‘We still have work to do’: Agreena celebrates milestone but insists efforts are needed to scale regen ag

15-Oct-2024 - Last updated on 15-Oct-2024 at 15:41 GMT

Image: Getty/Daniel Balakov

Danish company Agreena is now working with more than 2,300 farmers to transition a total of 4.5 million hectares to regenerative agriculture across Europe – up by 2.5 million hectares in a year.

Through its AI-powered, digital measurement, reporting and verification (dMRV) capabilities, Agreena tracks the impact of regenerative practices at field-level. This enables farmers to generate verified outcomes that can be traded as carbon credits, carbon certificates, impact measures and bespoke data deliveries.

Releasing its Harvest Year 24 figures, Agreena said more than 2,300 farmers across Europe have joined the platform and committed to adopt regenerative farming practices on 4.5 million hectares – an increase of 2.5 million hectares from last year.

These figures demonstrate the effectiveness of its high integrity programme on tackling the transition barriers faced by farmers, the company said, who are committing to regenerative agriculture in growing numbers.

It will now be extending its range of commercial partnerships as well as continuing to offer carbon credits (Verra certification of Agreena’s soil carbon programme is expected in the near future).

Agreena is also partnering with leading organisations including AXA Climate, International Finance Corporation (part of the World Bank Group) and global food brands to make switching to regenerative practices as close to 100% risk-free as possible.

But despite the rising interest among the corporate and farming worlds, it’s estimated only a tiny fraction of the world’s farms deploy what might be termed regenerative practices.

“Proud as we are to be actively working with more than 2,300 farmers on their regen ag transition,” said Agreena CEO Simon Haldrup, “there are an estimated 600+ million farms globally – so we still have work to do,” added Haldrup.

‘We are still just touching the surface if we want this to be the new norm’

A panel discussion at the recent World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit in London, which included Haldrup, focussed on the efforts needed to propel regen ag from niche to mainstream.

One of the main barriers to scaling regen ag is the lack of compelling short-term economic incentives for farmers, the discussion concluded.

To address this, the panel discussed those mechanisms that need to be created to share the costs of farmers transitioning to regenerative practices across the value chain.

Haldrup agreed that new income streams for farmers should be developed based on environmental outcomes and ecosystem services provided. “We are still just touching the surface if we want this to be the new norm,” he told the audience.

Government policies and subsidies should continue to be reformed to reward farmers for adopting regenerative practices, he added, and he dismissed suggestions that a standardised definition of regen ag is needed. “Regen ag has no value if we’re not we’re talking about scaling regen ag,” he said. “I would be a very strong proponent of verified data to be able to package and measure outcomes. What is less helpful is trying to put farmers into a pre-defined box of being regenerative or not regenerative and having some call it carbon farming and some calling it regenerative. I think for most farmers it’s about sustainable productivity as opposed to being labelled in one bracket.”

Regen ag, he added, used to be seen as “a bit of a cult in government circles”. Now it is seen as a “huge lever” to planetary health. “The big question now is how.”