Across 210 field-crop farms in 15 United States states and two Canadian provinces, regenerative management was associated with greater soil carbon and biodiversity while maintaining farm profitability. Published in Environmental Research: Food Systems, the study compared farms along a continuum from conventional to regenerative management, considering practices such as reduced tillage, cover crops, organic amendments, livestock integration and reduced use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. The farms produced 15 crops, with corn, soybean and wheat predominating.

Soils on the most regenerative farms were estimated to contain 39 percent more total carbon than those on the most conventional farms. Regenerative management was also associated with greater microbial biomass and diversity, non-crop plant richness, ground cover, invertebrate abundance and richness, and bird species richness. Several biodiversity indicators were positively correlated with soil carbon stocks, particularly microbial communities and plant cover. The authors therefore identify agricultural biodiversity as an important component of land-based carbon storage strategies.

Corn, soybean and wheat yields declined as the number of regenerative practices increased, although regenerative yields remained comparable with national averages. Gross and net profits were generally similar across management systems, with wheat gross profit an exception, while wheat net profit did not differ. The study’s large-scale extrapolations of potential carbon storage are projections based on observed relationships and depend on comparable outcomes being achieved across wider areas.