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Why Are We Here? A Call to Uphold Human Rights in Food Systems Negotiations
by Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism
RI Africa Coordinator Precious Phiri has been one of the most compelling voices in the global food sovereignty movement for years. A smallholder farmer from Zimbabwe, Precious’ advocacy is grounded in her own experience caring for the land. At the Committee on World Food Security negotiations on Building Resilient Food Systems, she delivered a statement on behalf of the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism (CSIPM) calling for human rights to remain central to the negotiations, and for the voices, knowledge, and priorities of rights-holders to shape decision-making on resilient food systems.
Watch Precious Phiri’s powerful and insightful reflections during negotiations
Farming With Nature Pays Off: How Agroecology Is Shielding Farmers From the Fertilizer Crisis
by Jack Thompson
"As the war in Iran disrupts shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and sends fertilizer prices soaring by more than 50 percent, farmers around the world are feeling the squeeze. But not all of them. From Zimbabwe to India, Brazil to Poland, farmers who transitioned to compost, green manures, and biofertilizers years ago say their soils, yields, and wallets have been largely cushioned from the shock. In a new series of interviews commissioned by the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, journalist Jack Thompson speaks with the farmers proving that reducing dependence on fossil fuel-based inputs makes economic sense, builds resilience, and strengthens food sovereignty. Their message is clear: the crisis has exposed the fragility of industrial agriculture, and with the right support, a different path is possible."
Read How Transitioning Away from Chemical Fertilizers Pays Off for Farmers
Can Agroecology Transform Global Food Systems? Professor Stephen Gliessman Explains the Five Levels
by Battle For African Agriculture Podcast
“In this episode, Million Belay, together with Professor Stephen Gliessman explore why agroecology is far more than ecological farming it is a political, cultural, and social movement that challenges the structures shaping our food systems...
Drawing on 50 years of research and collaboration with farmers, he reflects on the failures of industrial agriculture, the power of Indigenous and local knowledge, the importance of seed sovereignty and youth leadership, and why genuine transformation requires shifting power rather than simply improving farming techniques. They also unpack the famous Five Levels of Agroecology, showing how the biggest change happens when communities reclaim control over food, markets, knowledge, and governance.”
The Women Sowing India’s Natural Farming Revolution Across the Globe
by Natasha Foote
What began in 2004 as a small pilot led by a handful of women in Andhra Pradesh has grown into one of the world’s largest agroecological transitions, now reaching 1.8 million farmers and winning the 2026 Food Planet Prize. And it isn’t stopping at India’s borders.
Natasha Foote sits down with Swati Renduchintala of farmer empowerment organisation Rythu Sadhikara Samstha to trace how natural farming knowledge is taking root from Zambia to Sri Lanka, Brazil to Cambodia, spread not through labs and multinationals but through farmer networks and grassroots demand. Along the way, Swati dismantles the myth that agroecology is “context specific,” calls out the Global South’s role as a dumping ground for chemicals banned in Europe, and explains why farmers practising natural farming are weathering the fertiliser crisis that has left their neighbours exposed.
The next five years will be chaotic, she predicts, but with collective effort, the ground is shifting.
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The Song of One Thrush: Why We Need Each Other to Build a Healthier Food System
by Organic Farming Research Foundation
“I faintly heard a single Russet-backed thrush in the ravine behind the farmhouse this week. Late at dusk and then again this morning. In June, her melodious spiraling melody is one more sign of hope and promise for the growing season before us.
This is my sixteenth year of farming. I have always seen my role as less of a ‘producer’ and more about removing barriers to ensure energy—life—could flow and nourish these 24 acres I’ve loved since I was four years old. Early in my journey, my perseverance was rooted in the belief that things would get easier. Over time, I thought as I developed processes, scraped together increasingly more robust infrastructure, fence post by fence post, seed by seed, experience by experience, “things”—i.e., farming—would get easier."
Nutrients in Our Food Are Declining. Can Regenerative Agriculture Save It?
by Hugh Thomas
“For the last few decades, the nutrient content of our crops has been declining. In the late 90s, the US Department of Agriculture found the vitamin C content of lemons had decreased by almost a third over the previous 22 years. Calcium in carrots, an important source especially for non-meat eaters, had reduced, on average, by more than a quarter. Vitamin A in bananas was down by 57%. The mineral content of wheat has declined by between 20-30% since the 1960s.
A number of reasons have been suggested for this worrying decline, ranging from new varieties of crop that are bred to grow quicker and bigger to the higher carbon dioxide levels in the air causing plants to produce more sugars and starches (they grow faster but they produce fewer nutrients)...”
