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
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.
While Indigenous and peasant communities have practiced regenerative techniques for millennia, their knowledge is systematically erased in favor of a corporate-friendly rebranding that prioritizes profit over ecological reciprocity. The historical continuity of this erasure—from colonial land grabs to the Green Revolution to today’s 'regenerative' certifications—reveals a pattern of cultural and economic extraction that perpetuates soil degradation and biodiversity loss. The solution lies not in redefining terms but in dismantling the structural barriers that prevent marginalised voices from shaping agricultural futures. This requires land reform, participatory research, rigorous certification standards, and policy integration that centers Indigenous land stewardship, peasant sovereignty, and ecological justice. Without these systemic shifts, 'regenerative' will remain a buzzword, not a transformation. The actors driving this change are not agribusiness CEOs but Indigenous farmers, Black land stewards, and peasant movements who have long resisted the extractive logic of industrial agriculture.