We were humbled to be invited to speak at Harvard Kennedy School's virtual conference on "Innovation, Investment and Policy in Regenerative Agriculture."

During this session Ashlie Burkart, Chief Scientific Officer at Germin8 Ventures and Non-Resident Fellow, Technology and Public Purpose Project, lead sessions with practitioners, private, civil and policy and discussed goals, policies and opportunities for more rapid adoption of soil health/carbon farming (“regenerative agriculture”) practices.

Sessions Included:

• Why Adopt Regenerative Agriculture?
• Adoption of Soil Health and Carbon Farming
• Policy and Investment in Regenerative Agriculture

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Watch the Recording

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ABOUT THE CONFERENCE

According to the UN, we have an estimated 60 years of farmable soil left on the Earth, mostly due to unsustainable agriculture. With that, regenerative agriculture, which focuses on soil regeneration and provides solutions for some of agriculture’s biggest problems – such as topsoil erosion, climate change, air and water pollution – is set to take center stage. Since building soil requires tremendous quantities of carbon, regenerative farming holds the key to moving atmospheric carbon back into the ground. It may take years for farmers to reap the large economic benefits of regenerative practices so innovative solutions in technologies and markets are needed to ease and incentivize the transition. Now <1% of the world’s farms are managed for soil health - the goal should be an aspirational 30-50% by 2030.

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Conference Agenda

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1:00-1:10pm ET
Welcome and Introduction
Sec. Ash Carter – Belfer Center Director, 25th U.S. Secretary of Defense & TAPP Faculty Director

1:10-1:20pm ET
Why Adopt Regenerative Agriculture?
Ashlie L Burkart, MD, CM – CSO of Germin8 Ventures, TAPP Non-Resident Fellow, Harvard Belfer Center

1:20-2:05pm ET
Adoption of Soil Health and Carbon Farming
Mitchell Hora – Farmer, Founder & CEO of Continuum Ag
Paul Gambill – Founder & CEO of Nori
Louise Edmonds – Founder & CEO of Carbon Sync
Bjorn Traag, PhD – CSO of Andes

2:05-2:10pm ET
Break

2:10-2:55pm ET
Policy and Investment in Regenerative Agriculture
Renee Vassilos– Director of Agriculture Innovation, The Nature Conservancy
Aria McLauchlan – Co-founder & Executive Director of Land Core
Allison Nepvieux – Director of Sustainability at Bushel
Philip Mulvey- Founder & CEO of Carbon Count, Author of Groundbreaking: Soil Security & Climate Change, Founder of Environmental Earth Sciences International

2:55-3:00pm ET
Closing and Thanks

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