From Organic Certification to Regenerative Agriculture to Rewilding Landscapes: an evolution towards soil integrity

World War II (WWII ) revolutionized manufacturing processes and catapulted personal and commercial markets into an era of increased consumption, convenience, and highly toxic pollutants. 

The Regeneration in ACTION (RiA) Magazine article, Plastics: a double-edged sword, articulates the history of plastic consumption, benefits, and challenges; in WWII plastic manufacturing increased 300% and continued to escalate post-war.

Though it was introduced in the 1930's, synthetic-pesticide use became widespread after WWII. According to LivingHistoryFarm.org:

World War II was the first U.S. war in which diseases – many like typhus and malaria carried by insects – killed fewer people than bullets and bombs. The reason was DDT. The insect killer – or "insecticide" – had been discovered in 1939 and was used extensively by the U.S. military during the war. So, it is no wonder that the postwar period saw the dawning of the chemical age in pesticides.

Then, as today, agriculture uses 75 percent of all pesticides. Between 1947 and 1949, pesticide companies invested $3.8 billion into expanding their production facilities. They were rewarded by huge profits.

Many historians have called this the golden age of chemical pesticides – effective new chemicals were available and of all of the risks and dangers to human health and the environment were not yet known.

During WWII, the United States (U.S.) government built ten plants across the country to manufacture nitrogen-based bombs and other explosives. When the war ended, the plant-production capacity was shifted to petrochemical, nitrogen-based fertilizer manufacturing. Thus, the use of petrochemical fertilizers in farming, along with grounds maintenance and lawn-care practices, exploded in the post-WWII era.

WWII was a catalyst for an era when unforeseen consequences of high-tech development would create toxic environments and devastating scenarios across the globe.

Glyphosate and GMOs
Glyphosate was first patented in 1961 as a Descaling and Chelating Agent and later purchased by Monsanto in 1974. Monsanto branded as Roundup, a powerful herbicide used in home landscapes and commercial agriculture. By 1982, Monsanto scientists were researching Roundup Ready genetically modified seeds for crops resistant to the herbicide. 

In 1996, the first genetically modified crops (soybeans) were planted in the U.S. At the time, glyphosate usage was 3.8% of the total volume of herbicide-active ingredients applied in agriculture (28 million pounds in 1995.) Glyphosate usage boomed over the next decades; usage increased 9-fold in the U.S. and 15-fold worldwide by 2014. A 2016 research study by Food Democracy Now! and The Detox Project found alarming levels of glyphosate in many popular processed food brands. *

Image courtesy of Rich Roll 414 Podcast

According to Dr. Zach Bush, a triple-board certified medical doctor specializing in Internal Medicine, Endocrinology and Metabolism, as well as in Hospice and Palliative care, the human race is in a vast epidemic of chronic inflammation, mainly caused by the prolific use of glyphosate. Dr. Bush attributes the widespread diagnosis of celiac disease to the use of glyphosate within the harvest of wheat. The March 2018 Rich Roll GMOs, Glyphosate & Gut Health interview with Dr. Bush is an excellent introduction to his profound work and perspectives. In a later Rich Roll podcast, Dr. Bush connects soil health with nutritious food production. 

The Institute for Responsible Technology is another respected resource dedicated to the detrimental health impact by the rampant use of glyphosate along with GMOs (genetically modified organisms) in commercial agriculture.

With toxins infiltrating water systems, including drinking water, the atmosphere, the soils, the food system, and nearly every aspect of human existence, health for all life on the planet suffers from continuous exposure to human-created poisons.

* Glyphosate history obtained from The Natural Farmer, the newspaper of the Northeast Organic Farming Association, A Brief History of Glyphosate article.

Environmental Movement
Published in September 1962, Silent Spring by Rachel Carson is credited as the catalyst for the environmental movement. Though it addressed the devastating ramifications of DDT-pesticide use, Silent Spring showcased the far-reaching impact of toxic-chemical use whether for pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, or other uses.

The August 2015 Natural Resources Defense Council The Story of Silent Spring: How a courageous woman took on the chemical industry and raised important questions about humankind's impact on nature explains Silent Spring's legacy:

Photo courtesy of Peter Scales

The most important legacy of Silent Spring, though, was a new public awareness that nature was vulnerable to human intervention. Carson had made a radical proposal: that, at times, technological progress is so fundamentally at odds with natural processes that it must be curtailed. Conservation had never raised much broad public interest, for few people really worried about the disappearance of wilderness. But the threats Carson had outlined—the contamination of the food chain, cancer, genetic damage, the deaths of entire species—were too frightening to ignore. For the first time, the need to regulate industry in order to protect the environment became widely accepted, and environmentalism was born.

As the environmental movement grew, awareness of toxic-petrochemical fertilizers' and the "cides'" - herbicides, pesticides, insecticides, and fungicide - impact on human and environmental health was substantiated via well-documented scientific research.

Nature Prevails
Within Elemental Impact 's (Ei) Nature Prevails platform, The Principles of Nature are defined as:

• Diversity
• Dynamic Balance & Nutrition Cycles
• Necessity of Cover & Ability to Roam

The RiA article, Nature Prevails; an action plan, defines The Principles of Nature and explains how human-made systems are ruled by the principles. When humans defy The Principles of Nature. there are often tragic results.

Insect Apocalypse
Insects are integral to the natural ecosystem foundation and essential to supporting the Earth’s life web. At the base of the prey hierarchy, insects are food for fish, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and birds. In addition to recycling soil-system nutrients, insects play an essential role in the decomposition portion of nature’s circular-life cycle.

A multi-generations of milkweed
beetles at a rewilded park.
Photo courtesy of Holly Elmore Images

Since the 1970’s, the Earth’s insect population suffered from severe population declines as well as loss of diversity.

The NY Times 2018 article, The Insect Apocalypse Is Here. What does it mean for the rest of life on Earth?, reported: The German study found that, measured simply by weight, the overall abundance of flying insects in German nature reserves had decreased by 75 percent over just 27 years. If you looked at midsummer population peaks, the drop was 82 percent.

According to the November 2019 Somerset Wildlife Trust Insect Declines and Why They Matter Report by Professor Dave Goulson, 41% of insect species are threatened with extinction.

Contributing factors to the demise of insect populations include:

• Prolific use of pesticides in commercial and residential landscapes, corporate and municipal-grounds maintenance, and industrial agriculture.
• Loss of habitat due to urbanization, transportation systems, farming, and landscape-maintenance practices.
• Infiltration of non-native plants; insects evolved to thrive on native plants and non-native plants are often not food sources for local populations.
• Intangible pollution, including artificial light, noise (leaf blowers,) and electromagnetic fields.

Holocene Extinction (sixth mass extinction)
As documented by the November 2019 Science Alert article, Are We Really in a 6th Mass Extinction? Here's The Science, current conditions indicate that the Earth's Holocene extinction, or sixth mass extinction, is well underway. From the article:

A mass extinction is usually defined as a loss of about three quarters of all species in existence across the entire Earth over a "short" geological period of time. Given the vast amount of time since life first evolved on the planet, "short" is defined as anything less than 2.8 million years. 

... The Earth is currently experiencing an extinction crisis largely due to the exploitation of the planet by people. 

