How the Zai farming technique is transforming soil fertility in North Cameroon

After realizing that his soil was becoming more saline after repeated uses of chemical fertilizer, a farmer in India made the switch to organic farming with the hopes of saving his crops. By switching to organic farming he has a lower crop yield than he would by using chemicals, but he is hopeful others will see the benefits of this method.

After there was a fungal disease outbreak in the 1990s that affected cacao crops in Brazil, a group of 150 community members got together to collectively manage a farm to grow back cacao trees using agroforestry techniques. Because of their efforts, they sell their cacao to major chocolate brands and have seen their monthly income more than double.

One tactic for combatting climate change has to do with soil health. Soil can withdraw and store carbon from the atmosphere—at a higher rate when covered by manure—and also supports long-term soil sustainability and saves farmers money. Because agriculture already consumes much of the world's surface, proponents of carbon farming envision a world where large swathes of land act as a carbon sink. Potential drawbacks and things left to explore include how to produce compost without creating more energy than it saves and how to use cows effectively when they also contribute much of the carbon in the atmosphere.

A Nigerian agricultural entrepreneur is embracing hydroponics — a method that grows crops with water and no soil — as an alternative to farming methods that have led to land degradation. Because of Adebowale Onafowora’s knowledge, he has trained more than 20,000 people; and helped set up over 200 hydroponic centers. His inspiration led to the establishment of the Landmark University Greenhouse and Hydroponic Technology Centre, a place for research and training in the technique.

Humus farming is a technique that doesn’t harm the soil or organisms living in it but instead nourishes it, thus making it more sustainable for long-term use. Humus farming and other climate change mitigation tactics to revive soil and make it healthy and usable are spreading across Europe.

More and more farmers are turning to regenerative agriculture techniques as a way to cut down on costs, increase crop yields, and sequester carbon into soil as a way to reverse the effects of climate change. One farming family in Minnesota switched to no tillage farming and also planted cover crops and used animals to fertilize their land. Some people question their methods, but these farmers saw their cost of production decrease and increased the amount of organic matter in their soil compared with their neighbors.

On his organic farm in Illinois, Will Glazik is experimenting with different types of agricultural methods to increase his crop yield while also avoiding the harmful impacts of industrial farming. He’s part of a growing movement called “sustainable intensification,” which combines both conventional and organic farming techniques. While there are challenges with this approach and what works in one place might not work in another, combining these types of farming could help feed a growing global population.

A group of women called The Women, Food and Agriculture Network was founded in 1998 in Iowa to educate female landowners about land conservation and implementing sustainable practices on their farms. The group has held more than 250 meetings since 2009, reaching more than 3,800 women landowners—and their surveys find that after a one-day session, 50-70% of the women go on to take an action to improve conservation on their property. Longterm, this group empowers women to play a bigger role in the future of agriculture in the state.

Governments, UN officials, and climate experts alike are ringing the alarm bells of growing soil degradation around the world. But a new agricultural movement is tackling this challenge head on. Instead of the centuries-old method of ploughing, or turning up the soil, farmers have recently taken to keeping their fields covered with varied plants year round, to keep soil healthier. Advocates also point to lower costs on machinery and labor, more resilient crops, and climate change dividends as added benefits as well.

Kashmiri farmers are using traditional farming techniques in degraded wetlands to revive lotus stem cultivation. One farmer’s restored two-hectare plot produced 12 quintals of lotus stem in the first season, earning approximately $1,600. By 2023, at least 15 households across three villages had successfully restored their own plots using the same methods. Farmers converting waterlogged fields now earn between $1,600-$2,200 per hectare per season.