Regenerative Ag Transition: TUKFS H3/FixOurFood Outcomes

This YouTube webinar from the TUKFS research projects H3 and FixOurFood presents detailed field trial data on livestock integration as a core regenerative agriculture principle. It compares environmental and socio-economic outcomes across farming systems: baseline conventional farming, plus cover crops, reduced tillage, livestock addition (treatment 4), and full five principles (treatment 5). Key findings from a three-year replicated large-plot trial highlight the impacts of stacking regenerative practices on soil health, hydrology, soil biodiversity, crop health, and yield. At 23:00, crop yield results for years 1 and 2 show comparisons between systems, noting the influence of wet springs on integrated systems with livestock, where treatment 4 and 5 demonstrated resilience despite weather challenges. Livestock integration improved outcomes by enhancing nutrient cycling and soil structure. Economic impacts discussed at 27:00 include gross margins and the role of SFI (Sustainable Farming Incentive) in de-risking transitions, with regenerative systems showing gradual benefits in profitability after initial years. Soil health outcomes at 30:00 cover increases in earthworms, soil aggregates, carbon levels, and improved structure, directly linked to livestock grazing which mimics natural processes for better organic matter incorporation. The H3 project’s landscape-scale experiment, co-designed with UK commercial farmers, developed a scoring system to explain varying outcomes across farms, emphasizing that deeper and more consistent adoption of practices like livestock integration leads to accumulating benefits. Challenges include initial yield dips in wet conditions but long-term gains in biodiversity and climate resilience. Practical insights for farmers include co-designing trials at whole-farm scale, measuring stacking effects quantitatively (e.g., yield stability, reduced inputs), and leveraging policy support like SFI for economic viability. This provides actionable evidence for transitioning to regenerative systems with livestock, showing quantifiable improvements over conventional methods while addressing real-world variability.[4]