The Benefits of Regenerative Organic Farming —And How Nootz Joined the Movement

“Regenerative organic farming is agriculture that rejuvenates the land instead of merely extracting from it.”

The Crisis in Soil Health: Why We Need Regenerative Organic Farming Now

The Problem

Soil is one of the most ubiquitous, non-renewable natural resources we possess and is considered to be “Earth’s living skin” . It plays an irreplaceable role in nourishing the health of humans and the global biosphere, providing habitats that support thousands of different species of fungi, bacteria and invertebrates. Moreover, soil acts as an extraordinary carbon sink, with its ability to store three times the amount of carbon than what is in the atmosphere and two times the amount of carbon that is in all plants and trees, thus helping to limit climate change. What’s more, this healthy ecosystem helps to drive the Earth’s carbon, nitrogen and water cycles, thereby creating the nutrients and food we need to survive. Soil produces a staggering 95 percent of humanity’s food supply, growing both the crops that we eat and the grasses and other plants that are fed to livestock.

However, the soil beneath our feet is a dwindling resource. It takes hundreds of years to generate one centimetre of new soil but it can take just one year or even less to lose it, and so, its decline is one of the most pressing environmental and health crises of our time. To highlight the severity of neglecting soil health, in a letter sent to the country’s governors in 1937, former US president Franklin D. Roosevelt said: ‘The nation that destroys its soil, destroys itself’.

Today, a map created by Save Soil, using data from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD, 2019 map) and an estimation from the Global Environment Facility (GEF, 2050) estimates that by 2050, nearly 95% of the planet’s land surface would be degraded, if current rates of soil degradation continue. Every second, an equivalent of four football fields of healthy soil becomes degraded – adding up to a total of 100 million hectares every year, according to SDG Action. This issue is exacerbated by the fact that by 2050, the global population will have ballooned to 9.8 billion.

As we are well aware, non-degraded healthy soil is a direct necessity for 95% of the food production for more than 8 billion people. Therefore, this degradation is not just an environmental issue; it directly impacts our food security. If we delve deeper into the problem, we can see that intensive farming practices have led to a phenomenon known as Crop Nutrient Decline. Studies comparing nutrient data from the mid-20th century to today show a significant decline in the concentration of essential minerals (like calcium, iron, and phosphorus) and vitamins in many common crops [3.3]. For instance, some vegetables have been reported to have declines in calcium, iron, and Vitamin C concentration of up to 15-38% over the past half-century, making it likely that the same carrots we eat today aren’t as nutritious as the carrots our grandparents ate.

What’s Causing It?

The primary driver of this soil depletion is conventional industrial agriculture. Farming practices , such as heavy tillage (plowing), monocropping, and the excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, strip the soil of its vitality

Tillage breaks apart the soil structure, leading to rapid oxidation of stored soil organic carbon (SOC) into atmospheric CO2 and leaving the ground vulnerable to erosion. Monoculture (growing the same crop year after year) further depletes specific nutrients and disrupts the natural balance of the soil’s intricate biological network.

The Solution

The future of food cannot be based on an extractive model. We need a fundamental shift. This is where Regenerative Organic (RO) Farming emerges—a paradigm that moves beyond merely sustaining resources to actively restoring and enhancing the health of our planet, starting with the soil.

What is Regenerative Organic (RO) Farming? Defining the Three Pillars

The Definition

Regenerative Organic Farming is a holistic, systems-based approach that focuses on revitalising soil health to produce high-quality, nutritious food while simultaneously tackling climate change and ensuring fair working conditions. It is agriculture modelled on nature.

The Three Pillars (The Regenerative Organic Certified ™ Standard)

Source: https://www.foodchainid.com/sustainability/certification/roc-certification/

The most recognized standard in this space, the Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC) framework, integrates three crucial, non-negotiable pillars:

  1. Soil Health: This is the bedrock. It involves practices that build soil organic matter, increase biodiversity, improve soil structure, and ultimately sequester carbon (removing it from the atmosphere and storing it in the soil).
  2. Animal Welfare: This ensures livestock are raised humanely, given adequate living conditions, and have access to pasture, allowing them to express natural behaviours (where applicable).
  3. Social Fairness: Acknowledging the human side of agriculture, this pillar mandates fair wages, safe working conditions, and equitable opportunities for farmers and workers throughout the supply chain.

