A Credibility Report for Regenerative Agriculture

A Credibility Report for Regenerative Agriculture 

The American Regeneration Summit marked an important moment in the evolution of regenerative agriculture.

The gathering brought together farmers, scientists, entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, and practitioners united by a shared conviction: the future of American health begins with the health of our soil.

Throughout the Summit, one message became clear. The solutions needed to transform our food system already exist. Across the country, farmers and innovators are demonstrating alternatives to the chemical-intensive approaches that have dominated modern agriculture for decades. Through regenerative practices, biological solutions, improved soil management, and emerging technologies, a new generation of agricultural systems is proving that we can restore ecosystems, support farmers, improve food quality, and strengthen the resilience of our communities.

The opportunity before us is no longer simply to identify better practices. It is to build the partnerships, investment strategies, and policy alignment necessary to bring these solutions to scale.

A Moment of National Opportunity

During the Summit, Secretary Kennedy spoke about the importance of building enough confidence, credibility, and alignment around regenerative agriculture that it could become a meaningful component of a broader effort to make America healthier.

Through the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission, Secretary Kennedy highlighted the potential for collaboration among multiple federal agencies—including the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—to address the deep connections between agriculture, food systems, environmental stewardship, and public health.

Secretary Kennedy raised the possibility of a coordinated, multi-agency investment to accelerate progress toward regenerative agriculture.

The scale of that opportunity led to an important question:

How can we ensure that the investments create lasting benefits for farmers, communities, and the health of our nation?

From Opportunity to Action

Following the Summit, American Regeneration began reconnecting with our network of advisors, practitioners, and partners to explore how we could help develop a practical blueprint for advancing regenerative agriculture at scale.

Our focus was clear: if we want to create a healthier America, we must begin by restoring the foundation of our food system - the soil.

Healthy soils influence the quality of our food, the resilience of our farms, the vitality of rural communities, and the long-term health of our population. Regenerative agriculture provides a framework for addressing these interconnected challenges by restoring biological systems, improving nutrient cycling, reducing dependence on harmful inputs, and strengthening the relationship between agriculture and human health.

To help inform this work, American Regeneration convened conversations with leaders across the regenerative ecosystem, including scientists, farmers, investors, and organizations focused on measurement, implementation, and farmer transition.

The early development of this framework was led by American Regeneration advisors Carter Williams of iSelect Fund, Pete Oberle of Trailhead Capital and Ellen Brown of Crusonia. We also engaged Jonathan Lundgren of the Thousand Farms Initiative and Eric Smith of Edacious. Our advisors at Regenified provided their regenerative transition framework, including their 6-3-4 model designed to support conventional farmers moving toward regenerative practices.

These conversations helped connect many of the people and organizations already working to create a more resilient and regenerative food system.

Informing the National Conversation

As the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services developed its issue brief on regenerative agriculture and population health, American Regeneration helped connect subject matter experts and practitioners whose research, experience, and insights could help inform the report.

We encouraged the authors to engage directly with leaders across the regenerative agriculture community and incorporate relevant data, field experience, and practical perspectives from those working to advance regenerative systems.

On June 25, 2026, HHS published Regenerative Agriculture and Population Health: Examining How Regenerative Agriculture Can Support a Healthier Food System and Better Health Outcomes.

The brief represents an important milestone in the national recognition of regenerative agriculture. By examining regenerative agriculture through the lens of population health, it helped expand the conversation beyond farming practices alone and highlighted the connections among soil health, food systems, and human health.

On that same day, President Donald Trump signed the Executive Order “Advancing Regenerative Agriculture and Strengthening American Farm Resilience.”

Together, these developments marked an important shift: regenerative agriculture is increasingly being recognized not only as an agricultural practice, but as a strategy connected to public health, environmental stewardship, economic resilience, and the future strength of American agriculture.

A Theory of Change: From Soil Health to National Health

The journey from the American Regeneration Summit to this emerging national focus on regenerative agriculture reflects a clear theory of change.

Transformation begins with demonstrated solutions. Across farms and communities, regenerative practitioners have spent years proving that healthier soils can create healthier agricultural systems by reducing dependence on harmful inputs, improving resilience, strengthening farm economics, and creating the conditions for more nutritious food.

The next step is building shared understanding and credibility. By connecting farmers, scientists, investors, health experts, and policymakers, American Regeneration is helping bridge the gap between solutions being demonstrated in the field and the systems needed to support adoption at scale.

We know that:

Healthy soils → healthier farms → healthier food systems → healthier people → a more resilient America.

The opportunity now is to translate recognition into action.

Achieving this vision will require collaboration across government, agriculture, science, finance, and communities. It will require investment in farmers leading this transition, measurement systems that track progress, and policies that support practical implementation.

The future of agriculture is not only about how we grow food. It is about how we build a healthier relationship between people, land, and the systems that sustain us.

American Regeneration is committed to helping build the bridges necessary to make that future possible—connecting innovation with implementation, farmers with resources, and the health of our soils with the health of our nation.

The path to a healthier America begins beneath our feet.