Regenerative agriculture and integrative permaculture for sustainable and technology driven global food production and security

A growing world population and increases in food and energy consumption have placed production agriculture in a difficult situation. The rapid growth in food production through specialized operations such as monoculture cropping systems has aligned to satisfy increases in demand for food and fiber. However, its adverse impacts on natural resources pose huge challenges for the sustainability of food production. The situation is direr for developing countries or rural regions of the world due to the limited resources available to farming communities in these regions. To avoid production agriculture being at the proverbial crossroads we suggest an alternate approach. One that involves the sustainable use of natural resources without adverse environmental impacts by relying less on production inputs whether it be agrochemicals or machineries. We examined the extent to which regenerative agriculture, permaculture, and smart technology have evolved in response to sustainable agricultural production, agricultural decision support system, and overall global food security. Collectively, regenerative agriculture and permaculture are semi-closed holistic systems approach designed to reduce or eliminate dependence on external inputs (e.g., chemicals) which restores and maintains natural systems (e.g., soil quality, biodiversity, and ecosystem services). We suggest that fully embracing modern regenerative agriculture as well as integrated permaculture will improve soil health, ecosystem biodiversity, land and resource conservation, agricultural sustainability, and food security. Identifying and implementing practices towards regenerative agriculture, integrated permaculture, digital agriculture, and sustainable agricultural management utilizing modern agricultural technologies infused with data science (artificial intelligence [AI] or machine learning [ML]) is critical.

Automated summary

The growing world population and increased food and energy consumption have put production agriculture in a difficult situation, especially in developing countries and rural regions. To address this challenge, a sustainable approach is needed that reduces reliance on external inputs and promotes regenerative agriculture and permaculture technologies.