Is it possible that the solution to the global climate emergency lies in a "waste" agricultural product? Two brothers from a small town in Mexico are proving just that.
The best-kept secret in the world today is that solutions to some of our most pressing issues--food insecurity, deforestation, overgrazing, water scarcity, rural poverty, forced migration--lies in adopting, improving, and scaling up organic and regenerative agriculture best practices.
The Regenerative Agriculture Solution tells the story of how two brothers--Jose and Gilberto Flores--are at the leading edge of this approach, pioneering the use of the previously discarded leaves of the prodigious agave plant to regenerate agricultural soils, reduce erosion, and improve water capture. Amazingly, their methods also benefit their local economy, creating jobs by producing an inexpensive livestock feed supplement that could grow into a multi-billion-dollar industry and change the face of agriculture, animal husbandry, ecosystem restoration, and climate change forever.
When Ronnie Cummins, the cofounder of Organic Consumer Association (OCA) and Regeneration International, met the Flores brothers in 2019 and witnessed their revolutionary agave agroforestry system, he knew they were onto something important. Cummins had spent decades studying the potential and pitfalls of organic and regenerative agriculture and knew best practices when he saw them. The scientific data was even more convincing, suggesting that the project--and others like it--could revolutionize the way we understand the climate catastrophe.
Sadly, Cummins passed away in April 2023, in the midst of working on a book that told the Flores brothers' extraordinary story. Not to leave this work unfinished, Ronnie's widow and OCA cofounder, Rose, called on their friend, colleague, and collaborator, Regeneration International's cofounder André Leu, to complete the work and place the Flores brothers' breakthroughs in the broader context of regenerative agriculture solutions to the world's many interlocking ecological crises.
The Regenerative Agriculture Solution is an agricultural, agroforestry, and public policy blueprint, as well as a call to action for organic and regenerative farmers, ranchers, and land managers around the world. It is also a call to action for consumers, policy leaders, organic and sustainable development advocates, corporations, and investors to address the climate, health, and environmental crises as well as rural poverty.
André Leu is the author of The Myths of Safe Pesticides and Poisoning Our Children. He previously served as president of IFOAM - Organics International and is currently the international director of Regeneration International. He lives in Australia.
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Ronnie Cummins was the cofounder and director of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), a nonprofit, US-based network of more than two million consumers dedicated to safeguarding organic standards and promoting a healthy, just, and regenerative system of food, farming, and commerce. Cummins also served on the steering committee of Regeneration International and OCA's Mexican affiliate, Vía Orgánica. He was the coauthor of The Truth About COVID-19 and author of Grassroots Rising and Genetically Engineered Food.