The World Wildlife Fund 2020 Living Planet Report states:

A 68% average decline of birds, amphibians, mammals, fish, and reptiles since 1970.

The findings are clear: Our relationship with nature is broken.

Biodiversity – the rich diversity of life on Earth – is being lost at an alarming rate. This loss effects our own health and well-being. Today, catastrophic impacts for people and the planet loom closer than ever.

Though the Holocene extinction is well underway, a tragic outcome may be avoided by aligning human-created systems with The Principles of Nature. 

Increased Predation and Nutrient Deficiency

As stated in the Ei Digital Book, Restoring Pollinator Populations:

Eliminating the use of man-made fertilizers also removes chemical influence which can damage plants. When synthetic fertilizers are applied, plants grow faster than their natural rhythm. Faster growth results in plants with thinner cell membranes that are vulnerable to predation by insects, parasites, and fungus. Healthy, robust plants with thick stalks and leaf-cell membranes are not as enticing for pests.

Thus, the use of petrochemical fertilizers ignites the cycle of pest control, most often via toxic insecticides and pesticides. Unfortunately, pesticides often kill "good bugs" as well as the targeted insects. Additionally, pesticides pollute waterways via farm run-off or by filtering through the soil to the area aquifer.

In 2004, Dr. Donald Davis, a member of the University of Texas at Austin Biochemical Institute, and his team published a study that suggests nutrient decline in garden crops over past 50 years, According to Dr. Davis: 

"Efforts to breed new varieties of crops that provide greater yield, pest resistance, and climate adaptability have allowed crops to grow bigger and more rapidly, but their ability to manufacture or uptake nutrients has not kept pace with their rapid growth. There have likely been declines in other nutrients, too, such as magnesium, zinc, and vitamins B-6 and E, but they were not studied in 1950 and more research is needed to find out how much less we are getting of these key vitamins and minerals."

Soil ecosystems are alive with an intertwined network of fungi, microbial communities, insects, and other small animals working together, often in symbiotic fashion, to nurture plant roots. In return, the plants deliver carbon dioxide, sugars, and other nutrients to the soil system. When the soil ecosystem is healthy, plants produce nutritious food for humans and wildlife.

Healthy cover crops at a regenerative farm.
Photo courtesy of Holly Elmore Images.

Diversity and necessity of cover, two of The Principles of Nature previously mentioned, are essential for a healthy soil ecosystem. Common monocrop farming with neat, barren rows between crops defies nature and deteriorates soil health. Tilling the soil breaks up the soil communication and nutrient-transfer systems governed by fungi networks. 

Per Mother Earth New's article, Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Roots: A Symbiotic Relationship, Mycorrhizal fungi help plant roots absorb nutrients and fight off harmful, soil-dwelling predators. In exchange, the fungus receives sugars and nutrients from its host plant. Furthermore: 

At least 80 percent of the plant species on the globe, representing more than 90 percent of all the plant families, are known to form mycorrhizae. In addition to facilitating the transportation of nutrients, at least one kind of mycorrhizal fungus attracts and kills the tiny soil-dwelling arthropods called springtails, a rich source of nitrogen. Other carnivorous fungi capture the superabundant microscopic worms known as nematodes, either with sticky knobs that develop from the hyphae, fine filament meshes, or loops that constrict to snare passing prey — fungal lassoes.

Over the past decades, toxic-chemical additives along with modern-day farming practices significantly compromised soil health, and resulted in nutrient-deficient food. Organic Certification is a strong first step in aligning with The Principles of Nature, yet is far from a final step.

Organic Certification
A focus on organic farming emerged as petrochemical fertilizers and "cides" were introduced to commercial agriculture post WWII. As the environmental movement gained momentum in the 1960's, after Silent Spring's publication, decentralized organic-farming standards were established across the nation. 

In 1990, Congress passed the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) to develop a national standard for organic-food and -fiber production. The USDA’s National Organic Program, authorized under OFPA, issued their Final Ruling in October 2002; the ruling established the federal organic-certification program, administered by the respective state departments of agriculture.

Organic certification prohibits the use of "cides," GMO seeds, and petrochemical fertilizers. Thus, organic food is non-GMO and reasonably "toxin-free" Yet, organic certification does not address soil health or the nutritional value of food produced on the certified farm.

Regenerative Agriculture
In addition to adhering to organic-farming practices, regenerative agriculture focuses on restoring and maintaining a healthy soil ecosystem. Diverse crops, including cover crops, and no-till farming practices are basic regenerative-agriculture protocol.

Inherent within soil restoration is increasing the organic matter (carbon) content; thus, regenerative agriculture creates carbon sinks, a designated area that draws down more carbon than is released into the atmosphere. An emerging trend is to incorporate applicable regenerative agriculture protocol into landscape- and grounds-maintenance practices.

In 2017, Ei coined the term urban carbon sinks in the RiA Magazine article, Beyond Sustainability: Regenerative Solutions. Additionally, the article substantiates regenerative agriculture, and landscape/grounds-maintenance practices as a viable solution for balancing the carbon cycles. The RiA Magazine article, Carbon Crisis: simply a matter of balance, introduces the carbon cycles and compost’s role in restoring balance; the article features John Wick and the Marin Carbon Project.

As important as it is to restore healthy soil systems, produce nutritious food (for human & wildlife,) and drawdown carbon, regenerative agriculture does not focus on native plants. Thus, it often contributes to, versus alleviates, the insect apocalypse. 

Rewilding Landscapes
Beyond regenerative agriculture and landscape practices, rewilding land restores the natural ecosystem that evolved over thousands of years. Rewilding land requires the restoration of native plants and cultivates food for indigenous insects. Strong insect populations are the foundation for restoring healthy predator/prey hierarchies that once thrived prior to human intrusion.

In his New York Times bestseller, Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in your Yard, Doug Tallamy encourages citizens to rewild their yards via replacing toxic lawns with native plants that support local insect populations. Caterpillars are a primary food source for many birds and other wildlife. According to Doug, Carolina chickadees must catch 6,240 – 9,120 caterpillars to raise one clutch.

Inherent within rewilding urban landscapes are three primary benefits: 

• Restoration of vibrant soil ecosystems and urban wildlife populations; production of nutritious food destined for wildlife and humans.
• Drawdown of carbon from the atmosphere into the soils via plant photosynthesis.
• Establishment of food-secure neighborhoods within a community.

In the RiA article, Urban Carbon Sinks: Rewilding Urban Landscapes, Ei announced a commitment to Rewilding Urban Landscapes via pilots focused on urban agriculture, lawns, corporate complexes, college and university campuses, highway medians and shoulders, airport land surrounding runways, parks, and other available urban land. For the rewilding pilots, native foliage is planted and cultivated with the exception of human-food producing plants, such as tomatoes.

Pilots are in the development stage with various grant applications underway.

Align with The Principles of Nature
Human ingenuity catapulted the planet into a sixth extinction. Though the scenario appears dire, nature is forgiving as long as her principles are honored. If humans start aligning crafted systems with The Principles of Nature, a new spectrum of probable outcomes materializes and a vibrant, miraculous future is possible.

Tax-deductible donations in any amount are greatly appreciated to support Ei's important work. 

DONATE HERE.

