First Advisor

Megan Horst

Term of Graduation

Fall 2021

Date of Publication

1-19-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Urban Studies (M.U.S.)

Department

Urban Studies and Planning

Language

English

Subjects

Urban agriculture -- Oregon -- Portland -- Public opinion, Sustainable agriculture, Soils -- Carbon content -- Measurement

DOI

10.15760/etd.7759

Physical Description

1 online resource (vi, 84 pages)

Abstract

Regenerative agriculture (RA) is a set of farming and land management practices intended to support or enhance soil health and carbon sequestration potential of soils while producing food, fiber, or other agricultural products. It has received broad acclaim from scholars, corporations, and governmental bodies as a potential means of sequestering carbon and mitigating climate change impacts. It has also received critique and pushback for its vague definition, shifting metrics, and lack of acknowledgement of the Indigenous practices underlying the modern suite of regenerative practices. The purpose of this research is to investigate the beliefs Portland, Oregon urban agricultural practitioners hold on the topic of regenerative agriculture, as well as to determine whether members of this group are employing any specific regenerative agricultural practices or means of measuring the regenerative impact(s) of their projects. Drawing on a set of interviews with 13 urban agricultural practitioners, this research finds that those working in the field of urban agriculture in Portland have their own critiques of and alternative approaches to regenerative agriculture, offering major critiques around 1) the limited acknowledgement of the deeper history of common RA practices, 2) the uncertain efficacy of measuring regenerative impacts through soil carbon testing, 3) the rise of RA as an institutional buzzword, and 4) the compatibility between stated RA soil carbon sequestration goals and urban agricultural practices.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/37083

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