At some point, people decided that feeding the world could only happen through scaling industrial agriculture—massive monoculture farms, synthetic inputs, factory-style efficiency. And when regenerative farmers like Joel Salatin, Gabe Brown, and Will Harris prove there’s another way, they get slapped with labels like “starvation advocate” because their methods supposedly can’t be scaled like conventional ag.
But here’s the truth: Regenerative farms don’t need to be scaled. They need to be replicated.
Scaling assumes that farming should function like a corporate model—bigger, faster, more centralized. But that mindset is exactly why our food system is broken. When you consolidate agriculture into massive production hubs, you create fragile supply chains, exploit land, and destroy local food networks.
Regenerative farming isn’t designed to be a factory model—it’s designed to be diverse, adaptable, and deeply connected to local ecosystems. It’s meant to be distributed across communities, not hoarded by a handful of mega-producers.
We don’t need one or two gigantic regenerative farms feeding millions of people. We need thousands—millions—of small-scale regenerative farms feeding their own communities.
Replication, not scale.
We don’t need industrial-sized Polyface farms—we need Polyface-style farms in every region.
We don’t need Brown’s Ranch to multiply—we need thousands of farmers applying Gabe Brown’s principles everywhere.
We don’t need White Oak Pastures to scale—we need every town to have farms practicing land stewardship like Will Harris does.
Because feeding the world isn’t about producing more food in fewer places. It’s about producing the right food in the right places, regenerating land instead of depleting it, and rebuilding food sovereignty instead of corporate dependence.
Industrial ag likes to push the idea that if it can’t be scaled, it’s not viable. But we don’t need their version of viability. We need resilience, diversity, and decentralization—because that’s how you create true food security.
What do you think—have you heard the argument that regenerative ag isn’t “scalable” enough? Pull up a chair—let’s talk about why replication is the real key to feeding the world.