About Elemental Impact:

Elemental Impact (Ei) is a 501(c)3 non-profit founded in 2010 as the home to the Zero Waste Zones, the forerunner in the nation for the commercial collection of food waste for compost. In June 2017, Ei announced the Era of Recycling Refinement was Mission Accomplished and entered the Era of Regeneration. Current focus areas include Nature Prevails, Soil Health | Regenerative Agriculture, and Water Use | Toxicity.

The Regeneration in ACTION Magazine article, From Organic Certification to Regenerative Agriculture to Rewilding Landscapes: an evolution towards soil integrity, published to explain and substantiate the importance of Ei’s rewilding urban landscapes work within the Nature Prevails focus area.

MISSION:

To work with industry leaders to create best regenerative operating practices where the entire value-chain benefits, including corporate bottom lines, communities, and the environment. Through education and collaboration, establish best practices as standard practices.

Ei’s tagline – Regeneration in ACTION – is the foundation for Ei endeavors.

The following mantra is at the core of Ei work:

Ei is a creator, an incubator.

Ei determines what could be done that is not being done and gets it done.

Ei brings the possible out of impossible.

Ei identifies pioneers and creates heroes.

For additional information, contact Holly Elmore at 404-510-9336 | holly@elementalimpact.org

Urban Carbon Sinks: Rewilding Urban Landscapes

Community gardens are integral to
creating an Urban Carbon Sink
photo credit: Holly Elmore Images

Over the past decade, sustainability moved from a buzz word to a movement to a culture within leading communities, universities, and businesses. Significant strides were made in zero-waste practices, renewable energy technology, and reduced carbon | water footprints. Yet the glaciers continue to melt, the ocean acidification levels are increasing, and desertification is escalating.

The Regeneration in ACTION (RiA) article, Beyond Sustainability: Regenerative Solutions, proposes regenerative solutions in the form of Urban Carbon Sinks to restore the carbon cycles and pending crises. The RiA article, Carbon Crisis: simply a matter of balance, introduces carbon cycles and explains how their out-of-balance state creates alarming scenarios.

A Building Crisis: diminishing food and oxygen supply
The previously referenced Beyond Sustainability: Regenerative Solutions article establishes the building crisis of the diminishing food and oxygen supply.

According to a Global Agriculture Soil Fertility & Erosion Report:

Our most significant non-renewable geo-resource is productive land and fertile soil. Each year, an estimated 24 billion tonnes of fertile soil are lost due to erosion. That's 3.4 tonnes lost every year for every person on the planet. Soils store more than 4000 billion tonnes of carbon.

A dangerous dilemma is brewing with an increasing global population and a diminishing ability to produce food. Healthy soil is necessary to generate nutritious food, whether plant- or animal-based. 

According to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) June 2020 How much oxygen comes from the ocean? fact sheet:

Scientists estimate that 50-80% of the oxygen production on Earth comes from the ocean. The majority of this production is from oceanic plankton — drifting plants, algae, and some bacteria that can photosynthesize. One particular species, Prochlorococcus, is the smallest photosynthetic organism on Earth. But this little bacteria produces up to 20% of the oxygen in our entire biosphere. That’s a higher percentage than all of the tropical rainforests on land combined.

Yet plankton is perishing at astonishing rates due to ocean acidification and warmer water temperatures. Thus, the atmospheric oxygen supply is diminishing and may eventually lead to potential asphyxiation for land-based animals and eventual species extinction.

Holocene Extinction (sixth mass extinction)
According to the November 2019 Science Alert article, Are We Really in a 6th Mass Extinction? Here's The Science, current conditions indicate that the Earth's Holocene extinction, or sixth mass extinction, is well underway. From the article:

A mass extinction is usually defined as a loss of about three quarters of all species in existence across the entire Earth over a "short" geological period of time. Given the vast amount of time since life first evolved on the planet, "short" is defined as anything less than 2.8 million years. 

... The Earth is currently experiencing an extinction crisis largely due to the exploitation of the planet by people. 

The World Wildlife Fund 2020 Living Planet Report states:

A 68% average decline of birds, amphibians, mammals, fish, and reptiles since 1970.

The findings are clear: Our relationship with nature is broken.

Biodiversity – the rich diversity of life on Earth – is being lost at an alarming rate. This loss effects our own health and well-being. Today, catastrophic impacts for people and the planet loom closer than ever.

Though the Holocene Extinction is well underway, a tragic outcome may be avoided by aligning human-created systems with The Principles of Nature. Within Elemental Impact 's (Ei) Nature Prevails platform, The Principles of Nature are defined as:

• Diversity
• Dynamic Balance & Nutrition Cycles
• Necessity of Cover & Ability to Roam

The RiA article, Nature Prevails; an action plan, defines The Principles of Nature and explains how human-made systems are ruled by the principles.

Insect Apocalypse
Insects are integral to the natural ecosystem foundation and essential to supporting the Earth’s life web. At the base of the prey hierarchy, insects are food for fish, mammals, and birds. In addition to recycling soil-system nutrients, insects play an essential role in the decomposition portion of nature’s circular-life cycle.

Multi-generations of milkweed
beetles at a rewilded urban garden
Photo credit: Holly Elmore Images

Since the 1970’s the Earth’s insect population suffered from severe population declines as well as loss of diversity.

The NY Times 2018 article, The Insect Apocalypse Is Here. What does it mean for the rest of life on Earth?, reported: The German study found that, measured simply by weight, the overall abundance of flying insects in German nature reserves had decreased by 75 percent over just 27 years. If you looked at midsummer population peaks, the drop was 82 percent.

According to the November 2019 Somerset Wildlife Trust Insect Declines and Why They Matter Report by Professor Dave Goulson, 41% of insect species are threatened with extinction.

Contributing factors to the demise of insect populations include:

• Prolific use of pesticides in commercial and residential landscapes, corporate and municipal grounds maintenance, and industrial agriculture.
• Loss of habitat due to urbanization, transportation systems, farming, and landscape-maintenance practices.
• Infiltration of non-native plants; insects evolved to thrive on native plants and non-native plants are often not food sources for local populations.
• Intangible pollution, including artificial light, noise (leaf blowers,) and electromagnetic fields.

Carbon Sinks
Simply, a carbon sink is an area of land where plants drawdown more carbon via photosynthesis - the process plants use to convert carbon dioxide and sunlight into sugars for energy - from the atmosphere than is released from the soil into the atmosphere. The oceans are technically carbon sinks as they currently absorb more atmospheric carbon than is released. 

By re-establishing abundant land-based carbon sinks, the carbon cycles may return to balance via atmospheric carbon returning to the soils. Once a threshold of lowered atmospheric carbon is reached, the oceans will release their stored excess carbon into the atmosphere. Thus, ocean acidification will reverse, and marine plant life may revive back into healthy oxygen-producing states.

Urban Carbon Sinks
As well documented in the previously mentioned article, Beyond Sustainability: Regenerative Solutions, regenerative agriculture is a viable solution for restoring weakened soil ecosystems and drawing significant carbon from the atmosphere back into the soil. Thus, regenerative agriculture creates carbon sinks. 