Why Not Just “Organic”?

RO farming uses the existing USDA Organic (or equivalent, like EU Organic) standard as its mandatory baseline, prohibiting toxic synthetic pesticides and fertilisers. However, RO goes further by requiring positive and measurable regenerative outcomes (e.g., actively building topsoil and proving climate action), not just avoiding chemical harm.

The Toolkit for Soil Revival: Key RO Practices and the Underlying Science

Regenerative practices are designed to mimic natural ecosystems, allowing the soil’s biology to thrive and do the work that synthetic inputs previously replaced.

Practice Key Action The Scientific Mechanism
Minimising Tillage (or No-Till) Disturbing the soil as little as possible. Tillage oxidises soil organic carbon (SOC) into CO2. No-till, on the other hand, is an agricultural practice that avoids mechanical soil disturbance to enhance soil health, sequester carbon, and improve water retention. Instead of turning the ground over before planting, which releases stored carbon and breaks apart the delicate soil structure, seeds are placed directly into the residue from the previous harvest.This practice preserves the delicate mycelial networks (hyphae)—the soil’s circulatory system—which are destroyed by tilling, helping to create stable soil aggregates and protect stored carbon.
Cover Crops Planting non-cash crops (legumes, grasses) in the off-season or between rows. Cover crops shield the soil from erosion, maintain living roots to feed soil microbes year-round, and—in the case of legumes— fix atmospheric nitrogen back into the soil, reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers.
Crop Rotation/ Intercropping/ Agroforestry/ Diversity Crop rotation, intercropping, and agroforestry all work together to regenerate soil by keeping the land biologically active year-round. Crop rotation changes what’s planted each season (Growing different crops in a sequence on the same land); intercropping grows multiple crops together; agroforestry mixes trees with food crops like coconut and fruit. Together these practices increase biodiversity, break pest and disease cycles naturally, provide a diverse food source for the soil’s microbial community, enhancing nutrient cycling and stabilising soil structure [5.3], while helping farmlands trap carbon — all confirmed by the Rodale Institute’s research on regenerative agriculture.
Integrated Grazing (Holistic Management) Managed movement of livestock to mimic herds in nature. The action of grazing stimulates grass growth and encourages deep rooting. Hooves lightly disturb the ground and trample organic matter (manure and old plant material) into the soil, acting as a natural fertilizer and accelerating topsoil building.

Beyond Organic: The Proven Benefits of RO Farming for Climate, Water, and Food

Just imagine if all these practices were applied collectively? The benefits would be transformational, for both the planet and human health. For instance:

Climate Change Mitigation (Carbon Sequestration)

Soil is the world’s second-largest carbon sink. By building Soil Organic Matter (SOM), RO farming practices can turn agricultural land from a carbon source into a climate solution, actively drawing down and stabilizing atmospheric carbon dioxide in the ground.

Improved Water Cycle and Drought Resilience

A key finding in regenerative agriculture is the incredible boost to water retention. Soil rich in organic matter acts like a sponge, dramatically increasing water infiltration and holding capacity, which is essential for farm resilience during droughts. Higher SOM reduces runoff and erosion, conserving precious water resources.

Enhanced Biodiversity

RO systems support the entire soil food web—from bacteria and fungi to earthworms and beneficial insects. Minimising synthetic chemicals and increasing plant diversity (via cover crops and rotation) leads to a naturally balanced ecosystem and better natural pest control.

Nutrient Density (The Food Benefit)

The evidence is growing: healthier soil grows healthier food. Preliminary comparisons between crops grown on regenerative farms and those from conventional systems show that RO crops can have higher levels of certain vitamins, minerals, and crucial phytochemicals (plant compounds with antioxidant properties). This supports the conclusion that soil health is an underappreciated influence on nutrient density, offering a pathway to reversing Crop Nutrient Decline.

