Chapter 4 and Conclusion

     This chapter brought up many important discussions based around Asian farmers, their traditional farming methods, and their experiences with farming in the U.S.  A section of the chapter that I found extremely interesting was the field day that took place at Keu Moua's farm.  Reading about the dozens of farmers from different backgrounds and experiences coming together to learn about the inner workings of a productive polyculture system really gave me a sense of hope for the future of regenerative agriculture.  Moua's use of rotating cover crops throughout different sections of her farm plot was a very effective method of increasing soil fertility.  In many people's eyes, methods such as this may seem "innovative," when in reality, these practices have been in place for thousands of years in different parts of the world.  An example of this is farmers in China raising fish within their rice fields.  This reminded me of the silvopasture systems I learned about last semester where plants and animals work in a mutually beneficial relationship within a farming system.  Fish excrement provides the plants with nutrients while the plants provide a habitat for insects which can be eaten by the fish.  Practices like these seem like the result of extensive modern research which was why I was shocked to learn that they were being implemented over 1,000 years ago.  

    There was one barrier to regenerative agriculture mentioned in the chapter that I never really thought about before.  Hmong farmers in the Central Valley that cannot purchase their own farmland must rent it out through a lease instead.  The major problem with this is that short term lease agreements and long term perennial agriculture do not mix.  Many of these land owners only allow annual crops which is basically the opposite of what regenerative agriculture is working to accomplish.