Regenerative agriculture: Corporate co-optation obscures grassroots ecological restoration amid global agribusiness expansion
Original framing: “From ‘sustainable’ to ‘regenerative’ agriculture: What’s in a name?” — The Conversation - Global
The original framing omits the deep historical roots of regenerative practices in Indigenous land stewardship (e.g., Indigenous fire management, agroforestry) and peasant resistance to colonial land dispossession. It ignores the structural drivers of soil degradation—industrial monoculture, chemical fertilizers, and land consolidation—while presenting 'regenerative' as a voluntary choice rather than a systemic necessity. Marginalised voices, including smallholder farmers in the Global South and Black and Indigenous land defenders, are erased from the narrative. Additionally, the role of corporate lobbying in watering down regenerative standards (e.g., via the RegenAg Lab or SARE) is overlooked.
High structural omission detected in mainstream coverage.
The narrative is produced by Western academic and policy elites (e.g., The Conversation’s global contributors) who frame regenerative agriculture as a technical or managerial debate, not a political one. This framing serves agribusiness and tech firms (e.g., Bayer, Syngenta) seeking to rebrand industrial agriculture under a 'sustainable' banner while maintaining control over seed, soil, and market systems. It obscures the role of Indigenous and peasant movements (e.g., La Via Campesina) that have long practiced regenerative techniques, reinforcing a colonial knowledge hierarchy that privileges Western scientific paradigms over lived ecological wisdom.
Marginalised voices—particularly Indigenous farmers, Black land stewards, and peasant women—have been the primary innovators and defenders of regenerative practices, yet their knowledge is systematically excluded from mainstream narratives. In the U.S., Black farmers have faced decades of discrimination in land access and USDA support, while Indigenous communities have been displaced from their ancestral lands, disrupting traditional regenerative systems. Global South smallholders, who produce 70% of the world’s food, are often portrayed as 'backward' rather than as stewards of sophisticated agroecological knowledge. Their exclusion from policy discussions and certification schemes reinforces colonial power structures and undermines the potential of regenerative agriculture to address food sovereignty and climate justice.
The 'regenerative agriculture' narrative exemplifies how systemic power structures—rooted in colonial land dispossession, industrial capitalism, and corporate greenwashing—co-opt and dilute grassroots ecological movements.