Have you ever walked on land cultivated with regenerative practices? You’ll probably find more “bugs,” more vegetation, more life. Because these practices are nothing more than techniques that restore the soil’s health. Let us explain how.
The basics of regenerative agriculture
Regenerative agriculture is becoming increasingly popular, although, in reality, it’s largely about reviving traditional methods. According to The Regen Foods, the company managing our plantation, it is defined as “a new way of producing food that helps mitigate the environmental, social, and economic crises facing the planet through practices that restore degraded soils, capture atmospheric carbon, and provide nutritious food and a fair livelihood for farmers.”
Thus, together with organic certification, we strive to recover the roots of our land to offer it a better future.
The practices we use at Sant Joan de Binissaida
How do we implement regenerative agriculture? Let us explain the practices we apply on our plantation.
The land is not tilled; instead, we allow a plant cover to grow, which serves very specific functions. Plant cover is like the skin of the soil, helping maintain its good health by protecting it from ultraviolet rays, wind, or heavy rains. This also helps prevent degradation. Plant cover basically involves allowing vegetation to grow spontaneously or even sowing certain species with specific functions, depending on what we want to achieve. For example, if there are beehives, as is the case at Sant Joan de Binissaida, we plant flowering plants. To be fully effective, plant covers must maintain a balance between three plant families: grasses, crucifers, and legumes.
No agrochemicals are used, meaning only organic products are applied for treatments on the plantation. In fact, no action is taken unless the pest is close to becoming a problem for the plantation and production.
However, preventive methods are important, and we use them systematically to protect the crops. In this regard, we have already mentioned kaolin, a natural white clay used to paint the olive trees. It is a product that is actually used to combat Xylella, but it also works very well against the olive fruit fly and prevents the appearance of common fungi in olive trees. In some way, it’s like whitewashing a house because it also helps protect the tree from heat and prevents water stress during the summer months.
In this way, we keep the plantation in optimal conditions, working throughout the seasons and adapting to the climate while focusing on restoring our soil.