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Regenerative agriculture isn’t just a buzzword, it’s a powerful, proven strategy to enrich soil, capture carbon, and build resilience across both ecosystems and farming communities. In Season Two of Regenerative Champions, we spotlight a groundbreaking initiative: the Financing Soil Organic Carbon Storage Performance in Ohio’s Miami Valley project. 

Led by the innovative minds at the one.two.five Benefit Corporation, this Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) brings together a coalition of farms and organizations across southwest Ohio. Their mission? To transform how soil carbon storage is researched and financed, across farms of all sizes, from row crop operations to livestock producers and market gardens. 

At the heart of the project is a bold, performance-based financing model that is connecting landowners committed to storing soil organic carbon (SOC) with the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Farmers are rewarded not just for participation, but for measurable results. Payments to participating farmers and landowners are tailored using Ohio-specific benchmarks and soil data from the NRCS’s Major Land Resource Areas. By quantifying carbon storage, this initiative empowers producers with the data they need to enhance soil health, productivity, and sustainability.

Listen to their voices on Apple Podcasts | OSU Podcasts

Learn more at https://125benefit.com/rcpp 

Acknowledgement

This series was made possible through support from the USDA under RCPP Supplemental Agreement #2794, in partnership with the one.two.five Benefit Corporation, the Hall Hunger Initiative, and dozens of local farms and organizations. 

Research contributions by Sherifat Alabi, PhD (work done as part of her doctoral research), Joy Rumble (Associate Professor, Agricultural Education, Communication, and Leadership), Joe Campbell (one.two.five Benefit Corporation), and Omope Carter Daboiku (Glorified Dirt LLC). 
Photography by Kylie Ramirez (Kylie Jean Creative) and Love’Yah Stewart (THKLUVLTR Photography)

Regenerative agriculture offers solutions that enable farmers to become good environmental and social stewards. Many small-scale farmers, new and returning farmers have increasingly adopted these practices, e.g., cover cropping, crop rotation, no-till, composting, etc. Yet, there is a need to expand knowledge, awareness, and its adoption among the populace.  While agricultural knowledge is passed from generation to generation, the significant roles of small-scale regenerative farmers in stimulating food sovereignty are rarely emphasized. 

The lived experiences of regenerative farmers detail the motivation, challenges, opportunities, and lessons that have sustained their regenerative practices, including their vision for their communities. Regenerative farmers have a passion for growing healthy food and resilient communities. They are motivated by their community to re-imagine their collective future together. 

Our choices impact our health, community, farmers’ livelihoods, and the planet. Therefore becoming receptive to and valuing the voices of small-scale regenerative farmers could positively impact current and future food security. More importantly, we all must empower each other to become agents of change and save our future.

Join us in understanding the story, value, and impact of small-scale regenerative farmers by listening to the stories of Ohio-based regenerative farmers.

Available on      Apple Podcasts | OSU Podcasts

Also, a selection of the images and stories are on exhibit in the Thompson Library through September 8, 2024. https://library.osu.edu/node/15787 

Acknowledgment: This work was supported in part by the Sustainability Institute.

Research artifacts by Sherifat Alabi, Doctoral Student, and Dr. Joy Rumble, Associate Professor.

Photographs by Laura Scholl, Cora Crilow, and Kylie Ramirez, Agricultural Communication Students, Department of Agricultural Communication, Education, and Leadership.