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How Do I Deal With Weeds Without Using Harmful Chemicals?
SECTION 1
Regenerative Agriculture

SECTION 2
All About
Glyphosate

SECTION 3
Learn
More

Section 1:
What is regenerative agriculture?
Chemical agriculture enthusiastics have told the world that traditional agriculture cannot feed the world’s growing population, which is why GMO and synthetic fertilizers are necessary. Evidence points to a new wisdom: The world cannot be fed unless the soil is fed. Right now, we are in a soil crisis. Scientists predict we have roughly 50 harvests left if we continue with chemical agriculture practices such as tilling and synthetic inputs on a global scale. Regenerative agriculture enhances and sustains the health of the soil by restoring its carbon content, which in turn improves productivity—just the opposite of chemical agriculture.
Regenerative agricultural practices include:
- No tillage
- Diverse cover crops
- In-farm fertility (no external nutrients)
- compost
- Holistic planned grazing
- No pesticides or synthetic fertilizers
- Multiple crop rotations
- Biochar
- Pollinator “highways”
Together, these practices increase carbon-rich soil organic matter. The result: vital microbes proliferate, roots go deeper, nutrient uptake improves, water retention increases, plants are more pest resistant, and soil fertility compounds. Farms are seeing soil carbon levels rise from a baseline of 1 to 2 percent up to 5 to 8 percent over ten or more years, which can add up to 25 to 60 tons of carbon per acre.
It is estimated that at least 50 percent of the carbon in the earth’s soils has been released into the atmosphere over the past centuries. Bringing that carbon back home through regenerative agriculture is one of the greatest opportunities to address human and climate health, along with the financial well-being of farmers.
How do I purchase produce from regenerative farmers?
The Farmer’s Footprint team is hard at work developing a centralized database of regenerative farms. Be sure you’re on our newsletter to be notified when our map database is complete.
In the meantime, we encourage you to search your town name and the following phrases on the Ecosia web browser (they plant a tree for every search): regenerative farm, biodynamic farm, organic farm, organic CSA.
We also highly recommend attending your local farmers market to purchase food and ask the vendors about their farming practices! A conversation can have a profound impact on someone’s life, and you can learn more about how the food you are purchasing was grown.
If you are a farmer, click here to submit your farm to our database.
How can I find a CSA near me?
Enter your city/zip code on Local Harvest’s site to find a farm share program (CSA) near you. Or simply search an organic farm in your area and ask them if they sell direct-to-consumer!
What role do animals play in regenerative agriculture?
Animals play a critical role in building organic matter in the soil; more specifically, ruminants digest plant matter in such a way where their stool has shown to be paramount to enhancing soil health.
When ruminants (mammals whose diets are plant-based) are strategically managed in a holistic rotational grazing system, it’s been reported that they’re directly responsible for helping the soil sequester significant amounts of atmospheric carbon, greatly improving water retention, bringing native grasslands back (which eliminates the need for weed control via synthetic chemicals like glyphosate), and increasing biodiversity (Drawdown, 2017).
Unlike confined animal feed operations (CAFO), also known as factory farms, managed grazing accounts for the entire ecosystem’s health with animal welfare being at the forefront.
In this system, ranchers and farmers respectfully work with ruminants (cows, sheep, chickens, bison, goats, etc.) to increase the holistic health of their pasture or orchard (animals grazing trees is known as silvopasture). Managed grazing gives animals freedom of movement, so they can fully express themselves as sentient beings while creating a true ecosystem within the context of the farm or ranch they live on.
It’s important to note that managed/holistic grazing lets animals freely roam in paddocks and feed off the land, which in many managed grazing systems is a robust supply of native grasses, protein rich weeds, and diverse cover crops. Thus, the need to supply animals with outsourced food, usually genetically modified and chemically grown corn, or antibiotics is no longer necessary.
Practitioners of managed grazing report that not only does the organic matter in their soil drastically increase within several years, in some cases by several percentage points, but their costs go down and profits go up as the land can support more animals, and the need for equipment and synthetic inputs ends.
We realize the idea of working with animals is not something everyone supports, and we believe that choosing what happens to an animal after its life cycle is over is a personal decision. If you choose to consume meat, it is critical to understand the distinction between confined animal feeding operations and holistic grazing systems.
We hope that while you are here, you will consider the overall benefit ruminants have in rebuilding soil health, biodiversity, replenishing natural aquifers, and balancing the carbon cycle (addressing climate change).
If you’d like to dig deeper into this topic, here are some recommendations:
Savory Institute – Holistic Management Case Studies, Profiles, and Articles
Sacred Cow: The Case for (Better) Meat – Holistic Management Case Studies, Profiles, and Articles
Section 2:
What is glyphosate?
Glyphosate is an herbicide and the active ingredient in weed killer products such as RoundUp™. It is applied to the leaves of plants to kill both broadleaf plants and grasses. Glyphosate products are used on lawns and gardens, in agriculture and forestry, and to control weeds in industrial and residential areas, including school fields and public parks.
How do you pronounce glyphosate?
Where is glyphosate sprayed?
It is estimated that we spray more than 4.5 billion pounds of glyphosate into our soils and plants, which eventually pollute the water cycles of Earth. Numerous cities, counties, states and countries throughout the world have taken steps to either restrict or ban glyphosate. Check out this link to see each country’s status on glyphosate regulations.
What is the history of glyphosate?
In the 1970s, Monsanto scientist John Franz discovered glyphosate as an herbicide (weed killer). By 1974, it was patented by Monsanto and brought to the market under the trade name Roundup.
Over the last four decades, glyphosate has grown to dominate the herbicide industry as the most effective and inexpensive weed management technology in history.
In 1985, The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classified glyphosate as a Class C Carcinogen, which means it’s possibly Carcinogenic to humans because there is little to no data on it. In 1991, the EPA changed the classification of glyphosate from Class C to Class E which suggests “evidence of non-carcinogenicity for humans.” This change in glyphosate’s classification coincidentally occurred during the same period that Monsanto was developing its first Roundup-Ready (glyphosate-resistant) Genetically Modified Crops.
Is glyphosate registered as an antibiotic?
Why does the EPA say glyphosate is “safe”?
Regional, national, and international agencies have engendered much controversy over glyphosate’s safety. The EPA states, “There are no risks of concern to human health when glyphosate is used according to the label and that it is not a carcinogen.” However, the courts and the scientific community believe otherwise. A recent study by researchers at the University of Washington found that glyphosate raises the risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma to those exposed to the substance by 41 percent. Prior to that, the World Health Organization reclassified glyphosate as carcinogenic to humans.
What are glyphosate alternatives?
Sign up to download Non-Toxic Neighborhoods’ Organic Toolkit featuring their Preferred Products List of organic alternatives.
What steps can I take to get glyphosate banned in my community?
Download Non-Toxic Neighborhoods’ free digital PLAYbook for a step-by-step approach on how to ban glyphosate in your neighborhood.
Section 3:
Where can I get my soil tested?
How do I find POC owned farms?

