Agriculture is perhaps the world’s most important industry, but its current practices and frameworks are so damaging to people, biological ecosystems, natural resources and the planet that they lack both the sustainability and resilience to thrive in the long term. According to the U.N., the $540 billion annually given in global agricultural subsidies acts as a disincentive toward sustainability as well as negatively impacts topsoil health, crop diversity and greenhouse gas emissions. Of the tens of billions of dollars in agriculture subsidies granted by the U.S. government, the vast majority goes to only four crops: corn, soy, wheat and rice.

Emerging technologies and regenerative farming practices offer an immediate and tangible alternative to decades of inefficient agricultural methods. Together, they hold immeasurable benefits for every major stakeholder of both the animal and plant variety: farmers, companies, consumers, crops, livestock, land and planet. Adopting regenerative agriculture at scale won’t happen overnight. But the introduction of technology that includes both hardware and software offers the potential for exponential growth and impact. Carbon- and soil-monitoring sensors and systems, GPS-guided equipment, satellite imaging, advanced analytics and software programs for scheduling and sourcing can be integrated into agricultural models to ensure not just profitability, but true sustainability.