India’s Farming Revolution Is Led by Women 🇮🇳 [NITYA RAO]

What if the future of regenerative agriculture won’t be decided in Europe… but in India, Africa, and the Global South?

In this powerful Deep Seed mini-episode, we sit down with Professor Nitya Rao, leading gender and climate researcher and contributor to the Lancet Commission on Food Systems, to explore a perspective we rarely hear in the regenerative agriculture movement.

Because here’s the uncomfortable truth:

👉 Many smallholder farmers in India are already farming regeneratively — not because it’s trendy, but because they have no choice.

👉 Women are carrying entire food systems on their backs — yet remain invisible in climate policy.

👉 And if governments don’t act wisely, the Global South may repeat the same industrial agriculture mistakes that pushed us beyond planetary boundaries.

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🔎 In this episode, we explore:

• Why 90% of Indian farmers cultivate less than 5 hectares — and what that means for regenerative agriculture

• How monocultures, fertilizer subsidies, and “yield at all costs” policies affect soil health and biodiversity

• The hidden reality of male migration and how women are sustaining farming and food systems

• Why gender-blind climate policies fail — and what intersectionality really means in agriculture

• The groundbreaking case of Andhra Pradesh’s community-based natural farming movement

• Indigenous knowledge, nutrient-dense traditional foods, and ecosystem restoration

• The biggest blind spot in the regenerative agriculture movement: evidence, economics, and social realities
  

Professor Rao challenges us to ask a deeper question: "regenerative for whom?"

Because sustainability isn’t just about carbon farming or agroecology techniques. It’s about livelihoods, labor, time, access to land, credit systems, and power dynamics.

If we ignore that… we risk romanticizing regenerative farming instead of scaling it effectively.

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🌱 Why This Conversation Matters

According to the Lancet Commission, global food systems contribute nearly 30% of greenhouse gas emissions and drive transgressions of multiple planetary boundaries — from nitrogen cycles to biodiversity loss.

The Global South stands at a crossroads.

Should countries increase industrial agriculture to raise yields?

Or can they leapfrog directly into nature-based solutions and sustainable farming systems that protect soil microbiology, biodiversity, and long-term food security?

As Professor Rao says:

“This is a very good moment for governments to say: don’t go down that track. Let’s show a different pathway.”

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🎧 If You Care About:

• Regenerative agriculture beyond the Western lens

• Agroecology and smallholder farming

• Nutrient density and sustainable diets

• Climate resilience and food systems transformation

• Gender equity in agriculture

• Indigenous knowledge and ecosystem restoration
  

This episode will challenge and expand your perspective.

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🌿 SOIL CAPITAL - this episode was made in partnership with Soil Capital

www.soilcapital.com

❤️ Special thanks to Federica Urso who did all the research for this episode and helped me craft the questions

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