Center for Regenerative Agriculture and Resilient Systems

About Us

Mission:

The Center for Regenerative Agriculture and Resilient Systems (CRARS) aims to investigate, develop, demonstrate, and educate about comprehensive, regenerative practices that both restore and enhance the resiliency of living systems and communities.

Goals:

  • Develop trans-disciplinary teams that include farmers and ranchers as research partners to investigate innovative methods and strategies resulting in practical, transferable and transformative solutions that regenerate soils, ecosystems, and our rural communities while improving carbon capture, soil health, and food quality.
  • Create collaborative networks  and communication platforms for applied research, learning centers, and demonstration sites with partnering farms and universities that foster open dialog and data sharing.
  • Transform agricultural and urban landscapes through regenerative practices.
  • Develop and implement strategies for creating multi-scale food security; from local foodsheds to global production.

Strategic Priorities:

  • Conduct applied research on regenerative food production systems to fill gaps in our understanding of RA practices.
  • Establish a national network for regenerative agriculture that includes academics, extension, farmers, ranchers, non-profits and agency personnel for the purposes of coordinating efforts around local food networks that support regionalized farm to fork systems to benefit regenerative farmers.
  • Establish and maintain an educational website that will provide open access to all manner of data and information that pertains to RA.
  • Establish a comprehensive educational program in Regenerative Agriculture that includes an industry Certificate, a Major and Minor in Regenerative Agriculture, as well as field days, special events, conferences, and on-farm demonstrations and learning centers that focus on regenerative farming practices.
  • Establish/support "Farmer to Farmer Networks" for regenerative practices in all production systems that include cohorts of farmers and ranchers for peer support systems.
  • Conduct special strategic planning sessions around the concept of a peer reviewed Journal for Regenerative Agriculture that will focus on systems-based research in RA.