ReGaIn

The challenge

Intensive arable cropping is the most degraded farmland ecosystem, and the least covered by today's restoration schemes. The EU Nature Restoration Regulation (NRR) requires Member States to restore agricultural ecosystems (Article 11: grassland butterflies, common farmland birds, soil organic carbon, high-diversity landscape features). Existing schemes (agri-environment measures, payments for ecosystem services, eco-schemes) pay for one-off, field-level practices, without securing the farmer's income during the transition or acting at catchment scale.

Who we are

MILPA is a farmer-founded field operator that restores degraded arable land by converting it to certified organic, soil-conservation farming. With 15 years of experience, it now supports more than 90 family farms on about 10,000 ha in France, across a wide range of soil and climate contexts.

The REGAIN living lab

15 farms in one French catchment, selected along an intensity gradient: conventional farming → soil-conservation agriculture → organic with tillage → the new model, certified organic and soil-conservation farming together.

What MILPA offers to deploy

A solution for soil & water

• Permanent cover, direct seeding, cereal–legume intercrops

• More infiltration and water retention, no irrigation

• Less runoff, nitrates and pesticides reaching rivers

• Prevention of floods and droughts during extreme (and more frequent) events

Biodiversity

• Certified organic: zero synthetic inputs

• Crop diversity, hedges, flower strips, agroforestry

• NRR Art. 11 indicators: butterflies, farmland birds, soil life

• Water retention that sustains all species, even in dry spells

Viability & resilience

• Guaranteed operating margin per hectare

• No fertiliser, pesticide or irrigation costs; up to 50% less fuel

• Autonomous farms, more resilient to droughts and storms, for stronger food resilience