Regenerative Agriculture at Scale with Tom Brennan at McKinsey - Part 2
From Climate Rising by Harvard Business School Business & Environment Initiative
February 18, 2026 · 26 min
About this episode
Tom Brennan discusses the practical implications of regenerative agriculture and its importance in climate resilience and farm economics.
Tom Brennan, a partner at McKinsey & Company, joins Climate Rising to unpack what regenerative agriculture means in practice and why it is increasingly central to conversations about climate resilience, farm economics, and food system risk. Drawing on McKinsey’s work with farmers, agribusinesses, and food companies, Tom explains how regenerative agriculture differs from more prescriptive models like organic farming, emphasizing outcomes such as soil health, reduced erosion, and long-term productivity. Across this two-part conversation, Tom explores both the foundations of regenerative agriculture and the challenges of scaling it. He discusses how farmers evaluate new practices through the lens of risk and profitability, why the benefits of regenerative practices often show up most clearly in extreme weather years, and what slows adoption despite growing interest. He also examines the role of food companies, insurers, data, and emerging technologies in lowering barriers to adoption and supporting system-level change.
People in this episode
Host: Climate Rising
Guest: Tom Brennan
Topics covered
- regenerative agriculture
- climate resilience
- farm economics
- food system risk
- scaling practices
Keywords
- regenerative agriculture
- soil health
- erosion
- farmers
- food companies
- adoption challenges
- extreme weather
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: McKinsey & Company, Climate Rising, Harvard Business School Business & Environment Initiative
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