Abstract
Regenerative agriculture (RA) is a farming system that nourishes people and the planet by promoting soil health and climate-resilient production practices. Conventional farming that involves repeated tillage, monocropping, and high-input production practices have led to soil degradation, a decline in crop productivity, and environmental issues. The RA practices improve soil health, increase soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration, and improve climate resilience. In this chapter, we discuss the impacts of RA practices on the chemical, physical, and biological indicators of soil health, soil microbial community dynamics, SOC sequestration, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, soil water storage, and water infiltration that leads to the sustainability of agriculture and improve the resilience to climate change and variability. Examples from the arid and semi-arid regions of the southwestern USA are highlighted to show RA practices as a viable strategy for improving soil health and sustainability in challenging environments. The magnitude of positive impacts on ecosystem functions may be less in the southwestern USA than in more productive, humid tropical and temperate ecosystems. However, RA practices are more important in low productivity, arid, and semi-arid regions where soil degradation and soil fertility loss are significant barriers to sustainable crop production. The RA should be promoted to enhance soil health, improve climate resilience, and enhance food security in challenging environments such as water-limited agroecosystems of the southwestern USA and worldwide to ensure food security while improving climate change resilience.