Aaron Hartman, MDFunctional Medicine Specialist | Clinical Researcher

Let’s talk about the difference between degenerative agriculture and regenerative agriculture

13 Feb 2026 · 1 min

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In this segment, Aaron Hartman, MD contrasts degenerative agriculture—likened to daily antibiotic use that destroys gut microbes—with regenerative agriculture, which nurtures soil microbes and builds nutrient-rich topsoil through ancestral, chemical‑free farming practices. He emphasizes that regenerative methods support the microbial ecosystems essential for producing the majority of our food, positioning them as a sustainable alternative to the destructive, chemical‑intensive model.

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In the degenerative model, you taking an antibiotic every day and you're just nuking all the gut, the wonderful gut bugs, right? With regenerative agriculture, we're supporting and fostering those microbes. We're not killing them, we're not destroying them, we're not using chemicals. Instead, we're returning back to more ancestral farming practices where working with the principles of Mother Nature and allowing us to continuously build topsoil, continuously build like really nutrient rich, microbe rich soil that we rely on to produce over 90% of our foods.