Cover crops on a certified organic farm that uses
regenerative agriculture practices.
Photo credit: Holly Elmore Images

Regenerative agriculture practices include no-till farming, diverse crops, and use of cover crops and are void of “cides” usage (herbicides, pesticides, insecticides, and fungicides.) For livestock farming, herds are rotated among fields allowing the animals’ excrements to serve as natural fertilizer instead of potentially toxic waste. The 2018 RiA article, Regenerating a Bright Future for Planet Earth, delves deeper in the regenerative agriculture principles and showcases several regenerative farms.

Regenerative landscape and grounds-maintenance practices incorporate applicable farming practices into urban environments.

In 2017 Ei announced intentions to create urban carbon sinks via integrating regenerative landscape and grounds maintenance practices on corporate complexes, college | university campuses, highway medians | shoulders, airport land surrounding runways, parks, and other available urban lands. Collectively, the regenerative landscaped areas are destined to serve as urban carbon sinks and aid in restoring the carbon-cycle balance.

Rewilding Urban Landscapes

Nature Prevails: rewilding is a natural process 
Photo credit: Holly Elmore Images

Beyond regenerative landscape practices, rewilding urban land restores the natural ecosystem that evolved over thousands of years. Rewilding land requires the restoration of native plants and cultivates food for indigenous insects. Strong insect populations are the foundation for restoring healthy predator/prey hierarchies that once thrived prior to urban development.

Inherent within rewilding urban landscapes are three primary benefits: 

1. Restoration of vibrant soil ecosystems.
2. Drawdown of carbon from the atmosphere into the soils via plant photosynthesis.
3. Establishment of food-secure neighborhoods within a community.

In his New York Times bestseller, Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in your Yard, Doug Tallamy encourages citizens to rewild their yards via replacing toxic lawns with native plants that support local insect populations. Caterpillars are a primary food source for many birds and other wildlife. According to Doug, Carolina chickadees must catch 6,240 – 9,120 caterpillars to raise one clutch.

With more than 40 million acres of lawn nationwide, there is tremendous potential to reverse the diminishing food and oxygen deficiency crisis simply by rewilding lawns!

Rewilding Lawn Pilot

A vacant lot naturally rewilds.
Photo credit: Holly Elmore Images

A first step in the Urban Carbon Sink-Development Template is the rewilding of a private-home lawn. With private ownership, controlled documentation of the soil-health baseline as well as pilot challenges, lessons learned, and success is easily facilitated. The intention is to partner with the state agriculture university along with local government, a seed co-op, gardening clubs, schools, and other engaged organizations.

Below is an outline draft of the various pilot stages:

• Stage One – establish the yard base line & begin soil restoration.
• Stage Two – create a “wild” garden.
• Stage Three – prepare a template for rewilding lawns, parks, and other common areas.
• Stage Four – apply the rewilding lawns template.

Individual Action is Key
If each individual takes regenerative action that works within their life, the collective impact will prove staggering and alter the current destructive path humanity created over the past millenniums. 

According to Nature's Best Hope, there are 599-million acres available in the nation via public utility and transportation ROWs (right-of-way,) golf courses, airport grounds, residential developments, and urban centers available for potential rewilding. Rewilding urban landscapes is a simple, inexpensive solution available to individuals, governments, educational institutions, and the business community. Rewilding urban landscapes may avert the diminishing food- and oxygen-supply crisis. 

The time to take individual action is NOW!

____________________________________

About Elemental Impact:

Elemental Impact (Ei) is a 501(c)3 non-profit founded in 2010 as the home to the Zero Waste Zones, the forerunner in the nation for the commercial collection of food waste for compost. In June 2017, Ei announced the Era of Recycling Refinement was Mission Accomplished and entered the Era of Regeneration. Current focus areas include Nature Prevails, Soil Health | Regenerative Agriculture, and Water Use | Toxicity.

MISSION:

To work with industry leaders to create best regenerative operating practices where the entire value-chain benefits, including corporate bottom lines, communities, and the environment. Through education and collaboration, establish best practices as standard practices.

Ei’s tagline – Regeneration in ACTION – is the foundation for Ei endeavors.

The following mantra is at the core of Ei work:

Ei is a creator, an incubator.

Ei determines what could be done that is not being done and gets it done.

Ei brings the possible out of impossible.

Ei identifies pioneers and creates heroes.

For additional information, contact Holly Elmore at 404-261-4690 | holly@elementalimpact.org

Success is not static: evolution is required to create and sustain regeneration

With Elemental Impact's (Ei) ten-year history of living the original tagline, Sustainability in ACTION, and more recently the renewed tagline, Regeneration in ACTION, substantial relationships evolved into valuable industry assets. With intentions to broaden environmental, humanitarian, and societal impact, Ei often facilitates powerful introductions within its extensive network. The Ei Connects page documents prominent introductions.

On June 17, Ei orchestrated introductions for long-time comrade in sustainability Georgia Institute of Technology (Ga Tech) to Kennesaw State University (KSU) Hickory Grove Farm (HGF) and KSU Dining Services. Ga Tech Director of Waste & Recycling Cindy Jackson was joined by Sustainability Coordinator Sarah Neville and Senior Sustainability Manager Malte Weiland. KSU Sustainability Manager Jennifer Wilson joined the tour and meeting; KSU Dining Service Culinary Director Brian Jones hosted the introductory meeting at The Commons campus-dining hall.

As Ei segued from the Era of Recycling Refinement into the Era of Regeneration, a close relationship developed with HGF via the first farm tour in June 2017 for Georgia World Congress Center Authority (GWCCA) and EPA, Region 4 associates.

Based on the inaugural tour, Ei Founder Holly Elmore wrote the Fall 2017 Southern Farm & Garden seven-page, multiple-article feature, An Icon in Sustainability and Hickory Grove Farm: Regenerative Agriculture Revives Soils & Local Ecosystems. The article gives an overview of KSU's stellar sustainability commitment at the Michael A. Leven School of Culinary Sustainability & Hospitality, The Commons (KSU’s Gold LEED-certified dining hall), and HGF. Holly's photography enhanced the article.

Ga Tech | Ei
The powerful Ga Tech | Ei relationship dates back to the Zero Waste Zones 2009 launch. Over the years, Cindy attended the Annual Ei Partner Meetings and joined the 2014 Atlanta Ei Partner Tours.

In industry circles, Holly refers to Cindy as the AMAZING Cindy Jackson!

The Lorax recycling center

There are many layers to the AMAZING aspect of Cindy Jackson, each indicative of Ga Tech's profound sustainability commitment and award-winning accomplishments. Thus, in essence, the reference is to the AMAZING Ga Tech facilities department management.

As a recycling-industry pioneer, Ga Tech received early national awards: American Forest & Paper Association 2008 University Recycling Award and the National Recycling Coalition 2008 Best Overall Recycling, Outstanding College or University Program Award.

Most importantly from a recycling perspective, the Ga Tech Solid Waste & Recycling Department never succumbed to single-stream recycling. Though it increases "diversion rates," single-stream recycling decreases actual recycling due to contaminated material streams. Diversion rates most often refer to the first stop after collection versus the material's final destination.

Supported by in-depth research, industry reports state single-stream recycling generally results in 25%+ of collected material destined for the landfill | incinerator due to contamination.

