One of the criticisms often levied against regenerative agriculture is that it won’t be consistently profitable or productive enough compared to traditional farming systems.

But the Ecdysis Foundation believes an exhaustive analysis of on-farm results over the last few years provides solid answers to those questions. In 2022, the organization embarked on a multi-year project collecting and analyzing data on soil, water, plant and animal communities, yields, nutrient density and profitability to show the regenerative outcomes on individual farms.

With the help of numerous partners, the foundation has also been developing new technologies, procedures and partnerships that generate, analyze, interpret and share farm- and landscape-level data. The goal of the 1,000 Farms Initiative is to determine how to transform food systems so they benefit farmers, ecosystems, communities and human health.

Their measurements quantify chemical and physical properties of soil — including soil carbon, microbiology and organic matter — water dynamics, diversity and biomass of plant communities, insect diversity and distribution, wildlife diversity and habitat use, plant pathogens and insect pests, crop nutrient analysis, economics and profitability. 

Jonathan Lundgren, founder and executive director of the Ecdysis Foundation, says the idea for this program started several years ago as farmers started showing in…