Dr. Rob Myers

This is the first article in BAM's series: The BAM Files, Answering Why Agriculture Matters.  

The phrase “regenerative agriculture” is being used a lot these days. Maybe you’ve seen it on the packaging of some of your favorite food products, or as a selling point for the purse you’ve been eying (just me?). 

You might be surprised to know there is not yet one single definition for “regenerative agriculture.” We’ll be covering this topic a lot here and I’m excited to talk with farmers, ranchers, industry leaders and consumers about all things ag so we all can get a bit closer to where our food comes from, even if only in knowledge. 

I recently spoke with Dr. Rob Myers, PhD, a crop and soil scientist at the University of Missouri where he’s the director of the Center for Regenerative Agriculture and the regional director for the USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program. 

Myers’ interest in agriculture, and specifically, agronomy (the science of soil management and crop production), sparked when he was 14-years-old. Having grown up on his family’s grain farm, Myers has a unique understanding and a contagious passion for all things agriculture. Here, he discusses what agriculture looks like today; the benefits of buckwheat as a crop; and why agriculture matters to him. 

Where did your interest in agriculture originate? 

Definitely heavily influenced by growing up on a farm, and then I was also pretty interested in science as I was getting into my teenage years. We didn't have a lot of books at our house, but we had a set of encyclopedias where I read about an agronomist. I thought, what's an agronomist? Well, it's somebody that studies crops, and soils and the science of crops and soils. I thought that sounded pretty good. I like science. I like agriculture. I like being outside. So when I was 14 years old, I decided I was going to be an agronomist. 

Many people have an idea of what agriculture is, but outside of the textbook definition, how would you describe agriculture today?

Agriculture covers a lot. It certainly starts with farming, but it's more than just farming. It includes the supply of the things farmers need to grow crops and livestock – fertilizers, fuel for the farms, tractors, fencing materials, so that's a big industry in itself. Once the food is grown on the farm, or it could be fiber, like cotton, there's a lot involved with the processing and transportation. Eventually, things that are processed get made into products we all use. We tend to think of things like fruits and vegetables from the farm, but of course, all our processed foods also have a lot coming from the farm. When you look at a list of ingredients, those may be coming from many different farms all around the world. Agriculture is often called a big business, and that's true … It's one of the biggest parts of our economy when you look at the broad picture of what agriculture is.

What is the state of agriculture in the U.S. right now?

Like any area of our economy, it continues to change. Agriculture is often viewed as more traditional, and those that don't think about farming very much may think of the farmer with bib overalls, but you actually won’t find many farmers wearing bib overalls today! Most farmers are pretty technologically focused, they're driving tractors that can steer themselves, they may be downloading something on the internet like a podcast while the tractor is driving itself. We're starting to see tractors that don't even need someone sitting in them to operate. 

The really big thing that has changed in the last few years, though, is what agriculture can do for climate change. There was a thought several years ago that agriculture was just a contributor to climate change. Now we're realizing that our agricultural practices can help adapt to and mitigate climate change, so we're seeing farmers paid to do certain farming practices that will take greenhouse gasses out of the atmosphere and put those into the soil in the form of carbon, or reduce the amount of fertilizers we're using. Agriculture has a big stake there because farming and ranching are heavily influenced by the weather and if we can't predict the weather, we get more droughts, or we get more intense rainstorms, earlier freezes, more intense heat, all those things affect our ability to grow the food and fiber that we all rely on, so that's a big, big change for agriculture as it's both impacted by climate change, but now the focus is, what agriculture can do to help address climate change?

One of those focuses seems to be on “Regenerative Agriculture.” Since there is not yet one singular definition, what does Regenerative Agriculture mean to you?

If I was going to describe it briefly, I would say it's about having healthy soil that is resilient to a changing climate. It's a system of farming that involves greater biodiversity and trying to have this resiliency in the face of weather and climate challenges. How do we get farms that are more biologically diverse? If it's a ranch that has cattle on it, how do we get plants that are more native to the area instead of invasive plants on the ranch? Part of it is trying to farm with an influence from nature. As we've learned more about natural ecosystems, we see that they are naturally biologically diverse, they have integration of plants and animals, so that's part of regenerative farming as well. 

At our Center for Regenerative Agriculture we work on helping farmers think about how to improve their soil health, including with crops and livestock. We try to help them with specific practices like cover crops or new methods of grazing or using pollinator plants as part of the landscape. And then we're helping connect farmers to companies that are interested in promoting these activities, as well as helping farmers connect to programs that can support them whether it's with financial incentives or education. It's an exciting time to see some of these changes happening in agriculture.

One reason I am so excited about buckwheat is because of its inherent regenerative properties. It has a strong reputation for building healthy soil. What are some of buckwheat’s benefits for the soil? 

Buckwheat is a crop I've worked with a lot over the years and it's an interesting crop. There's a lot of things that you could say about buckwheat, just a few key highlights: It's a very fast growing crop, which is one of its advantages for fitting it into a rotation on farms. From an ecosystem services standpoint, it is a very long flowering plant over other crops which just flower for a week or so. Buckwheat flowers for several weeks. It starts flowering quickly and so it's great for pollinators. Beekeepers love it because it provides such a long period of pollen. But it's not just bees, it's other beneficial insects that really benefit from buckwheat. And then, there’s the soil. We've known for quite a while going back to much earlier times, even our early American farmers like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, recognized the benefits of buckwheat and grew it in rotation with their crops to improve the soil. We know there's things about buckwheat that help make phosphorus more available in the soil that help improve the health of the soil. So those are some key highlights: Its fast growth, its benefits for pollinators and other beneficial insects, and the fact that it can improve the soil.

Last but not least, BAM stands for Because Agriculture Matters. Why does agriculture matter to you?

Well, we all eat, but even more than just eating, we rely on agriculture in so many other ways. When we think about the air we breathe and the water we drink, those are influenced in a major way by agriculture, because it's such a large part of our landscape. If you look at the entirety of America, a huge fraction of it is in farmland and ranch land. How we manage that land makes a difference for the cleanness of the water we drink, the cleanness of the air that we breathe, as well as providing the food and fiber that we need. We all are impacted by farming and ranching, even if to us it's more abstract. 

I saw an article once saying, well, agriculture isn't very important because only 2% of the population is farmers. But another economist who was a more holistic thinker responded and said, Yes, but if you totally shut off food production, suddenly the value of what food was left would be 100% of the economy, because that's the first thing you would do other than water, the thing you would pay money for is food. So it is a very important aspect of all of our lives.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.