Humusaufbau within German-speaking regenerative farming communities in Switzerland and Austria

Abstract

This paper contextualises regenerative agriculture (RA) in Switzerland and Austria through qualitative interviews with farmers in order to explore how Humusaufbau (soil organic matter increase) acts as a boundary object, unifying diverse discourses and practices. We show that in this context, RA by centring on Humusaufbau actively addresses the challenges posed by the climate crisis to agriculture while simultaneously providing farmers with accessible solutions that enhance their sense of self-efficacy. The farmers interviewed articulate strong expectations of Humusaufbau regarding climate adaptation and mitigation potentials at the farm level. Regenerative farmers individually combine practices out of a larger set of regenerative farming practices (RFPs), with the goal of facilitating Humusaufbau. Many of these RFPs stem from other sustainable farming approaches. RA thereby challenges prior existing distinctions between established sustainable farming approaches through the selective recombination of their practices. Our analysis identifies three distinct discourses farmers use to justify RFPs: organic, technical, and alternative RA. These discourses converge around Humusaufbau from different approaches, bridging organic and conventional farmers. We find that the direct transformative potential of RA in Switzerland and Austria is constrained across all three discourses by a focus on farm-level solutions, with limited engagement with broader social or systemic change. However, the unifying dimension of Humusaufbau and the role it plays in integrating organic and non-organic farmers in a community offering an alternative discourse to mainstream conventional farming, might lay the ground for future transformation.