Framework For a Collective Definition of Regenerative Agriculture in India

Shannon Olsson; Minhaj  Ameen; Saransh Bajpai; Gravikanth Gudasalamani; Chirag Gajjar; Srajesh Gupta; Søren  Hvilshøj; Jyotsna Krishnakumar; Crispino Lobo; Rohan Mukherjee; Abhayraj Naik; Ajay Raghavan; Hansika Singh; Kesavan Subaharan

doi:10.37773/ees.v5i1.662

Authors

Shannon Olsson https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4126-7353
Minhaj Ameen National Coalition for Natural Farming https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8990-269X
Saransh Bajpai World Resources Institute India
Gravikanth Gudasalamani Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9399-8580
Chirag Gajjar Individual Expert https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5543-2028
Srajesh Gupta National Coalition for Natural Farming https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7792-9094
Søren Hvilshøj Global Division Director, Water Resources, Rambøll
Jyotsna Krishnakumar Community Well Being Programme, Keystone Foundation
Crispino Lobo Watershed Organisation Trust and Sampada Trust
Rohan Mukherjee Keystone Foundation. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9713-3077
Abhayraj Naik Azim Premji University, Bengaluru https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2341-2879
Ajay Raghavan Initiative for Climate Action
Hansika Singh Forum for the Future & Community, Member, Initiative for Climate Action
Kesavan Subaharan ICAR - National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources, Bengaluru https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1828-6644

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v5i1.662

Keywords:

Food Security; Sustainability; Ecosystem Services; Biodiversity; Climate Change

Abstract

The concept of regenerative agriculture has received increasing attention worldwide as a method to restore and conserve natural resources while maintaining crop productivity. However, there remains a lack of consensus as to what conditions define regenerative agriculture, making it difficult for decision-makers, researchers, the agricultural sector, and the public to adopt regenerative agriculture practices. Here, we present the initial process to create a unified, cross-sectoral definition for regenerative agriculture in India that considers the viewpoints of multiple stakeholders and addresses the current challenges faced by the Indian agricultural sector. To this end, we compiled interactions with individuals from across India to identify the most pressing concerns for India’s human and environmental ecosystems. We conducted over 30 hours of workshops to discuss these concerns with 50 experts from five sectors and four countries.

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