At Sarr Green Hectares Gambia Ltd., our business is rooted in the earth because we rely upon the output of Mother Nature and farming communities – oats, wheat, dairy, corn, sugar beets and a whole host of crops and livestock – to make food the world loves.
Threats to agriculture, like extreme droughts and floods, impact our business and our ability to help feed a growing population.
To drive growth and increase resilience, we need to move beyond just sustaining our planet, and use our scale to start regenerating it.
We believe the most promising solutions start with healthy soil.
Healthy soil has the ability to pull carbon out of the atmosphere (where in excess quantities it is a harmful greenhouse gas) and store it underground where it can restore nutrients and feed an array of biology and life.
This is important because up to one-third of greenhouse gas emissions stem from the food system, an estimated 80% of which comes from agriculture.
So, we are on a journey to make a meaningful difference through Regenerative Agriculture, which we define as holistic, principles-based approach to farming and ranching that seeks to strengthen ecosystems and community resilience.
Our approach to regenerate agriculture seeks improvements in the following outcomes:
Regenerative Agriculture works best when the farming or ranching operation is viewed as an ecosystem.
There are six core principles of regenerate agriculture that we use as the basis for our work.
We believe that to generate positive impact at scale, all types of agriculture – organic and conventional – can be part of the solution.
We believe measuring outcomes is critical to ensure that implementing regenerative agriculture leads to desirable outcomes.
By restoring and enhancing natural ecosystem processes like water and nutrient cycling, pest predation and weed competition, regenerative agriculture improves ecosystem function and builds resilience over time. This supports productivity, while reducing reliance on inputs needed to combat system stressors like pests, nutrient deficiencies, and diseases.
Soil is a complex ecosystem that forms the base of the food chain for humans and all land animals. Soil also plays an essential role in balancing the earth’s ecosystem and our climate. Healthier soil can hold more water, increase resilience to floods and droughts, supply more nutrients to plants, and purify water.
Crops, animals and communities rely on clean water to flourish. Regenerative agriculture helps maximize water use efficiency in rain-fed and irrigated systems. In addition to water utilization, these same practices can reduce agriculture’s impact on water quality, helping to protect and restore clean water in nearby streams, rivers and lakes.
Diversity in plants, grazing animals, wildlife and insects helps to improve soil health and build resilience to pests and diseases in farm and ranch ecosystems.
Health of the ecosystem is linked with the health of the cow. Regenerative agriculture includes rotational grazing and feeding cows a diverse mix of crops, both practices that support cow health. Healthier cows build resiliency back into the whole dairy ecosystem.
We have multiple workstreams underway to advance the use of these principles, including pilot programs, brand activation, land conversions, research and investments.