Regenerative agriculture practices and their impact on soil carbon restoration in degraded croplands

Abstract

Leading soil scientists argue that degraded agricultural soils represent the largest untapped carbon sink on land. This research measured three regenerative agriculture (RA) practices—cover cropping, compost amendment, and a full regenerative package—on soil organic carbon, microbial biomass, and aggregate stability in degraded Po Valley croplands over five years (2018-2023). Full RA increased SOC from 9.8 to 17.8 g/kg (+81.6%), while conventional management declined to 8.9 g/kg. Microbial biomass carbon and mineralisable nitrogen both more than doubled. These results confirm that regenerative practices can reverse decades of carbon loss within five years.