The Future of Regenerative Agriculture: A Conversation with Dr. Dario Fornara
Introduction: Why Regenerative Agriculture Matters
Regenerative agriculture restores soil health, boosts biodiversity, and sequesters carbon. It includes cover cropping, organic fertilization, and reduced tillage. These practices improve water retention and nutrient cycling while reducing chemical inputs.
In the EU, agriculture contributes about 10% of total greenhouse gas emissions. Soil degradation and biodiversity loss are accelerating. The EU Green Deal, Farm to Fork Strategy, and CSRD push for more sustainable food systems.
But adoption is uneven. Can regenerative farming scale? Can it be profitable? How do we measure its impact? Alejandro Vergara (CEO & Co-founder at ODOS) spoke with Dr. Dario Fornara, Research Director at the Davines Group and lead scientist at the European Regenerative Organic Centre, to explore these questions.
What Are the Main Barriers for Implementing Regenerative Agriculture?
Despite its promise, scaling regenerative agriculture across entire sectors or regions is fraught with complexity. “The answer is actually quite complex… the barriers are economic, social, mindset, cultural, and also from the consumer side,” says Fornara. Although regenerative practices offer multiple benefits, from carbon sequestration to improved water retention and nutrient cycling, they often require changes to longstanding habits, systems, and supply chains.
“There is different legislation… there is a need for farmers to produce because quantity is still the main criteria. There are big companies still selling the synthetic chemicals,” he explains. Farmers are embedded in an economic model where yield remains king, and where inputs like synthetic fertilizers and pesticides are the norm. Without better incentives, clearer market signals, and stronger data to demonstrate long-term gains, many remain cautious about making the leap.
Can a Regenerative Model Be as Productive as a Conventional One?
Yield is one of the most hotly debated topics when it comes to regenerative agriculture. Can it compete with conventional farming, especially in the short term? Fornara is measured in his response: “Many studies end up saying 20% yield gap between regenerative organic and conventional. But that’s actually, it cannot be true. It depends on the climate, it depends on the crop identity, it depends on the different crop rotations.”
He points out that much of the research compares systems too narrowly or over too short a time frame. “Saying that, let’s say there might be a yield gap possibly in the first few years, but then you are building up a system which is more resilient.” Regenerative systems are designed to improve over time, as soil organic matter increases and natural cycles rebalance. Fornara also challenges the notion that volume alone should be the measure of success: “We’ve been producing lots of food, maybe of low quality… food with low nutrient density, which is not good anyway for our diets.” The long-term vision, he suggests, is about producing better, not just more.
How to Build Research That Companies Can Act On?
To unlock the transition at scale, companies need data they can trust and act upon. That’s why Davines, a B Corp cosmetics company, partnered with the Rodale Institute to launch a dedicated regenerative research center in Italy. “We want to do education, we want to train farmers, we want to show people the difference between regenerative organic agriculture and conventional,” Fornara explains.
Unlike laboratory simulations or small-scale trials, the Parma-based center focuses on real-world systems. “We want to show people that it is possible to do it, but we want to measure how soil quality is changing.” The aim is to create evidence that’s not just scientifically rigorous but practically useful. “We are also talking to many stakeholders, from politicians to big companies to farmers, to understand how we could contribute… to increase the number of hectares in Italy managed in this way.” In essence, the research is designed to be a bridge between policy ambition, corporate sustainability goals, and farm-level realities.
Is Paying Farmers for Sustainability Regenerative Actions the Path Forward?
Financial incentives are critical if regenerative agriculture is to become mainstream. But what should those incentives look like? Fornara sees promise in carbon farming and biodiversity-based payments, but only if they are tied to actual outcomes. “We need… to look at an index or indicators of sustainability, which might include carbon farming, biodiversity, ecosystem services.”
He stresses that rewards should be based on verified results. “Maybe we can do that… by liaising with farmer associations and farmers themselves to see how we can incorporate something that could help reward farmers.” The goal is not just to pay for practice adoption but to recognize environmental performance: “how the soil, how the agroecosystem has been changing if you follow these practices.” Done right, this could unlock new investment flows while aligning business interests with ecological regeneration.
How Do Farmers Look at Regenerative Practices?
Farmers are not the problem; they’re often the solution. But only if the transition makes economic sense. “They are very open… they don’t have anything against it. The real problem is guaranteeing them an income,” Fornara says. Transitioning away from conventional systems often brings uncertainty, especially in markets where regenerative products are not yet clearly differentiated or priced at a premium.
“If they do conventional agriculture, there is a market for them,” he explains. “If they change approach, practices, you increase the risks or the uncertainty.” Many farmers already understand the ecological toll of conventional methods: “Many of them, they stop doing conventional because they realize they have been polluting the soil and themselves actually.” What they need is a clear pathway, supported by data, incentives, and long-term market access. “We need to tell them already about potential markets that we’ve been creating.”
How Crucial Is Regulation for Regenerative Agriculture?
Public policy has a powerful role to play, but only if it is collaborative and context-specific. “There must be a process and a dialogue between the EU… and farmers and the association of farmers to see what kind of regulations, what kind of rules, what kind of approach they will accept,” Fornara emphasizes.
Top-down rules that fail to account for regional climate, soil types, or market dynamics risk being ignored or resisted. “It has to be simple and it has to be, you know, going through different steps, not imposing regulations without getting good feedback from the farmers.” As the EU advances initiatives like the CSRD and Nature Restoration Law, engaging farmers in co-creating these frameworks is essential, not just for fairness but for effectiveness.
How Do Ireland and Italy Differ in Agri-Ecosystem Solutions?
As a researcher who has worked extensively in both Italy and Ireland, Fornara brings a comparative lens to agroecosystem design. “There are very different agroecosystems,” he explains. Ireland’s strength lies in its pasture-based systems and rotational grazing. “The important role of animals… of grazers, of animals which can be kept outside and maybe rotated because the organic nutrients we need… probably they will come from livestock.”
Italy, by contrast, offers more system diversity, from vineyards and arable farming to dairy production. “We went to visit a dairy farmer producing the Parmesan cheese. We went to see arable systems. We went to see vineyards.” Despite these differences, the goals remain the same: “sequestering carbon, preserving biodiversity.” The challenge, and opportunity, is learning how to tailor regenerative practices to each region’s natural and cultural strengths.
Regeneration Demands Action. ODOS Delivers the Tools.
At ODOS, we help agri-food companies move from isolated pilots to full-scale transformation. Our platform measures carbon, biodiversity, and soil health across entire supply chains, making regenerative agriculture traceable, verifiable, and compliant with EU regulations like CSRD. With ODOS, you can track progress in real time, link farmer incentives to actual outcomes, and turn sustainability into a strategic advantage.