Regenerative Agriculture: Benefits, Challenges, Hype, and Criticism: USDA Announces $700 Million in RA Spending as Part of MAHA

     Regenerative agriculture (RA) seems to be a ‘catch-all’ term for a set of agricultural practices that promote soil and ecosystem health, low environmental impact, and biodiversity. One might also use the term ‘sustainable agriculture.’  According to the Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC), RA is a philosophy of farming and ranching in harmony with nature. RA is, however, a vague term, without many specifics. Each part of it, or practice deemed a part of it, needs to be evaluated separately, I believe. There are some excellent benefits to some of the practices within RA, and many of those are in common use and growing in deployment. RA can be used alongside industrial agriculture, rather than being opposed to it. Conventional industrial agriculture with high synthetic fertilizer inputs is still needed and provides the best crop yields. However, these more sustainable RA practices should be incorporated as well. The higher crop yields of industrial agriculture have sustainability benefits as well, including less land use needed and lower fertilizer and pesticide use per unit of yield. Reducing soil erosion, nutrient runoff, and subsequent harmful algae blooms is in the best interests of all farmers and should be widely pursued.

     The NRDC description of RA includes notions of pursuing social equity and environmental justice, which are not likely to be echoed by the Trump administration, which has expressed dislike for anything that might be related to DEI. RFK Jr.’s embrace of RA is likely related to his long-established anti-GMO stance. The anti-GMO movement is also strongly related to the anti-vaccine movement, of which RFK Jr. is a prominent member. He has also opposed pesticide use, or at least non-organic pesticide use. Organic pesticides may be as bad or worse for the environment than synthetic pesticides. Lowering pesticide use of any type is a guarantee for lower yields.

     RA is basically synonymous with sets of practices utilized by soil and water conservation districts around the U.S. in concert with many farmers. These are established practices like cover cropping, rotational grazing, crop rotations, riparian buffers, composting, agroforestry, and no-till farming.

     According to Wikipedia:

“Regenerative agriculture is a conservation and rehabilitation approach to food and farming systems. It focuses on topsoil regeneration, increasing biodiversity, improving the water cycle, enhancing ecosystem services, supporting biosequestration, increasing resilience to climate change, and strengthening the health and vitality of farm soil.”    

     Some RA practices like cover cropping and double cropping, or intercropping, have gotten more attention in the last few years. Farmers are working on optimizing these practices into their overall system.

     Unfortunately, unsubstantiated claims have been made about RA that are not verified and are probably incorrect. The 2020 Netflix documentary about RA, called Kiss the Ground (and its 2023 follow-up Common Ground) was received in different ways by different audiences. Environmental scientist Ronald G. Amundson argued that it was unrealistic, providing:

"… a hazy view or wish for a return to a past agricultural utopia ignores that there never was one" and that a global soil management system requires complex, fundamental changes involving many actors, rather than "magical thinking" that the problem will be solved simply by shifts in eating behaviors.”

    Becca Lucas of the California Climate & Agriculture Network (CalCAN), a sustainable agriculture group, lamented:

 "…the false and ultimately harmful dichotomy of 'good' versus 'bad' farmer."  

     Other criticisms focused on the ‘hyperbolic "insults and propaganda" of the film and its over-the-top denigration of conventional mechanistic agriculture and useful pesticides like glyphosate.  

     The USDA under Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and RFK Jr. announced earlier in December 2025 that they would invest up to $700 million in RA.

“The pilot program will use $400 million from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and $300 million from the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and will also leverage private funding to promote conservation practices such as cover crops while helping farmers reduce the use of chemicals such as pesticides.”

     Certainly, the second part of this replaces similar USDA programs that have promoted the same basic conservation practices.

"Protecting and improving the health of our soil is critical, not only for the future viability of farmland, but to the future success of American farmers. In order to continue to be the most productive and most efficient growers in the world, we must protect our topsoil from unnecessary erosion and boost the microbiome of the soil," Rollins said.

"And with soil health comes nutrient density -- and without coercion, voluntary action gives them good incentives to do well by doing good for themselves, for their children and for the country," Kennedy said.

“Saying there are too many chemicals on the land, Kennedy credited farmers who have been using regenerative practices to reduce their inputs. "They are inspiring to the farm community, to all of us who care about good health, about sustainability on the farm, about soil, about water retention, about soil retention," he said.

     They noted that the program will rely on Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) staff to implement, even though the NRCS was gutted earlier this year when 2400 jobs were cut, about 20% of the total staff. 2026 plans call for cutting another 1200 NCRS jobs, or 10% of the total staff.

     I think it’s good that the current administration is embracing RA, even if sometimes for the wrong reasons. I reiterate that many of those RA practices are already in wide use and have been widely promoted by the USDA for many years. Thus, it is unclear how this newly branded program will differ from similar previous programs. Earlier this year, many conservation projects were cancelled or delayed when the government implemented a spending freeze amid the DOGE cuts. Some farmers may have suffered financially due to having to wait for already promised and agreed government support in projects for which the farmers had already expended capital.

  

References:

 

Regenerative Ag and MAHA Now Linked. USDA Launches Regenerative Ag Pilot Tied to Make America Healthy Again Agenda. Chris Clayton. Progressive Farmer, December 10, 2025. USDA Launches Regenerative Ag Pilot Tied to Make America Healthy Again Agenda

Regenerative Agriculture 101. Natural Resources Defense Council. November 29, 2021. Regenerative Agriculture 101

Regenerative agriculture. Wikipedia. Regenerative agriculture - Wikipedia

Kiss the Ground. Wikipedia. Kiss the Ground - Wikipedia

Regenerative Ag is Having a Moment: Policy and Markets Starting to Align for Cover Crops, Double Cropping. Chris Clayton. Progressive Farmer. DTN. September 15, 2025. Policy and Markets Starting to Align for Cover Crops, Double Cropping