Regenerative agriculture landmark study highlights biodiversity, farming and eco benefits for farmers

European farmers transitioning to regenerative agriculture can produce significantly more food for lower prices compared to average conventional practices, flags a new study.

Moreover, reliance on conventional agricultural practices and methods puts food security at risk due to fragile yields, rising input quantities and costs, increasing economic pressure on farmers, and climate instability, which causes major losses to the agri-food system. 

The European Alliance for Regenerative Agriculture (EARA) study is released as the European Commission estimates €60 billion (US$68.5 billion) in losses to agricultural revenue and food security during 2025, which will increase to €90 billion (US$103 billion) by 2050. 

Landmark research project

The research, funded by EIT Food, is the first of its kind to examine regenerative agriculture. It highlights how farmers are leading the transformation toward regenerating forms of agriculture while busting the myth that future food security in Europe depends upon the status quo, conventional, high-input chemical agriculture.

The EARA study — which benchmarks 78 regenerating farms in 14 countries covering over 7,000 hectares against their neighboring and national average conventional farmers — reveals that reliance on conventional agricultural practices and methods damages Europe and the world.

Those using regenerating forms of agriculture — including agroecology, agroforestry, conservation agriculture, organic agriculture, animal husbandry, market gardening, and holistic planned grazing — exceed in input reduction, biological improvements, and yield resilience.

The findings show that regenerative agriculture delivers more food security, farmer profitability, and ecological resilience. It outperforms conventional systems in key metrics.

Focus on farmers

According to the report, regenerative pioneers show 24% to 38% higher productivity than the average European farmer across 14 countries studied.

The farmers participated in this study as leaders of Europe’s Regenerating Movement. They are members of theEARA and the European Conservation Agriculture Federation in consultation with private sector companies like Unilever and Soil Capital or regional initiatives such as the Iberian Association of Regenerative Agriculture, Baltic Sea Action Group, Greenotec, or WeAreTheRegeneration. 

“The Green Revolution can be put to the dustbin of history. The fourth agricultural revolution is here, led by farmers joining forces with nature, relearning ancient wisdom and holistic worldviews, combined with the newest science and autonomy-enhancing technology,” says 

Simon Kraemer, executive director of EARA and lead author of the study. 

 “Together with the farmer-led association EARA, we have conducted a study that embraces a new look toward agroecosystems, searching for innovative ways to stimulate rural areas and secure food security and climate adaptation by focusing on soil regeneration and biodiversity boosting,” adds Dr. Daniel Sacristan, associate professor at the University of Valencia and researcher in this study. 

Regenerative agriculture highlights 

Between 2020 and 2023, regenerative agriculture farmers achieved, on average, just 1% lower yields in kilocalories and proteins while using 62% less synthetic nitrogen fertilizer and 76% less pesticides (g/active substance) per hectare.

 Compared to average European farmers importing >30% of livestock feed from outside the EU, they achieved their yields using no feed from outside their bioregion.

 From 2018 to 2024, they achieved over 15% higher photosynthesis, soil cover, and plant diversity in their fields compared to neighboring fields. Critically, for climate mitigation, their fields recorded average surface temperatures over 0.3°C cooler during summer months than surrounding agroecosystems.

 Over the past seven years, the farmers achieved a 17.2% increase in total soil cover and a 17.1% increase in total photosynthesis compared to conventional farmers.

 From 2020 to 2023, they delivered 27% higher Regenerating Full Productivity than the average European farmer, with gains ranging from 24% to 38% across the 14 countries studied.