The production of food through regenerative agriculture is an alternative method that, according to proponents of the practice, may have less negative or even positive overall effects on the environment and/or society. A growing number of people, including consumers, researchers, retailers, and producers, as well as politicians and members of the mainstream media, have recently shown a significant interest in regenerative agriculture. There is no legal or regulatory definition of the term "regenerative agriculture," nor has a commonly accepted definition of the term emerged in common usage. Despite the widespread interest in regenerative agriculture, there is no definition of the term. Current usage of the term "regenerative agriculture" includes a wide variety of definitions and descriptions. These were variously based on processes (such as the utilization of cover crops, the incorporation of livestock, and the reduction or elimination of tillage), outcomes (such as the improvement of soil health, the sequestration of carbon, and the expansion of biodiversity), or combinations of the two. It is possible that advocates or users of process-based definitions are open-minded about the possible outcomes of the processes they are defining. In a similar vein, definitions that are based on outcomes may give the impression that those who employ such definitions have an open mind regarding the processes that may result in those outcomes. In a broader sense, the fact that the definitions that are used to describe regenerative agriculture can vary widely contributes to the possibility of confusion about what various actors mean when they use the term.

Agriculture has a significant environmental footprint. It is linked to approximately one third of the world's land use and is a primary factor in the transformation of land use across the globe, including in the tropical regions with their rich biodiversity (Searchinger et al., 2019). In addition, the production of food is linked to approximately 15% of all of the world's emissions of greenhouse gasses. At the same time, it is anticipated that the world's requirements for food will increase as a consequence of increases in both population and demand on an individual basis (Bodirsky et al., 2015). As a result of these numerous pressures, numerous actors are looking into more environmentally friendly methods of food production (Foley et al., 2011).

An alternative method of producing food that may have less negative or even positive overall effects on the environment and/or society has been proposed, and that method is known as regenerative agriculture (Rhodes, 2017). There have been a variety of claims made by various parties regarding the potential for regenerative agriculture to improve the long-term viability of food production. Among these claims is the possibility that regenerative agriculture may be able to play a role in the development of a strategy to mitigate the effects of climate change. For instance, Rhodes (2017) asserted that "regenerative agriculture has at its core the intention to improve the health of soil or to restore highly degraded soil, which symbiotically enhances the quality of water, vegetation, and land-productivity." [Citation needed] In other words, the goal of regenerative agriculture is to improve the quality of water, vegetation, and land productivity. According to the assertions made by Project Drawdown, "regenerative agriculture enhances and sustains the health of the soil by restoring its carbon content, which in turn improves productivity—just the opposite of conventional agriculture," and the organization estimates that regenerative annual cropping could reduce or sequester 14.5–22 gigatons of CO2 by the year 2050. (Project Drawdown, 2020). Bolder claims include those that "regenerative agriculture... has the potential to reverse climate change" (Kastner, 2016) and that "we could sequester more than 100% of current annual CO2 emissions with a switch to widely available and inexpensive organic management practices, which is called 'regenerative organic agriculture'". (Rodale Institute, 2014). At the same time, there are commentators who continue to have a more reserved attitude regarding the potential for regenerative agriculture to contribute to sustainability goals (McGuire, 2018; Ranganathan et al., 2020).

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