Regenerative agriculture can deliver both economic and environmental benefits for European farmers, Wageningen University & Research (WUR) concludes in the research project Regenomics. Whether these benefits are actually present depends strongly on regional conditions, such as the availability of water and livestock manure. As a result, the transition to regenerative agriculture requires tailored, farm-specific approaches.
"Regenerative agriculture is widely seen as a promising pathway toward more sustainable farming, but we still lack sufficient insight into the economic and environmental impacts of scaling it up," says project leader Mark Manshanden.
To better understand the costs and benefits, his research team studied 40 farms in Germany, France, Hungary and Poland. For eight of these farms, the researchers carried out an in-depth analysis based on two scenarios: one involving some short-term steps toward regenerative practices, and a second scenario involving more substantial changes over the longer term.
Gains and losses
"Especially on the Polish and Hungarian farms we studied, regenerative agriculture can deliver significant gains," says Manshanden. "With relatively small changes, these farms achieve a much lower environmental footprint while increasing their revenues at the same time. Many of these farms still use pesticides with a high environmental impact. Stopping their use or switching to alternatives makes a major difference."
In Germany and France, however, the same regenerative measures have a more limited impact.
"In our scenarios, revenues there decline significantly because crop yields are lower, while the environmental benefits are smaller."
That said, the picture is not entirely black and white. Across almost all farms, regenerative agriculture leads to lower costs, which lessens the "shock" of reduced yields, Manshanden explains. "Using fewer pesticides and synthetic fertilizers saves money. Labor inputs during peak periods—such as harvest time—are also lower because the land is cultivated less intensively. This reduces fuel and labor costs, and machinery wears out less quickly."
Boundary conditions
The economic success of regenerative farming practices is closely linked to regional boundary conditions, the researcher continues. "Is livestock manure available, and is there sufficient water? Is it practically feasible to add additional crops to the crop rotation? Especially when farmers want to grow a wider variety of crops—which we see as a basic requirement for regenerative agriculture—access to sufficient manure and water is crucial."
In regenerative agriculture, livestock manure and compost are considered important substitutes for synthetic fertilizers.
"But they are not available in all European regions. At the same time, increasing drought is already reducing yields. That raises the question of whether adding extra crops is realistic: Different crops have different water requirements."
Market demand is another key success factor. Will farmers be able to sell these additional crops? "In our research, we introduced nitrogen-fixing crops such as legumes. These also have clear environmental benefits. But there is currently limited demand for such crops on the global market. Changing that will require the involvement of other actors across the supply chain."
In summary, Manshanden concludes, the transition to regenerative agriculture requires a tailored approach. "That is why, within this project, we developed a model that allows farmers to calculate the impact of specific measures at farm level."
The Regenomics final report, which includes concrete recommendations for farmers, agricultural advisers, value-chain partners and policymakers, is titled "Regenomics: Evaluating the Economic and Environmental Impacts of Regenerative Agriculture."