Saving the environment seems like a great goal for the agriculture industry, but lets be real, this is a career. Not only do farmers need to feed the nation, they need to have money to feed their families. So how does the income of a regenerative farm look when compared to a conventional one?
A farm is a business. They need to make money to survive. Even though the future of the environment is a huge concern, farmers might not be willing to take a huge financial risk due to a small moral dissonance with their work. However, as time continues more members of the agriculture industry are recognizing the urgency of addressing environmental concerns. With an increased awareness comes a larger moral conflict and more people wanting to make a change. Now there is a relatively large amount of farms that practice regenerative agriculture to take data from.
In 2018, a study was done on 76 fields on 18 different farms, there was a comparison between conventional farming methods and regenerative farming methods on corn crops. The researchers found that regenerative farmers made more profit per 100 acres than conventional farmers. This was attributed to several different things.
One key component was biodiversity. Regenerative agriculture means that a farm will have a variety of crops and livestock to graze. Different crops and livestock attract different pests. In turn, these pests compete with each other in that ecosystem. It is a form of a natural pesticide that is one of the perks of regerative agriculture. Compare this to conventional farming methods where there is only one crop and less insects attracted to that singular crop. This creates less competition and an environment for the insects to flourish. In this study, farmers who had traditional farming methods used expensive seeds with prophylactic insecticide traits, while farmers practicing regenerative agriculture didn't need to use these premium seeds due to natural insecticide methods. Conventional farmers still had more insects despite spending more for their premium seeds.
Another key component was the use of fertilizers. Farmers who practice regenerative agriculture have livestock and crop diversity to provide the soil with a variety of nutrients. Because of this, they don't have to spend money on fertilizers as a conventional farmer would. Between the fertilizer and premium seed cost, a conventional farmer would spend 32% of their gross profits. Fertilizer and seed cost on a regenerative farm only cost 12% of their profit.
Finally, farms who practiced regenerative agriculture got to put a organic sticker on their product, which allows them to get a premium price for it. Overall, there was a 78% higher net profit when viewing corn crop (the most produced crop in the US) on farms that practiced regenerative agriculture than on conventional farms.
Source
https://www.conservationfinancenetwork.org/2020/04/15/farmers-on-the-frontlines-of-the-regenerative-agriculture-transition