Thesis / 2025
The Fourth Agricultural Revolution
My honors thesis asks what it would take for regenerative agriculture to move from a promising collection of practices toward a durable national transition.
A photograph from the thesis research process, a regenerative farm, or a policy-research setting.
The central premise
The thesis begins by framing agricultural transition as a historical turning point rather than a collection of isolated conservation practices.
There have been three major revolutions in agriculture in human history, and in the face of climate change and rapidly developing environmental destabilization, it is time for a fourth.
From evidence to policy
The abstract describes the sequence of the project: establish the environmental case, assess regenerative approaches, and examine the policy architecture surrounding adoption.
Through a review of the scientific literature on the impacts of industrial agriculture and the relative improvements offered by regenerative approaches, a case for a regenerative transition is established.
What transition requires
My conclusions focused on the institutional conditions that could make a transition concrete and durable.
A nationwide definition of the term regenerative will be a critical step in this transition, as well as developing robust financing instruments and incentives across scales, including state-level transition programs.