A panel discussion hosted by Nedbank at this year’s Nampo Harvest Day in Bothaville, Free State, highlighted a significant shift in thinking: regenerative agriculture is no longer simply about ‘doing less harm’. It is now focused on building farming systems that are more productive, resilient, efficient, and, ultimately, more profitable.
Soil health is becoming a strategic agricultural asset
For decades, modern agriculture has focused on maximising yields through mechanisation, synthetic inputs, and scale efficiencies. These advances delivered major productivity gains but also accelerated soil degradation in many regions.
South Africa has already experienced significant losses in soil carbon and biodiversity across key cropland regions, with serious implications for water retention, nutrient cycling, and long-term sustainability.
Regenerative agriculture seeks to reverse this trajectory through five core principles:
- Minimum soil disturbance
- Permanent soil cover
- Crop diversity
- Maintaining living roots
- Integrating livestock into farming systems
During the discussion, Professor Karin Jacobs, a microbiologist at Stellenbosch University, said that while these principles may be straightforward, their implications are profound.
“Healthy soil behaves differently. It retains more water during droughts, absorbs rainfall more effectively during floods, supports more efficient nutrient cycling, and reduces dependence on expensive external inputs, all of which improve resilience in increasingly volatile conditions and directly influence productivity and farm performance,” she explained.
Data is becoming central to sustainable farming
Panellists agreed that data-driven farming is becoming essential not only for operational efficiency but also for measuring sustainability and making financial decisions.
Stephan Nel, managing director of Case IH, said that precision agriculture technologies are enabling farmers to apply inputs more accurately, reduce compaction, improve resource efficiency, and better protect soil structure.
“We are redesigning machinery around minimum-disturbance principles and advanced application systems that support regenerative outcomes rather than undermine them, and the shift among our clients to this system over the past three years has been remarkable,” he said.
However, the discussion also identified a major challenge: fragmented data systems. Information often sits across disconnected platforms owned by machinery manufacturers, technology providers, and input suppliers, making it difficult to build integrated sustainability and financial models.
This matters because sustainable finance depends on measurable outcomes. Financial institutions require credible indicators like soil carbon, water infiltration, and regenerative practice adoption to assess resilience and risk within agricultural lending and sustainability frameworks.
Financing the transition
Kudzayi Mazikana, head of sustainability at Nedbank Commercial Banking, said many producers experience an initial “J-curve” period during which yields or cash flow may temporarily decline before long-term benefits emerge.
“This transition period can create significant financial pressure and risk. For agriculture to transition successfully, financial systems need to evolve alongside farming systems, and collaboration between commercial banks, development finance institutions, insurers, and agricultural stakeholders needs to grow,” he said.
Encouragingly, this shift is already under way.
“Banks like Nedbank are increasingly investing in climate-risk capabilities, environmental management systems, and specialised financing products that support resilience-building practices. This represents an important evolution in agricultural finance, from funding production alone to funding resilience,” Mazikana added.
Regenerative agriculture is inclusive
Regenerative agriculture is sometimes incorrectly perceived as a premium or highly specialised system accessible only to large commercial operations.
Dr Hendrik Smith, regenerative and conservation agriculture specialist at Asset Research, dismissed this perception, stressing that the principles are universally applicable across small- and large-scale farming, geographies, and production systems.
“Whether implemented through sophisticated precision technologies on large commercial farms or through low-cost adaptive systems among smallholders, the underlying principles remain the same: protect soil function, improve biodiversity, increase resilience, and reduce vulnerability to climatic shocks,” he explained.
“For smaller-scale farmers in particular, regenerative systems may offer pathways to improved profitability through diversified enterprises, lower input dependency, and improved ecosystem performance.”
Collaboration will determine success
The panel discussion made it clear that regenerative agriculture cannot succeed in isolation.
Farmers, scientists, financiers, agribusinesses, and technology providers all have a role to play in accelerating its adoption. The discussion also highlighted the need to involve consumers more directly in sustainability conversations.
Ultimately, long-term agricultural transformation will depend not only on what happens on farms but also on whether markets begin to place more value on resilience, sustainability, and ecosystem stewardship.
A defining decade for agriculture
The conversation at Nampo 2026 highlighted that the pressures facing the agriculture sector are no longer hypothetical. Farms that fail to build healthier soils, improve water resilience, and reduce input dependency may become increasingly vulnerable financially, operationally, and environmentally.
Against this backdrop, regenerative agriculture is swiftly becoming central to the future competitiveness, resilience, and long-term viability of agriculture itself.
Where others see only farming, Nedbank sees sustainable, long-term growth. For more information, visit nedbank.co.za.
