Summary
Abstract Modern agriculture is underpinned by a colonial, industrial and productivist discourse. Agricultural practices inspired by this discourse have fed billions but degraded socio-ecological systems. Regenerative agriculture (RA) is a prominent alternative seeking to transform food production and repair ecosystems. This paper proposes that RA discourse is supported by a shared storyline binding diverse actors and discourses together—a discourse coalition. Consequently, multiple discourses contribute to the over-arching discourse of RA. A discourse analysis was conducted on texts from ninety-six organisations and complimented by twenty-two interviews in Australia and the USA. This analysis identified nine discourses contributing to RA discourse: Restoration for Profit; Big Picture Holism; Regenerative Organic; Regrarian Permaculture; Regenerative Cultures; Deep Holism; First Nations; Agroecology and Food Sovereignty; and Subtle Energies. This paper describes and examines these component discourses and discusses tensions that may make RA vulnerable to co-optation and greenwashing, diluting its transformative potential.
Outcomes reported
Source report: Can regenerative agriculture deliver nutritious food and a just food system? (TABLE/Agile, 2025) File: Reckoning with Regeneration full report December 2025.pdf Original: Gordon, Ethan, et al. "Regenerative agriculture: a potentially transformative storyline shared by nine discourses." Springer Nature Link, vol. 18, 2023, pp. 1833-1849, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-022-01281-1
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