What Does 'Regenerative' Mean?
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
A recent Consumer Insights Report from Purdue University indicates that while there’s been a lot of buzz surrounding regenerative agriculture, most consumers don’t know what the term means. Dr. Lourival Monaco is a professor at Purdue University in the Ag Economics Department. He was a part of the team that performed this study.
Monaco… “So we asked those consumers several questions around demographics. So age, gender, where they live, income. And then we ask them about their preferences about food. So for instance, what do you care most about the food you buy,? It's taste, affordability, social impact.”
Monaco said when it came to questions about regenerative agriculture, most consumers couldn’t define the term.
Monaco… “71% of our survey or the people we surveyed, they don't understand what regen ag is. They either said, I'm not familiar at all, or I'm very slightly familiar. That means to us that story, that narrative is not being driven by the consumers themselves. They're largely in favor of regen ag because it has this halo of, all right, it's good, so I'm supposed to be pro regen ag. But if you ask them, do you know what it is? 71% they're not sure of what it is.”
Purdue’s August report emphasized the need for public education on the benefits and trade-offs of regenerative agriculture.
