Regenerative agriculture: searching for meaning via definition and philosophy

Despite the surge in enthusiasm for regenerative agriculture as a guiding concept, there has been very little conceptual or philosophical literature on the criteria for regenerative agriculture or its underlying rationale. Here, I provide a context-setting discussion of collected works on regenerative agriculture, noting their emphasis on specific agricultural practices rather than theoretical specification or defense of the concept. I then propose an approach that blends an ecological account of renewable elements in agricultural systems into a comprehensive ethics for evaluating alternative configurations of production. Conceptualized in this way, regenerative agriculture offers a framework that integrates two different disciplines—agricultural science and environmental ethics—leading us to a deeper understanding of the challenges and solutions towards more sustainable agriculture. This talk builds on two recent publications in npj Sustainable Agriculture (Congreves 2025a, 2025b) and examines the concept, definition, and philosophy.