Sundance Harvest – Ontario, Canada
Rise and Root Farm – Chester, New York
Patchwork City Farms – Atlanta, Georgia
Ron Finley – Los Angeles, California
Amber Tamm – Brooklyn, New York
Seka Hills Farm – Clarksburg, California
Sakari Farms – Bend, Oregon
Indigenous Regeneration – San Pasqual Reservation, California
Ultimate List of Black Farmers By State
Do you have resources for female farmers?
What books do you recommend?

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants – Robin Wall Kimmerer
Dark Emu – Bruce Pascoe
Indigenous Food Sovereignty in the United States – Devon A. Mihesuah, Elizabeth Hoover, Winona LaDuke
Call of the Reed Warbler – Charles Massy
Citizen Farmers: The Biodynamic Way to Grow Healthy Food, Build Thriving Communities, and Give Back to the Earth – Daron Joffe
Permaculture, A Designer’s Manual – Bill Mollison
Bring Back Black Farmers – Will Scott
Seeds of our Ancestors, Seeds of Life – Winona LaDuke
One Straw Revolution – Masanobu Fukuoka
Gaia’s Garden – Toby Hemenway
Teaming With Microbes – Jeff Lowenfels
The Field Guide I for Actively Aerated Compost Tea – Elaine Ingham
Organic Manifesto – Maria Rodale
Sacred Seed – Vandana Shiva
The Market Gardener: A Successful Grower’s Handbook for Small Scale Organic Farming – Jean-Martin Fortier
For the Love of Soil– Nicole Masters
Project Drawdown – Paul Hawkens
Secrets of the Soil – by Peter Tompkins
The Secret Life of Plants – Peter Tompkins + Christopher Bird
As Long As Grass Grows – Dina Gilio-Whitaker
In Defense of Food – Michael Pollan
Who Really Feeds the World? The Failures of Agribusinesses and the Promise of Agroecology – Vandana Shiva
Restoration Agriculture: Real World Permaculture for Farmers – Mark Shepard
Farming While Black – Leah Penniman
Freedom Farmers – Monica M. White
Kiss The Ground
– Josh Tickell
What films do you recommend?
What TED Talks do you recommend?

How to Fight Desertification and Reverse Climate Change – Alan Savory
Regeneration of Our Lands – Gabe Brown
Down and Dirty: A Pile of Reasons to Fall in Love with Dirt – Nicole Masters
Solutions to the Food and Ecological Crisis Today – Vandana Shiva
A Climate Solution Right Under Your Feet – Asmeret Asefaw Berhe
Why You Should Shop at Your Local Farmers Market – Mohammad Modarres
Soil- From Dirt to Lifeline -Fred Kirschenmann
6 Ways Mushrooms Can Save The World – Paul Staments
Soil Carbon- Putting Soil Back Where It Belongs – Tony Lovell
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