[manvillej]

my family has been getting into this very seriously in the last few years. There are several very serious challenges to the adoption of regenerative farming.

1. most farmers are stubborn and OLD

2. most of the industrial equipment is not meant for regenerative practices meaning many farmers simply can't afford to switch technologies

3. regenerative farming takes time & there simply isn't enough expertise out there

4. agricultural land shrinks every year. EVERY year. new farms are harder and harder to start & we really cannot afford to dip our food supply

5. Economically, the government has a very strong interest in keeping food cheap. Hungry people have a tendency to overthrow governments. farming has extremely thin margins.

6. There is a lot of funding in the form of grants and programs to encourage growth, but it means most farmers need to become grant writers. Large scale farms now have professional grant writers, smaller farms where the regenerative practices might have the most impact are having a difficult time accessing these programs.

7. Carharts are fashionable and really expensive. My dad found my first carhart on the side of the road with treadmarks across it and I got made fun of for it. Give me back my carharts.

Here are some of the things that are really helping with these problems though:

1. most farmers are really stubborn and will push through problems because its just work

2. Agritourism is bringing in a lot of renewed interested in farming & money.

3. Food chain issues (looking at you boarshead & mcdonalds) is bring a renewed interest in buying local.

4. Regenerative farming simply makes better food. Seriously, I cannot eat grocery store pork or chicken. The meat looks and tastes different.

5. Ignoring no-till techniques, there are techniques that can be started at a low cost for small scale farms. Chicken tractors, rotational grazing, soil health programs, etc. My family has been doing chicken tractors for chickens and turkey for personal consumption. Its been pretty easy for 1-2 person to raise 1500+lbs of meat with only about an hour of work a day. The only labor intensive day is harvesting and we've really gotten it streamlined. Its also eliminated the need for fertilizing or aerating the area they are run in.

6. I've noticed its really bonding family farms together and bringing in younger farmers in with a sense of ownership and purpose

[rmosolgo]

Thanks for sharing all these reflections on the topic. Regarding Carhartts, I can really recommend Super Casuals, which sells Carhartt factory seconds: https://www.supercasuals.com/category.cfm/449

They're stamped "IRR" on the inside... but that's more subtle than tread marks XD I usually order several sizes of what I'm interested in and send most of them back.

[dehrmann]

> the government has a very strong interest in keeping food cheap

I'd go further. Governments and society want to overproduce food for resiliency. Markets aim for efficiency, so you need some amount of subsidies for production.

> Food chain issues (looking at you boarshead & mcdonalds) is bring a renewed interest in buying local

Buying local doesn't really solve this.

[_zoltan_]

> 4. agricultural land shrinks every year. EVERY year. new farms are harder and harder to start & we really cannot afford to dip our food supply

of course we can.

for corn, circa 40% is used to feed livestock and 35% for ethanol production. there is very little human consumption.

for wheat, in the US and Europe, only around 35% is used to feed humans.

we really should do much more regenerative agriculture so people eat better food down the chain.

[Cornbilly]

> for corn, circa 40% is used to feed livestock and 35% for ethanol production. there is very little human consumption.

Good luck with getting Americans to pay more for and/or eat less meat.

We’re practically addicted to eating meat in some form at every meal. Not to mention the weird group of folks that have tied eating meat to masculinity.

[_zoltan_]

nobody talked about eating less meat. I love meat as well. if you feed your livestock better, you get better quality meat!

I was shocked how cheap meat is in the US. I was at Costco looking at some briskets and pork belly.

Here in Switzerland for good quality meat you're going to pay between 30-50 CHF/kg for pork and up to 120 CHF/kg for beef.

[codingdave]

> most farmers need to become grant writers.

That seems like something a tech community who is looking for a problem to throw AI/LLMs at... really ought to be able to help out with.

[throw10920]

> agricultural land shrinks every year

What's the cause of this? Nutritional deficiency? Economics? Or something else?

[bluGill]

Suburbs expanding.

[Schiendelman]

Another reason to abolish zoning in our major cities. Let people go upward, it will reduce pressure outward.

[bluGill]

While a good idea, a lot more than zoning needs to be fixed.

Fire codes requiring two stairways have the unintended effect of making 4 bedroom apartments impossible to build and so in turn push anyone who wants just a little more space to single family houses. Those same fire codes have prevented a lot of deaths, and I've never seen a property study on if we can really get rid of them (everyone proposing it points to other countries without those code having lower fire deaths - but they are comparing overall rates including old buildings and lots of different construction styles - so I'm not sure if it something we can safely get rid of in the US context)

If we don't also build great mass transit traffic will get worse - sprawl is a solution to heavy traffic (not a great solution but it is one).

Most places in the US with high density are friendly to specific life styles. They have great bar scenes, theater, live music, arts (and others), but there are lots of other things they do poorly. Importantly the parts with high density are very unfriendly to families and so a lot of people who live in high density in their early 20s feel forced to move to the suburbs in their 30s as they settle down - better schools, parks and other things you want to do with a family become important (these are things that other countries do well in high density but not the US)

[Schiendelman]

I agree with the fire code issues of course!

On the transit and lifestyle aspects - I think those actually come naturally if you allow the density. And I say that is someone who was an organizer for transit for a decade in Seattle. It would have happened on its own, and probably better, if we did the development first.