Business and Policy October 2026 – Regenerative Agriculture: Supporting Farm Soils

We’ve been hearing the term regenerative agriculture - regen ag for short - a lot more.  Although the concept has been around for a while, there has been a steady and widening interest in regen ag principles and the potential benefits this approach could offer, whether that is in terms of soil health at field level, or taking a much wider view in terms of the contribution to sustainability and cutting emissions across a products supply chain.  With increasing flooding risk and water scarcity impacting both crop yields, livestock production and farm infrastructure, our changing climate is also driving the need to take action, with a healthy and protected soil providing some buffer against these severe ‘weather challenges’. 

Defining Regenerative Agriculture 

There is no single agreed definition of regen ag.  However, its often aggregated around five widely accepted holistic principles focused on rebuilding, improving and maintaining soil health. These can be broadly defined as: 

1. Minimising soil disturbance 
2. Maximising crop diversity 
3. Keeping soil covered 
4. Maintaining a living root in the soil 
5. Integrating livestock back into the rotation 

Others take these principles further, for example with reference to reducing synthetic inputs such as inorganic fertilisers and pesticides and increasing wider species diversity.   

Rather than viewing regen ag principles as an all or nothing, consider it as more of a ‘pick and mix’ approach, adopting and adapting the right measures that will support your farm business.  Scottish Government has produced a ‘Code of Practice on Sustainable and Regenerative Agriculture’, published in 2025, presenting the code as a toolkit of actions.  The Code of Practice can be accessed here. The code highlights a range of practices from retaining stubbles to getting more nitrogen fixing crops into the rotation, all supporting production of high-quality food in both an economically and environmentally sustainable way.  Some of these measures will already be adopted as sound agricultural practices, others will take more thought and planning to integrate into the farm business. 

Through the Farm Advisory Service (FAS), we have worked with a range of farmers and growers, from some still at the start of the process considering how regen ag principles would fit with their business, to others well down the regen ag road, demonstrating impressive results, who have embraced regen ag principles and made them work for their farm.  Over the coming months, FAS will be sharing some of these practical findings and insights from working farmers and reflecting on their experiences. 

Regen ag shouldn’t be seen as prescriptive; it’s up to you consider the opportunities and challenges, set out where you want to be in the future and how you want to protect and grow resilience across your business.  Either way, supporting farm soils is a really good place to start. 

Rebecca Audsley, SAC Consulting