A trip to Stoney Creek Farm

“We brought employees to have an in-person experience on the farm to see regenerative agriculture in practice and why it’s so powerful in how it benefits the environment, our food system, and ultimately, how it addresses climate change,” says Mary Jane Melendez, vice president, chief sustainability and social impact officer. “Seeing these practices in person is different than hearing about them in a meeting or a PowerPoint presentation. And it humanizes the work when you’re able to meet the farmers and the families behind this movement.”

Understanding regenerative agriculture

Ray Archuleta and Gabe Brown, early pioneers in regenerative agriculture and partners in Understanding Ag LLC, joined the group at Stoney Creek Farm to facilitate the day’s activities.

“We’re trying to educate people about all aspects of the supply chain; from the soil to the plants to the animals, the farmers, the ranchers, and inevitably to the consumer,” says Brown.

"Because the health of society depends on the health of the soil that those products were grown or raised on."

By adopting these practices, farmers like the Breitkreutz’s can increase profitability by lowering their input costs (for fertilizer and pesticides), regenerate the soil on their farms, combat climate change, build farm resilience to extreme weather, improve water quality, and cultivate a habitat of rich biodiversity.

“Once a farmer has started moving down the regenerative path, suddenly there are earth worms in the soil, there’s life in the soil, and it’s like a light bulb comes on and they say to themselves, ‘I get it now. What I’m doing is making a difference in not only the soil, but in the plants that I grow and inevitably on the consumers who eat those products,’” adds Brown.

Archuleta kicked off the second part of the day with a soil demonstration, comparing the differences in soil health from conventional farms and regenerative farms.

Employees saw firsthand that by mimicking nature, regenerative farms can foster soil that is more porous, fertile and able to withstand extreme weather conditions. Archuleta emphasized that most people who farm regeneratively first had to change the way they see the soil.

“One of the foundational beliefs in regenerative agriculture is that soil is a living ecosystem” said Archuleta. “It’s dynamic and it’s alive.”

On a nearby field, employees experienced adaptive grazing in action and intercropping in standing corn. Both practices are used to capture carbon in the soil and help keep the soil where it belongs – on the fields.

They even had a visit from a friendly donkey!