Clean, student-separated
plastic-recycling stream

Under Cindy's oversight, Ga Tech boasts incredibly clean, source-separated streams; clean material equates to valuable material sold in local markets as manufacturing raw material. Ga Tech students take their recycling seriously and source-separate items in accordance with the clear bin signage.

On October 24, 2017 Ga Tech hosted the first annual Facilities Sustainability Forum to an enthusiastic audience from the university and beyond. At Cindy's invitation, Holly was the featured speaker. The ZWA Blog article, Collaboration + Culture = Sustainability Success, is a forum overview featuring Holly’s presentation as well as the Building Services, Solid Waste & Recycling, and Landscape Service department sessions.

Hickory Grove Farm - History 

In 2013 the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) leased the 26-acre tract of land to KSU for farm use. Formally, the site was the GDOT cement-mixing site for nearby I-75 construction. Though not toxic, the soil was severely compacted and devoid of necessary minerals to sustain a healthy soil ecosystem. In addition, stormwater flowed off the property, rather than hydrate the "dead soil."

The Hydroponics Lab

Due to the deteriorated state of the soil, one of the first structures built at HGF was the Hydroponics Lab. In addition to not requiring soil for healthy crops, hydroponic agriculture systems save tremendous water. According to a University of Arizona Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science 2011 article:

A hydroponic lettuce system could use only 10 percent of the water needed compared to field-grown lettuce. Arizona uses about 70 percent of its water for agriculture.Theoretically, about 90 percent of all that water could be saved if every farm converted to hydroponics.

As the Hydroponics Lab is an enclosed structure, plant pests (insects, disease or other) are non-existent. Thus, creative pest control free of toxic chemicals is not necessary.

With patience, tenacity and a strategic plan, KSU restored the land through regenerative-agriculture practices. Simple, effective stormwater-management techniques retain water on the property, including a vibrant natural retention pond. A pair of mallard ducks, frogs, a variety of native plants, and abundant insects thrive within the pond and its shoreline.

HGF retention pond

Soil restoration is a partnership with the land; continued nurturing through compost use, crop rotation and other regenerative applications are necessary to maintain and improve soil health. HGF Manager Michael Blackwell ultized his extensive regenerative-agriculture wisdom to restore the soils into rich, dynamic ecosystems where crops thrived. 

Within a mere four years HGF supplied The Commons with nearly 25 percent of its produce, approximately 20,000 pounds of produce annually, and often 100 percent of its eggs. The Commons campus-dining hall serves 6,000-plus students, faculty, and guests per day during the active school year.

Back in 2017, HGF served as as a laboratory for The Michael A. Leven School of Culinary Sustainability and Hospitality (CSH) with an active class schedule. To prepare the students with the necessary skills to evolve into valuable culinary and hospitality-industry employees, the CSH required 400 hours of work experience and 200 volunteer hours for program graduation. Thus, HGF was the recipient of a significant number of student-volunteer hours for farm work.

CSH student  on the farm

The main farm structures in 2017 included the Propagation Lab, the Hydroponics Lab, one open-air high tunnel, a large chicken coop, a  tool shed, and the administration trailer.

The Hydroponics Lab housed a state-of-the-art vertical hydroponic system that watered each plant individually. The periodic dry time emulated nature and prevented root rot often prevalent in hydroponic systems. Within the lab, the tomato, cucumber, and various peppers-crop yields were impressive. Planting was timed to generate crops within the KSU-class rhythm.

HGF's fifteen honey-bee hive apiary served as a hands-on laboratory for the CSH Organic Agriculture and Beginning Apiary course. In addition to honey bees, the farm installed native-bee hives in the maturing apple orchard. Though they do not produce honey, native bees are far superior pollinators to honey bees, which are an introduced species.

In early 2017, the Honeybee Conservancy granted funds to The Siegel Institute for Leadership, Ethics, and Character to support collaborative efforts with KSU for raising Georgia’s bee population. Designated for the construction of a new apiary, grant funds allowed HGF to add mason and leafcutter bees to their original bee population.

Germinated seeds in soil blocks
ready for planting

For plastic-free seed planting, Michael uses stamped soil blocks to germinate seeds for planting in the high-tunnel. As another plastic-free measure, Michael grows saplings for new orchards in repurposed #10 cans from KSU Dining Services.

In October 2017, KSU announced the CSH would be phased out by spring of 2021 and was no longer accepting new students. Thus, HGF lost their steady stream of student-volunteer hours and the budget for farm labor other than Michael. It was time to step back and evolve the farm's strategic-operations plan.

Hickory Grove Farm - Evolution

With limited farm labor, Michael immediately assessed how he could maintain crop production. As they require seven-days per week attendance, finding homes for the 100-farm chickens was one of the first action points. Michael confirmed the chickens literally went to homes and not for chicken-broth production. 

Hydroponic lettuce ready for harvest

A second top priority was replacing the the original vertical-hydroponics system with a table-top system to focus on lettuce and reduce required labor. With the Hydroponics Lab's new system, lettuce grows from seeds to ready-for-harvest in six weeks, broken down into three, two-week stages.

HGF can easily produce 400 pounds of lettuce per week, more than KSU Dining uses, even when at  full capacity feeding 6,000 students per day. Thus, Michael is experimenting with growing herbs and other produce in the hydroponics lab.

Built in the last year, a second high tunnel is in the midst of its first growing season. To prevent moths and other insects from laying eggs on the crops, the new high tunnel is completely enclosed. Additionally, pollinator insects are not present and the monecious squash crop must be hand pollinated.

Monoecious plants, such as corn, birches, and squashes, produce individual male and female flowers; pollen from the male stamen must touch the female stigma for fertilization to occur. Once fertilized, the female ovary swells as it grows into a fruit or vegetable. When insect pollination is not an option, hand-pollinating squash blossoms is a common gardening practice.

Hand pollinating squash flowers

HGF staff hand-pollinate squash blossoms each morning. According to Michael the hand-pollination process is simple and takes approximately 30 minutes. By the abundant yellow squash nearing harvest, the hand pollination is successful at the farm.

Over the dormant winter months, Michael built a produce washroom complete with a bubble washer and a walk-in cooler. With an "extension service for the small farmer" mentality, Michael built the room with grass-roots economics. 

The bubble washer is used to clean lettuce and other produce while an industrial spinner dries the lettuce prior to bagging for storage. Michael used a simple jacuzzi pump to craft the inexpensive bubble washer.

Hand-crafted walk-in cooler

Rather than purchase one for $12,000, Michael hand-built the walk-in cooler for $600. A CoolBot (walk-in cooler controller) was used to transform a standard-window air-conditioner unit into a refrigeration-cooling system.

It is incredibly impressive to witness Michael's ingenuity and commitment to supporting urban ag and small rural-farm systems.

Though HGF composted farm waste in the past, fall KSU campus leaves are now brought to the farm for composting versus their prior landfill destination. Michael completed the Master Composter Certification offered by the UGA Athens-Clarke County Extension Service. Per the county website:

Established in 2011 as a partnership between Athens-Clarke County Extension and the Athens-Clarke County Solid Waste Department, the Georgia Master Composter Program is an adult education course and Extension Volunteer program.  Master Composters complete a nine-week training course that covers all aspects of the composting process.  Classes are taught by UGA faculty, Athens-Clarke County and US Forest Service staff, and small and commercial business owners. Topics include the chemistry and microbiology of composting, types of and reasons for composting, composting techniques and teaching tools.  As Extension volunteers, Master Composters then use this information to share composting basics with their family, friends and the community.  

