farming practices and provide a transparent frame of reference for communicating actions and efforts being taken within the agriculture sector to consumers, government bodies, retailers as well as to potential investors and insurance organizations