Regenerative agriculture for post-war soil recovery: a case study on Ukraine

Abstract Regenerative Agriculture is an ecologically based cultivation system that emphasizes soil conservation and biodiversity. While effective for restoring degraded soils generally, its application in war-damaged lands remains underexplored. This study investigates the potential of RA for remediating conflict-affected soils in Ukraine, where more than 5 million hectares of farmland are impacted by compaction, heavy metal contamination, and hydrological disruption. A structured literature review (2020–2025) reveals that key RA practices can sequester 0.5–1.2 Mg C ha −1 yr −1 , limit soil erosion by 50%, and restore crop yields to 90–110% of pre-damaged levels. Beyond quantitative metrics, the results demonstrate that RA provides a critical ecological framework for Phase I chemical mitigation (such as phytoremediation and microbial detoxification) by stabilizing soil structure and enhancing microbial diversity. Furthermore, integrating organic amendments reduces nitrogen leaching by up to 29%, offering a circular bioeconomy solution that compensates for disrupted synthetic input chains. These findings confirm RA’s potential to accelerate ecological and agricultural post-war recovery in Ukraine. However, large-scale implementation requires integration with national policies, demining operations, hydrological restoration, and farmer training. RA therefore represents both an urgent necessity and a long-term strategy to combine soil remediation with sustainable production in post-conflict environments.