The KSU Sustainability Department is ready to explore the possibility of transporting KSU Dining Services food waste to HGF for compost.

HGF will continue to evolve as various KSU departments realize the value of a nearby organic farm. With plenty of available land, the farm is ripe for an array of research and other projects.

American Chestnut
The HGF land is bound on the south and north sides with old-growth forest. While exploring the north forest, Michael discovered two healthy shoots from former magnificent American chestnuts killed by the chestnut blight. It is estimated 3 - 4 billion American chestnuts were killed by the blight in the first half of the 20th century. Though healthy in appearance, the shoots remain vulnerable to the blight.

Michael gazes at one of the
American chestnut trees

Based on submitted leaves and twigs, the American Chestnut Foundation confirmed the saplings are pure American chestnuts. If the elder sapling is free of the blight parasite, Michael is hopeful HGF may submit healthy seeds for the national efforts to revive the magnificent native trees.

Before humans developed North America, the American chestnut was the predominant tree from the Eastern seaboard to the Mississippi River. Legend says a squirrel could run through American chestnut tree branches from the East Coast to the Mississippi without touching the ground. Though urban development diminished the prominent population, the chestnut blight removed the magnificent trees from North American landscapes.

The only two verified pure American chestnut trees outside of the mountain region are on HGF. With the high honor comes a responsibility for species stewardship. 

KSU Dining Services

In alignment with its sustainability commitment, KSU opened The Commons Gold-LEED Certified dining facility in 2010. The Commons was awarded #2 Best College Dining Hall in 2016 by www.BestColleges.com.

The Commons entrance

KSU Dining Services Culinary Director Brian Jones oversees the in-house campus-foodservice operations. Brian uses his extensive fine-dining expertise to serve superior cuisine to the students, faculty and guests who dine at KSU facilities. An industry powerhouse, Brian recently won the National Association of College and University Food Service Southern Regional Culinary Challenge, earning a berth in the organization’s national competition in July.

In addition to an impressive healthy-dining commitment, including ample vegetarian and vegan-culinary options, KSU Dining Services adheres to best sustainable-operating practices. In 2018, 292 tons of source-separated food waste was collected for compost. At The Commons, back-of-the-house employees separate the food waste and trash from the reusable plates, flatware and cups. The employee-driven system aids in collecting a clean post-consumer food-waste stream for compost collection.

Committed to food-waste reduction, KSU Dining Services is trayless and uses moderate-sized plates and cups. At most of the stations, food is portioned by staff rather than permitting diners to overflow plates with student-sized appetite portions.

Pickled carrots

Prior to the one-month summer closing, Brian and his team scoured the kitchen for remaining perishable food and preserved the food in a variety of methods. Thus, pickled carrots provide lovely decor at the dining-hall stations.

Excess food is donated to Campus Awareness, Resource & Empowerment (CARE) Services. Founded in May 2013, CARE is a single point-of-access to services and resources, both on and off campus, for KSU students with issues surrounding homelessness, food insecurity, and foster care.

According to an April 2019 CityLab.com article Bills in California and Washington Address Homeless College Students:

Of university students, 36 percent said they had experienced some form of housing insecurity and 9 percent reported being homeless in the past year. Among community college students, 46 percent reported housing insecurity and 12 percent reported homelessness

With an innate community spirit, KSU Dining Services staff pre-packages excess food in single-service containers to aid in effective distribution to individuals.

As previously stated, KSU Dining Services uses reusable plates, flatware and cups to minimize waste generated in the dining halls. Beyond "straws available upon request," straws are not available at KSU dining halls. For to-go orders, KSU Dining Services provides reusable containers within a system designed for container return.

Synergies Abound
On June 17 the Ga Tech team arrived at HGF in the morning for a detailed farm tour hosted by Michael and joined by Jennifer. The Ga Tech folks were beyond impressed with the land's transformation from a cement-mixing site to a dynamic farm as well as Michael's ingenuity and innate passion for living by example.

Ga Tech | KSU sustainability meeting

After the farm tour, the group convened at The Commons dining hall for a KSU | Ga Tech sustainability introductory meeting. Cindy gave a thorough overview of Ga Tech's impressive recycling practices along with challenges addressed. In the midst of a shift to Aramark as their contracted foodservice operator, Sarah recapped the current Ga Tech-dining scenario.

Brian followed with the history of KSU Dining along with details of his extraordinary culinary operations. Wrapping up the meeting, Jennifer gave an overview of KSU's sustainability commitment. As Brian said farewell, the group enjoyed an amazing lunch.

Synergies abounded during the tour and meeting between Ga Tech and KSU. While Ga Tech excels in its waste & recycling program as well as grounds-maintenance practices, KSU is an industry hero in sustainable dining. An open-ended action point was scheduling a KSU visit to Ga Tech's campus. By working together the two state-owned universities may propel their respective operations into new sustainability realms.

An Ei FB album, Ei Connects, section is a pictorial recap of the meeting and tour from an Ei-Connects perspective; a Holly Elmore Images FB album, KSU Hickory Grove Farm, section includes images from Holly's pre-tour photo shoot as well as tour images.

Beyond Sustainability
Over the past decade, significant strides were made in zero-waste practices, renewable-energy technology, and reduced carbon | water footprints. Yet the glaciers continue to melt, the ocean acidification levels are increasing, and desertification is escalating.

Is sustainability / resilience enough to stave off the building crisis of the diminishing food and oxygen supply?

The RiA Magazine article, Beyond Sustainability: Regenerative Solutions, establishes sustainability | resilience is not enough to prevent the building crisis. Yet solutions abound in regenerating our soils by overhauling common agriculture, landscape and land-use practices.

Hickory Grove Farm is a stellar example of "farming done right" and how regenerative agriculture is a solution that produces abundant, healthy food and draws down significant carbon from the atmosphere into the soils. It takes commitment and tenacity of spirit to create and maintain a regenerative farm. Farm Manager Michael Blackwell knows success is not static and evolution is required to create and sustain regeneration.

Ei was honored to facilitate the empowering introduction of Kennesaw State University and Georgia Institute of Technology sustainability associates. May the magic flow within the respective universities so their strong sustainability commitments evolve into regenerative commitments.

Regenerating a Bright Future for Planet Earth

Over the past decade, sustainability moved from a buzz word to a movement to a culture within leading communities, universities, and businesses. Significant strides were made in zero-waste practices, renewable energy technology, and reduced carbon | water footprints. Yet the glaciers continue to melt, the ocean acidification levels are increasing, and desertification is escalating.

Beginning with the above paragraph, the RiA Magazine article, Beyond Sustainability: Regenerative Solutions, articulates the pending oxygen deficiency and food-supply crisis substantiated with prominent scientific research. The article questions whether the established sustainability movement and the new resilience focus are enough to reverse the out-of-balance carbon cycles causing the pending crisis.

