Regenerative agriculture can (and should) look different on every farm and ranch. More and more people, inside and outside the food system, are starting to see its value and ask how it can grow. It has the potential to help tackle some big challenges – storing carbon, supporting healthy soil and ecosystems, strengthening agricultural businesses and creating jobs along the way.
At the same time, there are still barriers that make it hard to scale regenerative agriculture. There’s work to do to understand what’s needed to make these practices easier for more producers to adopt and grow.
A social innovation is any initiative (product, process, program, project or platform) that challenges and, over time, contributes to changing the defining routines, resource and authority flows or beliefs of complex systems. (Waterloo Institute for Social Innovation and Resilience).
In the context of RAL, we are working with producers, industry leaders, food distributors, academics and policymakers to define the problems, map the systems and gain a deep understanding of the dynamics that hold Alberta’s agricultural system in place. RAL aims to advance regenerative agriculture in Alberta, while keeping its integrity in place. The question that brings everyone involved in RAL to the table, is:
As we’ve built RAL up since 2018, participants have identified five strategic initiatives to help us advance towards answering our convening question: Biodiversity, Amplify, Steward Ownership, the 4R’s (Fertilizer Management) and Roots & Rangelands. We have also identified some core values of the lab that guide our work in order to facilitate a shift in practices.
This initiative is aimed at promoting biodiversity through polyculture adoption and education across Alberta. To date, they have launched a “Polycultures Rock” campaign, which includes collating data, photos and promoting the results of the 2024 and 2025 polyculture trials.
This initiative is now supporting two new field trials: one exploring the viability of growing winter wheat with cover crops—as an intercrop and under grazing pressure—and another focused on incorporating cover crops into commodity rotations across Alberta.
Read one of our trial participants stories here: https://rr2cs.ca/seeding-change-polycultures-at-work-at-muddy-creek-ranch/
This initiative aims to improve access to regionally specific information and peer-to-peer support for regenerative agriculture practices. The Amplify group seeks to enable producers to access education, reduce risk and create community through knowledge sharing, digital tools, resources and collaborative networks.
A sub-project that has spun out from the Amplify group is the Resource Hub (currently under development). The Resource Hub will be an online platform focused on connecting Alberta farmers and ranchers with peer-to-peer support, information, advisors, events and stories of inspiration. Stay tuned for more information coming in summer 2026!
This is one of our more recently developed initiatives, which focuses on fertilizer usage and aims to increase producer uptake of 4R stewardship. Increased adoption of 4R’s will reduce nitrous oxide emissions, increase nitrogen use efficiency and optimize yields. The group intends to leverage the Alberta TIER carbon offset system to provide growers with financial support to cover costs of soil sampling and agronomic support.
Steward Ownership is an innovative land financing model that brings together regenerative producers, conservation organizations and impact investors in a shared ownership structure. By centering producers while integrating conservation goals and patient capital, this model supports land access, succession planning and ecological stewardship. It’s a collaborative approach that prioritizes long-term resilience over short-term returns—enabling farms and ranches to grow with integrity. This model has already been piloted successfully on a ranch in southern Alberta.
You can read the pilot here: https://rr2cs.ca/stewarding-the-land-building-the-future-the-story-of-timber-ridge-ranch/
Near Castor, Alberta, fourth-generation farmer Dave Weber is raising yaks and experimenting with polycultures to build soil health, extend grazing and keep his operation resilient. Blending tradition with innovation, Dave is proving that even in challenging prairie conditions, there’s room to grow differently.
At Muddy Creek Ranch in Fairview, Alberta, rancher Garth Shaw is blending generations of farming tradition with new regenerative approaches to create a more resilient future for his land, livestock and family.
This blog explores how Garth’s shift to polycultures is transforming more than just his fields. From balancing winter feeding strategies to building community resilience, Garth’s story highlights the power of staying open to learning and leading with care—for the land, the animals and the people connected to both.
Since well before regenerative agriculture became a buzzword, Glen and Kelly Hall have been quietly practicing its principles. At Timber Ridge ranch, near Stavely, Alberta the Halls are blending time-honoured traditions of ranching with forward thinking practices that put soil, water and biodiversity at the centre of the story.
Ranching in today’s agricultural climate come with its challenges – rising costs, extreme weather and difficulties with expansion and succession to name a few. That’s why the Halls, in partnership with conservation organizations and impact investors have embraced a bold alternative – steward ownership.
We spoke to the Halls about this innovate model, which flips conventional farm financing on its head. We discussed putting the stewards (producers) at the centre, how they set up collaborative agreements and how this is helping them plan for a successful future at Timber Ridge.
It’s clear from this conversation that connections underpin the whole system – connection to the land, the animals and their community. Glen and Kelly are living proof that when innovative thinking meets a deep rooted care for the land, anything is possible.
Join Rural Routes to Climate Solutions and the Data is Beautiful Initiative of the Regenerative Agriculture Lab as we discuss how regenerative agriculture practices can benefit you and your soils.
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With fertilizer prices hitting $1,000 a ton, it’s no surprise that cover crops are a hot topic. It makes sense that non-synthetic inputs like cover crops are becoming more and more appealing to producers. There’s many benefits to cover crops – including feeding livestock and pollinators, improving water filtration, suppressing weeds, building soil carbon and improving soil biology. In this episode, we’re joined by Kevin Elmy, of Cover Crops Canada, to discuss the ins and outs of cover crops.
The Gelowitz’s kept a garden on their farm where they grew several saskatoon bushes. Rick, who grew up in Calgary, but spent quite a few summer vacations on his uncle’s farms in Saskatchewan, has had a lifelong love for the native prairie berry. “It was my wife’s suggestion that we try to grow Saskatoon berries,” he recalls. “And that’s how it started.”