Voices of Regeneration
This newsletter reaches more than 770 partner organizations across 80+ countries, each one advancing regenerative food, farming, and land stewardship in their own region, in their own way. This section is dedicated to the people and organizations behind that work. Each issue we’ll feature a farmer, researcher, advocate, or partner doing something worth knowing about.
Access Agriculture: Fair, Healthy and Resilient Food Systems That Respect People, Planet and Future Generations.
Founded in 2012, Access Agriculture’s mission is to enable co-creation and create an exchange of agroecological knowledge through quality learning videos in local languages using digital tools and innovative scaling models.
Learn more about their work here.
Stay up to date on their work by following their Facebook page
Are you an RI partner? We want to hear from you.
Every month, we feature partner profiles, stories, and initiatives right here and across RI’s social media channels. Whether you have an update about your work, a video highlighting a regenerative solution, or a story from your community, we’d love to share it. Send your content to [email protected] — and if your organization is hosting classes, workshops, trainings, or events, we can help amplify those too.
Not yet part of the network? RI’s partner community spans more than 770 organizations in over 80 countries, united by a shared commitment to regenerative food, farming, and land stewardship. Join us here.
Video spotlight: Saving Vegetable Seeds
Long before seed catalogs and patented hybrids, farmers knew how to preserve their strongest varieties from one season to the next. In this video from Permavision Hub, indigenous tribes of the Philippines share generations of hard-won knowledge on saving vegetable seeds, from the fundamentals of pollination to the practical craft of maintaining seed quality under pressure from a changing climate and a global market that favors uniformity over resilience.
It’s a timely reminder that some of the most sophisticated seed science doesn’t come from a laboratory. Watch the video to learn more about how these time-tested practices can strengthen seed saving on your own farm.
Making Space to Grieve a Changing Planet
by Megan Mayhew Bergman
"When someone dies, we know what to do. We gather, tell stories, bring casseroles, hold sacred space. But what do we do when a glacier disappears, a coral reef bleaches, or an old growth forest is cut down? In this insightful piece from the Guardian, author Megan Mayhew Bergman reflects on the profound environmental losses so many of us carry quietly and alone — from the fewer than 400 North Atlantic right whales left, each death mathematically and emotionally devastating, to the single heron now raising her young where a whole colony once nested outside Manchester, Vermont. For nearly two decades, Bergman watched those herons stand guard over their nests through sleet and rain. This spring, only one remained, and no one held a memorial.
Drawing on Iceland’s ceremony for Okjökull, its first glacier formally declared lost to climate change, and Richard Flanagan’s obituary for the Great Barrier Reef, Bergman argues that our culture urgently needs language and rituals to match the magnitude of what is vanishing. Scientific data alone is not enough; people need monuments, ceremonies, obituaries, formal places to acknowledge what decline feels like and means to us. What her students increasingly express in their writing is not just grief but moral injury: the distress of being taught to care for living things while watching ecosystems unravel as though nothing fundamental is wrong. Grief, she writes, is nothing to be ashamed of. Our quiet indifference to loss almost certainly is."
Read “We Know How to Mourn Other Humans – but What About Ecological Grief?”
From Farmer of the Year to Federal Investigation
by Reginald Holmes
"When Blake Alexandre stepped to the podium in Washington as the face of regenerative agriculture, one detail went unmentioned: his family’s dairy had surrendered its Regenerative Organic certification just 29 days earlier. That credential, the one that earned Alexandre Family Farm its title as “America’s First Certified Regenerative Organic Dairy,” no longer existed. Neither did three other key certifications and endorsements.
The backstory is worse. Federally sanctioned investigations confirmed what whistleblowers had alleged for years: cows trampled to death after feed was withheld, sick animals dragged across concrete with hip clamps, illegal antibiotic use, and cattle doused in diesel fuel as insect repellent. Ten of fourteen documented allegations were confirmed by the USDA’s National Organic Program.
And the penalty for these apparently willful violations of federal organic law? Nothing. No fines. No suspension. No revocation. The USDA handed the final decision to CCOF, the same certifier on whose board Stephanie Alexandre sat, and the same body that failed to catch years of violations until forced to investigate.
“The Alexandre Family Farm story is not just about one bad actor. It is about how the organic and regenerative food system’s regulatory and oversight architecture can be systematically exploited — when certifiers lack independence, when regulators and advisory committees are captured by the industries they oversee, and when federal agencies hand out endorsements to operators without checking whether their credentials are still valid,” Mark A. Kastel, Executive Director of the Wisconsin-based OrganicEye."
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Healthy Diet Too Expensive for One in Three People Globally, UN Report Finds
One in three people cannot afford to eat a healthy diet, a new report has found, prompting calls for urgent action on food affordability. There are 2.69 billion people unable to afford a diverse diet that meets their energy and nutrient needs, and it will take “immense” amounts of work to achieve the global target of zero hunger by 2030, the annual report from five UN agencies warned.
