New research from Soil Capital suggests regenerative farming practices can help protect crop yields during drought, offering fresh evidence of their role in strengthening agricultural resilience to climate change.
The findings are based on analysis of independently verified data from 1,262 farms covering 331,600 hectares across France. According to Soil Capital, this is one of the largest field-level datasets of its kind assembled in Europe.
The dataset combines information on farming practices, yields and soil conditions collected through the organisation’s regenerative farming transition programme. Until now, evidence linking regenerative agriculture to climate resilience has largely relied on individual case studies or modelling.
In the area where the most detailed assessment was carried out, yields of the most affected crop fell by 22% on the least regenerative farms following the 2023 droughts. By comparison, highly regenerative farms recorded a decline of just 8%.
Analysis across France found the trend remained statistically significant when factors such as soil type were taken into account. Among cereal crops, 82 of France’s 96 departments experienced significant drought during the study period.
Within those regions, regenerative farming practices reduced drought-related yield losses by at least 10% in around 85% of cases, according to the research.
Andrew Voysey, Chief Impact Officer at Soil Capital, said: “For the first time, we are moving beyond anecdote or modelling to show, through large-scale independently verified field data, how regenerative agriculture can help protect production.”
He added: “The early findings suggest regenerative agriculture may materially reduce the yield and profit impacts of climate stress events such as drought.”
Soil Capital is now working with academic and industry partners to further analyse the findings and develop practical metrics that can support sourcing, pricing and agricultural risk management decisions.
Professor Erik Mathijs of KU Leuven said the dataset offers a rare opportunity to examine the relationship between farming practices and climate resilience across large geographies and multiple years.
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