Sustainable and Regenerative Farming

A friend writes:

I get called out by farmers for using the word “sustainability” because nature is dynamic and doesn’t hold to a level. The word they prefer is “regenerative” as it is closer to the complex system of nature and its energy exchanges. I don’t have an argument for or against it.

I don’t think I’ve ever run across enmity to the word “sustainability,” which is strange, because I’ve been at this for 17 years, and I’ve incurred the wrath of an uncountable number of people, especially climate deniers.  I laughed out loud when a caller into a radio show on which I was being interviewed called me a “cockroach.”

I would say that “sustainable” and “regenerative,” while certainly not mutually exclusive, are actually two different things.

There are dozens of different ways to define “sustainability,” but the one I use is: “A society’s meeting its needs without making it impossible for future generations to meet theirs.” From the perspective of farming, normally this is called “sustainable agriculture,” but calling it “regenerative” works just fine for me, and adds more depth of understanding.