Regenerative Agriculture Gains Momentum in India
Regenerative agriculture is scaling up across India, valued at $62 million in 2025, as land degradation and soil erosion threaten agricultural resilience.
Key Highlights:
- A Grant Thornton Bharat-USIBC report says regenerative agriculture is moving beyond pilot projects in India.
- About one-third of India's land area, nearly 115-120 million hectares, is estimated to be degraded.
- India loses 4.8-5.3 billion tonnes of soil and nearly 8 million tonnes of plant nutrients annually.
- The regenerative agriculture sector was valued at approximately $62 million in 2025, growing via government, private and carbon-credit support.
- Scalable models are already emerging in Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
A Practical Pathway Amid Growing Land Degradation
Regenerative agriculture is emerging as a practical pathway to restore soil health and strengthen India's agricultural resilience, as land degradation increasingly threatens the country's food security, according to a report released on Tuesday. The joint report, prepared by Grant Thornton Bharat and the US-India Business Council (USIBC), argued that regenerative agriculture is now moving beyond isolated pilot projects to become a genuinely practical pathway toward more climate-resilient farming systems across India.
The Scale of India's Land Degradation Challenge
The report highlighted the severity of the underlying problem driving this shift. About one-third of the country's land area, or nearly 115-120 million hectares, is estimated to be degraded, directly threatening agricultural productivity across large swathes of the country. Soil erosion remains a particularly significant challenge, with an estimated 4.8 to 5.3 billion tonnes of soil lost annually, along with nearly 8 million tonnes of plant nutrients, a scale of loss that has direct implications for long-term crop yields and farmer livelihoods if left unaddressed.
Why This Scale of Degradation Matters
The sheer volume of soil and nutrient loss each year represents not just an environmental concern but a mounting economic and food security risk. Degraded land typically requires greater inputs, in the form of fertilisers, water and other resources, to sustain comparable yields, creating a cycle where farmers face rising costs even as the underlying productive capacity of their land continues to decline. This dynamic underscores why the report frames regenerative agriculture not merely as an environmental initiative, but as an economically necessary response to a structural threat facing Indian agriculture.