Formative Assessment of Soil Projects
We are pleased to announce the opening of the 8th Call for the Formative Assessment of Soil Projects (FASP). Between July 22 and September 20, organizations and project developers are invited to submit projects focused on soil health and soil organic carbon sequestration for assessment.
Planting Seeds in Times of Darkness
In these times, I think about the seeds that we plant. I go to my gardens, which will feed our family and our community. That is a hope, and an intergenerational responsibility. We make something beautiful with our hands, hearts, and prayers. First we protect that which is life: water, land, and biodiversity.
Colombia’s New Law Takes Aim at Illegal Deforestation
Colombia recently passed a law requiring the cattle industry to make their beef supply chains more transparent and traceable. The legislation aims to fight illegal deforestation linked to livestock production.
Can Agroecology Feed the World? Professor Miguel Altieri on the Future of Food Systems
In this episode of The Battle for African Agriculture Podcast, Dr. Million Belay speaks with Professor Miguel Altieri, one of the pioneering figures in modern agroecology and Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. For more than four decades, his work has helped shape agroecology as both a scientific discipline and a practical approach to farming, with a strong focus on biodiversity, traditional knowledge, ecological processes, and farmer movements.
CIKOD Launches Ghana Universities Movement for Agro-Ecology at DHLTU
The Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organisational Development (CIKOD) has officially launched the Ghana Universities Movement for Agro-Ecology (GUMA) at the Dr Hilla Limann Technical University (DHLTU).
Rare Seed Collection Offers Hope for Last Wild Tree of Its Kind From Chile
On Chile’s Robinson Crusoe Island, in the South Pacific, a tree juts out precariously from the side of a steep cliff. It’s the last known wild individual of Dendroseris neriifolia. To prevent its total extinction in the wild, conservationists recently collected seeds from the tree and have begun trials to cultivate them.
15 Essential Fruits, Vegetables, And Herbs A Complete Survival Garden Needs
If you’re active on social media, you’ve probably seen posts about “survival gardens.” The idea’s not new, and the definition varies, but they generally refer to gardens that can grow enough food to help you get by for a while, whether you’re laid off and can’t afford produce or something like a pandemic causes major supply chain disruptions.
The Happiest Soil on Earth: Part Two
Because this was a dream for Allen Fant. He started this work in 2009 — not with a business plan or a market study, but with the thing he has always had in abundance: curiosity. Wonder. A stubborn, generous hope for what could be done with a piece of North Florida ground if you paid close enough attention to what it needed.
Judge Orders USDA to Restore Half of Cancelled Grants for Young Farmers
The agency must now restore $127 million in federal contracts through the Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program.
Urban Trees Aren’t Just Nice, Scientists Say — They’re Mandatory
Researchers are calling for cities to double down on one of the simplest yet most powerful solutions to many problems.
Dirty Dozen™ Food Chemicals: Propyl Gallate
Avoid or limit foods containing propyl gallate. Propyl gallate is a preservative that has been linked to oxidative stress, which is when reactive molecules build up and damage cells. Laboratory studies have connected propyl gallate and its breakdown products to liver and kidney damage, as well as potential reproductive harm.
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Upcoming Events |
In Person:
08/01 - Transition to Organic Farming Workshop. New England, USA
08/02 - Ground-Truthing Mexico: Dani Visits CIMMYT. Mexico City, Mexico
08/05 - Field Day: Optimizing Pasture Management for Dairy Production in Manitoba. Manitoba, Canada
08/06 - BIOFACH INDIA 2026. Delhi NCR, India
08/06 - Regenerative Organic Oats Field Day at Top of the Hill Farm. Manitoba, Canada
08/19 - 2026 Midwest Organic Seed Summit. Minneapolis, Minnesota
08/25 - Celebrating Minnesota’s Farmers: A Love Story. Minneapolis, Minnesota
Online:
07/31 - Webinar - Agroecology Connect
08/05 - Webinar – Farmer Training Overview
08/06 - Webinar - Liderando con propósito: La trayectoria de una mujer en la Agricultura
08/06 - Webinar - Regenerative Agriculture: Building Supply Chain Resilience
08/11 - Webinar - Organic Fertility Management: An Overview for Certified Crop Advisers
*Click here to view full events calendar and submit your own
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Regeneration International is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit, dedicated to building a global network of farmers, scientists, businesses, activists, educators, journalists, policymakers and consumers who will promote and put into practice regenerative agriculture and land-use practices that: provide abundant, nutritious food; revitalize local economies; regenerate soil fertility and water-retention capacity; nurture biodiversity; and restore climate stability by reducing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions while at the same time drawing down excess atmospheric carbon and sequestering it in the soil.
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