White Oak Pastures cattle grazing
on a regenerated pasture

To avoid a doom and gloom perspective, it is important to simplify the scenario and discover regenerative solutions. Beyond sustainability and resilience, regeneration focuses on rebuilding and restoring nature's perfect system.

The RiA Magazine article, Carbon Crisis: simply a matter of balance, explains the carbon cycles and the current out-of-balance scenario. Elemental Impact (Ei) Strategic Ally Kiss the Ground's inaugural four-minute video The Soil Story is featured in the article and simply explains why regenerative agriculture is the key to restoring the Earth's carbon-cycle imbalance.

Across the globe there are an increasing number of farms and ranches shifting to regenerative-agriculture practices with impressive success metrics for the land, the farm, and surrounding communities.

Brown's Ranch
In Kiss the Ground, the book, the "Bismark or Bust" chapter features Gabe Brown of Brown's Ranch. At his 5,000-acre farm networked with owned and leased land, Gabe and his son Paul use regenerative-agriculture practices with amazing results. Since 1993 Brown's Ranch is a no-till farm and uses a diverse crop strategy with cover and companion crops. An ever-evolving grazing strategy rests and rejuvenates the soil.

No GMOs (genetically modified organisms) or glyphosate are used on the farm. The Browns eliminated synthetic fertilizers, fungicides, and pesticides-use and only employ a minimum amount of herbicides.

Beyond restoring the soil, the farm produces abundant, healthy food, makes a solid profit, and provides a higher quality of life for the Browns. The "Bismark or Bust" chapter is inspiring dialogue filled with hope of what can be done.

Gabe's first book, Dirt to Soil, One Family's Journey into Regenerative Agriculture, released earlier this year and is an excellent, informative read.

White Oak Pastures

WOP on-farm abattoirs with
a regenerative field in front. 

Located in South Georgia, White Oak Pastures (WOP), a sixth generation, family-owned farm established in 1866, is a radically traditional farm where regenerative-agriculture practices are strictly maintained. Until a mere two-plus decades ago, WOP used typical commercial cattle-ranching practices filled with nitrogen-based fertilizer, antibiotics, long (thousands of miles) journeys to feedlots for the young cattle, and other unmentionable yet common practices. It was a profitable time period for the farm.

Around the millennium shift, Will Harris III, WOP Patriarch and Owner, began the journey of implementing regenerative-agriculture practices at the farm. The first step was shifting his herd to a grass and hay-only diet, the nutrition their digestive tracks were built to digest. Sheep were added to aid in weed control and balance the land.

Eliminating the cattle transport for slaughter (some prefer the term harvest) was the next step in the farm's regeneration. In 2008 Will traversed numerous regulations and built a $2.2 million U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected beef abattoir. At the time, only one other on-farm USDA-inspected abattoir was permitted in the nation.

WOP General Store in Bluffton

The November 2011 The IMPACT Magazine article, White Oak Pastures - Dignity & Respect @ Its Core, chronicles the early years of the WOP metamorphosis.
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Over the past decade, Will along with sixth generation daughters Jenni Harris and Jodi Harris Benoit continued the transformation by adding goats to the rudiment herds along with a plethora of poultry including chickens, ducks, turkeys, and others to the farm's grazing rotations. Later hogs were added to the livestock mix.

Understanding the social-conscious impact, WOP developed a strong agritourism business, complete with a restaurant, on-farm cottages, and a WOP General Store located two miles north in Bluffton. Along with locally produced products, the store sells an array of on-farm-handcrafted items made from meat-processing byproducts, including wallets, lip balm, earrings, dog chews, and many more. Beyond monetary considerations, WOP educates by example of the far-reaching, empowering implications of regenerative-agriculture practices.

Sixth generation Harris family:
Jodi Benoit Harris & Jenni Harris

Until recently Bluffton was a dying small southern town. WOP revived Bluffton's economic vitality with 150-plus employees who live, eat, and shop in the town. Many of the abandoned, dilapidated local residences are restored as lovely homes for WOP employees. When it opened in 2016, the WOP General Store was the first retail to open in forty years. The store is a blessing to local residents as the closest grocery is twelve miles away.

WOP maintains a "Bluffton campus" on Pine Street with a Community House and an old church converted into meeting space and offices. WOP hosted The Savory Institute's (SI) Global Network Reunion in early November at the "campus" for nearly 100 regenerative ranchers, agriculture professionals, and Holistic-Management advocates.

In Will's words:

"In the mid-1990’s, I began experimenting with regenerative-pasture management on my own. I spent a lot of time and effort just observing nature and learned a lot through trial and error. By 2010, I believed I had it figured out. Honestly, I thought that I knew as much about Holistic Land Management as anyone anywhere.

Then I heard Allan Savory speak. It was immediately clear to me that he was decades ahead of me. I decided to become a disciple."

Lunch tent on the WOP
Bluffton campus

Back in August 2015, WOP, then a SI Hub Candidate, hosted a SI Holistic-Management-Training session. In addition to key WOP employees, five individuals representing local farm and watershed groups successfully completed the training session. Subsequently, WOP was officially accepted as a SI Hub.

According to the SI site, Hubs are Holistic-Management training, learning and demonstration sites. Together, they are a global network of entrepreneurial people who are driven to create abundance for the people and places of their region and in their context. It is through Savory Global Hubs that Holistic-Management education, training, events, special projects, consulting, research, and experiences are conducted in a region.

The Savory Institute

Allan Savory speaking to
Regenerating Members

In the 1960's, Allan Savory, SI Co-Founder and Zimbabwean ecologist, livestock farmer, and environmentalist, began his research work on the degradation of land and the increasing desertification across the globe. As a biologist, Allan was taught in academic classes the common theory that grazing livestock on the land was the base cause for lush grasslands degrading into deserts.

Yet, the common theory did not align with nature's perfected grazing system of large herds of ruminants, multiple-stomach mammals who live on a plant-based diet. The herds graze over vast lands, never staying in one place for too long. As they defecate and urinate on the land, it is important the mammals move to fresh pasture. The animal's hooves work the excretions (nature's fertilizer) into the soil, which is left to rejuvenate back into thick grasses for the next herd.

The grassland plants develop deep root systems that aid in maintaining an active, healthy soil ecosystem through the dry season and droughts. Healthy, well-structured soils contain a diverse foundation of invertebrates, various microbial communities, and vast networks of mycorrhizal and other fungi. Well-structured soils absorb the minimal rain in arid climates and replenish the local aquifers. Deep root systems access the aquifers during the dry season. The grasses continue feeding the soil ecosystem with carbon and other nutrients from the atmosphere through photosynthesis.

To emulate nature, Alan understood it was necessary to increase herd size while dividing pasture land into smaller paddocks. Grazing-rotation plans move the herds frequently in a specified paddock sequence. Thus, Holistic Management, a systems-thinking approach to managing resources, emerged from Alan's thorough research as a platform to regenerate the land. An added bonus is Holistic-Management practices produce more protein food and dairy products.

Will Harris (seated) with the
Savory team

In 1988, Alan and his wife Jody Butterfield published the acclaimed Holistic Management: A New Framework for Decision Making. The Africa Centre for Holistic Management, a non-profit organization in Zimbabwe, was formed by Alan and Jody in 1992 via the donation of a ranch; the Centre serves as a learning site for the African people.

