Washington has acted on regenerative agriculture three times in the past year. In June 2026, USDA finalized the list of qualifying farming practices - cover crops, reduced tillage, nutrient management and others - that lower the carbon intensity of biofuel feedstocks under the 45Z clean fuel tax credit. In September 2026, IRS Notice 2026-53 worked in the same lane. And USDA's Regenerative Pilot Program, which Executive Order 14414 directed USDA to maximize funding for in June, pays farmers and ranchers to adopt regenerative practices on their land.
Not one of those actions regulates a food label. You can follow every practice on every federal list and nothing about the food you produce is measured, verified, or disclosed to the person who eats it. That gap is the whole reason EverSoil tests outcomes instead of certifying intentions.
The Missing Link: Where Food Nutrition Actually Begins
Federal policy now talks about soil, fuel and farm practices. It still says nothing about what ends up in the food - and nutrition starts in the ground.
Decades of published research document the decline: Davis et al. (2004) found measurable drops in protein, calcium, iron, and vitamins across 43 garden crops between 1950 and 1999, and Mayer (1997) documented similar mineral declines in UK produce. Industrial management that depletes soil organic matter produces food with less in it. You can't durably fix nutrition without fixing the soil it comes from.
What Federal Policy Still Doesn't Solve
Executive Order 14414 describes regenerative agriculture as practices that "strengthen soil health, lower input costs, improve chemical efficiency, and enhance profitability." It does not say how any of those outcomes get measured, by whom, or on what schedule. The 45Z practice list credits practices adopted, not results measured. The Regenerative Pilot Program goes further - its contracts require soil health testing in the first and last year - but it measures the land, not the food. A federal program that funds "regenerative" acreage without an outcome standard will fund a word, not an outcome.
That gap is precisely what EverSoil was built to fill: independent, third-party verified soil and bionutrient data - the audit trail that confirms enrolled acreage is producing the improvements these programs pay for, all the way to the food.
The Path Forward
Federal programs can build awareness of soil health, fund research, and pay producers to adopt better practices. EverSoil can supply what a program cannot: the measurement infrastructure that turns "regenerative" from a marketing word into a verifiable claim, and market mechanisms that reward producers without waiting on federal machinery.
We're not asking permission, and we're not waiting for policy. The proof is growing in Wyoming, the certification exists, and the market is responding.
If you want "regenerative" to mean something: buy verified regenerative food, support ranchers making the transition, and ask every label one question - where's the data?
Sources
- Executive Order 14414. June 25, 2026. "Advancing Regenerative Agriculture and Strengthening American Farm Resilience."
- USDA. June 29, 2026. Final feedstock guidance for the Section 45Z Clean Fuel Production Credit (qualifying agricultural practices).
- Internal Revenue Service. September 8, 2026. Notice 2026-53, Section 45Z Clean Fuel Production Credit.
- USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. Regenerative Pilot Program (announced December 2025; delivered through EQIP and CSP).
- Davis, D.R., M.D. Epp, and H.D. Riordan. 2004. "Changes in USDA Food Composition Data for 43 Garden Crops, 1950 to 1999." Journal of the American College of Nutrition 23(6): 669-682.
- Mayer, A-M. 1997. "Historical Changes in the Mineral Content of Fruits and Vegetables." British Food Journal 99(6): 207-211.
EverSoil is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit building the infrastructure for verified regenerative agriculture. Soil health is human health - and we exist to make that connection measurable.