From Sourcing to Sustainability: Nootz’s Commitment to Regenerative Principles

While achieving full Regenerative Organic Certification (ROC) is a rigorous and long-term goal, Nootz has actively embedded the core principles of RO into its Sri Lankan supply chain today, demonstrating a commitment to ethical sourcing and environmental stewardship over simple scalability. At Nootz, we source coconut and fruit from farms that use these practices because the result is better for the planet, better for farmers, and better for what ends up in your bottle: cleaner nutrition and truer flavour.

Foundation of Organic Quality

Nootz already meets the crucial organic baseline for regenerative agriculture, with our organic coconut smoothies holding both EU Organic, JAS Organic and USDA NOP certifications. This confirms our dedication to non-toxic production.

The Pillar of Social Fairness (Direct Action)

Nootz believes planetary health starts with people. We work with a diverse network of organic farmers in Sri Lanka, creating a supply chain focused on economic resilience, directly addressing the Social Fairness pillar:

  • Mitigating Post-Harvest Loss: Farmers in peak seasons often face significant crop waste and low prices. Nootz tackles this by actively purchasing surplus coconuts, mangoes, pineapples, papayas and passion fruit at peak harvest, which can mitigate losses of up to 30% for some fruits in the region as per UNIDO FAO estimates. “At Nootz, we turn post-harvest losses into nourishing smoothies. That’s circularity in action.” (Dulara De Alwis, CEO)
  • Ensuring Fair Prices: We offer fair, agreed-upon prices through “buyback LOIs” (Letters of Intent), which provide farmers with the economic stability needed to cover their costs and invest in long-term practices for their land.
  • Our farming and processing facilities are SMETA-audited, in line with Sedex—the world’s most widely used ethical trade audit framework. This ensures compliance with internationally recognised standards for fair wages, safe working conditions, worker welfare, and ethical labour practices.

The Pillar of Soil Health (Encouragement & Support)

We actively encourage and support our organic coconut farmers to adopt regenerative practices for their land:

  • Promoting Intercropping: We work with farmers to intercrop other fruits (like pineapples and mangoes) alongside their coconut palms. This is a foundational regenerative technique that diversifies the farm’s output and naturally enhances soil health by improving microbial diversity and nutrient cycling.

A Commitment to Circularity (Efficiency & Waste Reduction)

Nootz applies circular economy principles to minimize its environmental footprint, a key component of sustainable, regenerative thinking:

Your Plate, Your Planet: What Choosing Nootz Means for You

When you choose a Nootz organic coconut smoothie, you are not just making a health choice—you are casting a vote for a more resilient and equitable food system.

Beyond the Smoothie

Your purchase directly funds a system that is committed to regenerative principles:

  • Supports Farmers Directly: You help farmers in our network achieve economic stability, allowing them to focus on the long-term health of their land.
  • Values Circularity: You support a business that minimizes waste, proving that high-quality food production can coexist with efficient, closed-loop systems.
  • Quality You Can Taste: By reinforcing organic methods and encouraging practices like intercropping, you support farming that enhances soil vitality, which in turn contributes to the potential nutrient density of the ingredients.Additionally, healthy soil produces fuller, deeper, more complex flavours—something you can taste in every Nootz bottle
  • The Future is Regenerative: We are transparent about our ambition. Nootz is committed to the principles of Regenerative Organic farming and is actively working with our farmer network on implementing the practices that will potentially lead to full certification in the future.

Conclusion: The Future of Food is Rooted in Regeneration

The science is clear: the health of our planet, the quality of our food, and the well-being of farmers are all intrinsically linked to the health of our soil. Regenerative Organic principles offer a powerful, proven path to reversing degradation and building a more resilient food future.

Nootz’s work in Sri Lanka is a tangible example of a company prioritizing people and planet over the easy scalability of conventional farming. We are proving that businesses can, and must, be a force for good by:

  • Ethical Sourcing (Buyback LOIs)
  • Waste Reduction (Circularity)
  • Empowering Farmers (Promoting Intercropping)

The possibility of healing the planet through what we eat is real. Join us in supporting this vital movement. Look for brands committed to regenerative action, and enjoy your Nootz smoothie, the world’s first shelf stable coconut smoothie, while knowing that every sip supports a healthier planet, a thriving farmer, and a more sustainable future.

References

The following sources were used to provide scientific grounding and context for the arguments presented in this article:

December 23, 2025