Along with Alan and Jody, a group of colleagues co-founded SI in Boulder, Colorado.in 2009. The SI vision was an international network of innovators and leaders committed to the highest standards of Holistic-Management training and implementation. The Africa Centre was the first locally led and managed SI Hub.

Alan's February 2013 TED Talk, How to fight desertification and reverse climate change, created a ground swelling of awareness around Holistic Management. The TED Talk showcased Holistic Management's important role in regenerating soils and sequestering carbon from the atmosphere. To date, the empowering TED Talk has 5.2 million views.

According to Alan, one billion hectares of holistic-managed grasslands would sequester sufficient carbon from the atmosphere to bring the carbon cycles back into balance. With balanced carbon cycles, current ocean acidification and desertification trends would reverse. The SI is creating a decentralized, locally managed network that supports the education and implementation of Holistic-Management practices to reach the one billion-hectares threshold.

Per the SI site, the Savory Network is comprised of the following three categories:

Savory Global Network Hub

Will Harris with fellow Hub
Leaders & reunion attendees

Hubs are Holistic-Management training, learning, and demonstration sites. Together, they are a global
network of entrepreneurial people who are driven to create abundance for the people and places of their region and in their context. It is through Savory Global hubs that Holistic-Management education, training, events, special projects, consulting, research, and experiences are conducted in a region.

Accredited Professionals
Accredited professionals are trainers and implementers of Holistic Management. Equipped with accreditation in the complete and current Savory Holistic-Management body of knowledge, they teach, train, and support Holistic-Management practitioners.

Regenerating Members
Savory Regenerating Members are advocates for Holistic Management and regenerative agriculture. As members and supporters of the Savory Global Network, they propel a paradigm shift in public opinion and ignite the movement of regenerative agriculture.

As of this article's publication, the SI site boasts impressive success with the below stats:

• 35 Global Hubs
• 93 Accredited Professionals
• 5,227 Holistic Land Managers trained 
• 8.8 million hectares of land holistically managed

The March 2018 Successful Farming post, Meet Alan Savory, the Pioneer of Regenerative Agriculture, is an in-depth synopsis of Allan along with Holistic-Management accomplishments. Savory Global Network Coordinator Abbey Smith and her husband's California farm is featured in the article as an example of how Holistic-Managed land regenerates back into its healthy state.

In 2018 SI expanded their annual Global Hub Gathering to include Accredited Professionals and Regenerating Members and renamed the gathering the Global Network Reunion. WOP hosted the first annual reunion in rural, south Georgia.

Global Network Reunion

Land to Market presentation

The first annual Global Network Reunion held on November 10 & 11, 2018 at WOP was a global gathering with attendees traveling from around the world: Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Kenya, Argentina, France, Scotland, Turkey, United Kingdom, Canada, and across the U.S residents attended the event.

Ei Founder Holly Elmore attended the reunion as a SI guest. On Saturday, Holly represented Ei while on Sunday she wore a dual Ei | media hat. Ei Partner Nancy Suttles of Veracity Media Group joined Holly on Sunday as media covering the event.

For the first reunion-day program, Hub Leaders, Accredited Professionals, and Regenerating Members attended separate programs designed for their experience and interests. Holly joined the Regenerating Members for their education sessions, including a morning tour of WOP cattle and grazing plans and an afternoon tour of the beef and poultry slaughterhouses.

Attendees heading into the lush
field for the EVO demo

In the late afternoon, the entire group was treated to a comprehensive WOP farm tour. The empowering day ended with a lovely dinner under the outdoor tent.

On the second day, the three attendee groups were together for the day's agenda. The full-morning agenda included two educational sessions followed by a panel discussion with the Land to Market™ Team.

After lunch, the group went on a land walk for an Ecological Outcome Verification™ (EOV™) demonstration. Following the demo, the group convened for discussion on the recently launched  Land to Market™ program parameters.

The weekend ended with a festive dinner celebration including live music.

Land to Market™ | EOV™
On October 22, 2018 EPIC Provisions, a mission-based snack brand known for its humanely raised, animal-based foods, announced its Sweet & Spicy Sriracha Beef Bites snack is the first product to feature the science-based Land to Market™ Ecological Outcome Verification™(EOV™) seal. EPIC sources the beef for the Sweet & Spicy Sriracha Beef Bites from WOP.

EOV Demonstration Team
@ the reunion

A few days earlier the South African Savory Hub delivered the first regenerative-wool bales carrying the EOV™ seal to the international wool market in Port Elizabeth.
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Land to Market™, the world’s first verified regenerative-sourcing solution for meat, dairy, wool, and leather, launched as a beta program in 2017 and verified its first products in 2018. With the recent EOV™ products available, Land to Market™ was a main topic in the Sunday joint reunion sessions.

As SI's expertise is on regenerating grasslands, the EOV™ seal is currently limited to meat, dairy, wool, and leather products.

Scientific-based EOV™ is the empirical backbone of the Land to Market™ program and verifies outcomes in soil health, biodiversity, and ecosystem function (water cycle, mineral cycle, energy flow and community dynamics).

Land to Market™ is designed to give the consumer a regenerative voice with their spending dollars and support producers who adhere to Holistic-Management practices on their farms. By purchasing products with the EOV™ seal, the consumer is assured their dollars are spent with farms who regenerate soils and sequester carbon from the atmosphere into the soils.

Hurricane Michael

A casualty of Hurricane Michael

Exactly one month prior to the Global Network Reunion, Hurricane Michael tore through South Georgia with sustained 115-miles-per-hour winds leaving behind death, destruction, and tragic conditions. In an October 17 report, WSBTV reported Georgia crop damage estimates are well over $1 billion.

WOP was directly hit by Hurricane Michael and sustained tremendous damage. WOP Livestock Manager John Benoit took Holly on a personalized tour of the lingering damage. One chicken coop was turned completely upside down while the intense wind tore the roof off of another. Part of WOP's​ hurricane preparation was processing the approximately 200 hens who called these coops home. Thus, there were no casualties related to the coop damage.

Fallen trees are expensive as they take down fences and are a lost cash crop. Hurricane fence damage is costly on many levels. Beyond the simple financial cost of repairs & replacement, damaged fences impact the livestock grazing patterns, which is critical in regenerative agriculture.

Fences throughout the farm
were damaged by fallen trees

Regenerative-agriculture practices helped mitigate post-hurricane water damage. The healthy, well-structured soil at WOP absorbed the tremendous water and within days there was minimal standing water on the farm. There were no spontaneous small streams created that carry away valuable top soil.

According to Jenni, WOP lost four head of cattle, over 100 small ruminants, over 4,000 birds, and around thirty hogs. A falling tree literally sliced through the midsection of a cow standing within the protection of the woods. Structural damage evaluation is ongoing. Overall hurricane damage costs are estimated to top hundreds of thousands of dollars.

... and literally one month later WOP hosted the prominent SI Global Network Reunion and welcomed the global attendees with gracious Southern hospitality at its best.

The Ei FB album, Savory Institute 2018 Global Network Reunion, gives a pictorial recount of the powerful weekend from Holly's camera-lens perspective.

The Savory Institute's commitment to Holistic-Management practices on global grasslands is regenerating a bright future for Planet Earth.