Thinking Beyond Sustainability: How Regenerative Farming Can Save Our Planet

We need to fix a broken system if we want things to get better, and regenerative agriculture provides some of the most tangible results that show it actually can.

Soil is a living, breathing thing and needs to be nurtured in order to produce healthy plants and pull carbon from the air. Many modern agricultural practices have by and large destroyed the health of our soil, causing both a greenhouse effect and less nutritious food. But regenerative agriculture aims to restore health to this ecosystem, helping reverse climate change and improve our food system in the process.  

What do these healthy-soil practices look like? They might include things like using compost instead of synthetic fertilizer, rotating crops, or intercropping, but it really all depends. Newmark put it this way: “I live in Vermont on a 10-acre farm. My neighbor’s farm may have different resources and time commitments than me. Every farm is unique.That’s why we need to focus on outcomes, not practices alone.” She adds: “We need to put power back into the hands of farmers and hear what they need.” 

MegaFood—a premium vitamin and supplement brand whose products are crafted with real food from trusted farm partners, and added nutrients—recognizes its role in transforming the system, and as a Certified B Corporation, the team is committed to doing just that. It’s a huge reason why Newmark joined the team, and the company is now vested in several initiatives (like the Soil Carbon Initiative) and launching a new sourcing standard they’re calling the Healthy Farm Standard, all to help farmers measure their efforts in regenerating their soil year over year, hit joint sustainability goals, and ensure a thriving livelihood. 

And it needs to: “We can’t create a movement that’s going to take fifty years to convert a small amount of acreage—we don’t have the time. I think we’re all being really open-minded, and we’re listening as we create opportunities to reward farmers for the work that they’re doing around the ecosystem services that they provide all of us.”

We now have access to a myriad of environmentally conscious brands—companies that are thinking outside of their traditional bottom line, investing in their partners and community, and using their voice to take action on the issues. MegaFood is even getting involved in politics, lobbying to ban glyphosate, an herbicide chemical that’s contributing to biodiversity loss and soil degradation, and you can get involved by signing the petition here. (Cool fact: MegaFood is actually the first supplement brand to have its entire line certified Glyphosate Residue-Free by The Detox Project.)

“What makes me able to sleep at night as a mom is knowing that we are quite literally standing on the solution,” said Newmark, “that our soils have the ability to pull down carbon from the atmosphere, rebuild topsoil, and produce more nutrient-dense food. Our work at MegaFood is about revolutionizing agriculture, and we’re committed to shifting systems with the help of many others. That’s the opportunity of our time.”