Living Soil (Jeevit Mitti) Mission: Regenerating Punjab

Healing Soil, Securing Water, Regenerating Life

For generations, Punjab's fertile soils, flowing rivers, rich food traditions, and farming communities have nourished millions of people.

Known as the Land of Five Rivers, Punjab became the food bowl of India through the care, labour, and wisdom of its farmers. Its landscapes have produced wheat, rice, cotton, sugarcane, fruits, vegetables, and diverse local foods that have shaped both regional culture and national food security. Its fields, wetlands, rivers, and village commons have also supported rich biodiversity, migratory birds, traditional knowledge systems, and vibrant rural communities.

Punjab's story is one of abundance. Yet today, many of the systems that have sustained that abundance are under increasing strain.

Decades of intensive agriculture have contributed to declining soil health, falling groundwater levels, biodiversity loss, rising farming costs, and increasing vulnerability to climate shocks. Across Punjab's 4.2 million hectares of cultivated land, farming families are searching for pathways that can restore resilience while sustaining livelihoods.

What happens in Punjab matters far beyond Punjab.

As one of the world's most important agricultural landscapes, its future is deeply connected to food security, ecological resilience, water stewardship, climate adaptation, and rural wellbeing.

At RE:Generating Panjab, we believe that living soil is where regeneration begins.

In Punjab, there is a phrase: Chardi Kala — the ever-rising spirit. It reflects the capacity to remain hopeful, courageous, and life-affirming even in difficult times.

The Living Soil (Jeevit Mitti) Mission is an expression of Chardi Kala in action: restoring life where depletion has occurred, strengthening the foundations of farming communities, and creating the conditions for future generations to thrive.

Because if the soil lives, we live.

How This Journey Began

The Living Soil Mission began with a question:

How do we restore life to the land while supporting the people who depend on it?

Over the past several years, members of the RE:Generating Panjab network have listened to farmers, engaged with regenerative practitioners, explored successful transitions in other regions, and reflected on what a regenerative future for Punjab could look like.

These conversations revealed a simple truth: healthy soils, water, biodiversity, livelihoods, and communities cannot be restored separately.

The Jeevit Mitti Mission was born from this insight, and is our first practical response.

By creating Punjab's first Living Soil Demonstration Landscape, we are bringing farmers, researchers, practitioners, and communities together, to explore what regeneration can look like in practice, and what it can make possible for Punjab's future.

The Larger Vision

Punjab's 4.2 million hectares of cultivated land make it one of the world's most important agricultural landscapes.

Our long term vision is to support the emergence of regenerative landscapes across Punjab — restoring ecological health while strengthening the resilience and prosperity of farming communities.

The transition pathway below illustrates how this work can grow over time.

The Living Soil Mission represents the first step in this transition pathway—creating the relationships, learning, evidence, and confidence needed for wider regeneration to emerge over time.

The Project: Punjab's First Living Soil Demonstration Landscape

The Living Soil Mission is establishing Punjab's first Living Soil Demonstration Landscape across approximately 100 acres in the districts of Moga and Gurdaspur.

Working alongside 15–30 farming families, we are creating a network of living demonstration farms where regenerative practices can be tested, adapted, and strengthened within real farming conditions.

We are creating living landscapes where farmers, researchers, communities, and practitioners can explore practical pathways that fit local conditions.

Over the first year, key activities will include:

• Baseline soil health assessments and ecological mapping

• Soil organic matter and soil carbon monitoring

• Farmer learning circles and peer-to-peer knowledge exchange

• Introduction and adaptation of regenerative practices such as composting, biological soil enhancement, crop diversification, reduced chemical dependency, and soil-cover strategies

• Demonstration and documentation of groundwater-conscious farming approaches

• Biodiversity-supporting practices that strengthen ecological resilience

• Development of initial Mitti-to-Thali (Soil-to-Plate) pathways connecting regenerative farmers with conscious consumers, institutions, and local markets

• Ongoing documentation, learning capture, and evidence generation to support wider adoption across Punjab

The demonstration landscape will serve as a practical learning environment where neighbouring farmers can see results firsthand, exchange knowledge, and explore regenerative pathways that fit their own contexts.

Why We Believe This Can Work

The initiative is being stewarded by a founding team that combines bioregional organising, regenerative agriculture, soil carbon expertise, governance, and enterprise development.

The mission builds upon a rich foundation of regenerative agriculture knowledge, farmer innovation, ecological restoration practice, and community wisdom from Punjab and around the world.

Our approach has been informed by the work of Dr. Vandana Shiva and learning journeys at Navdanya Earth University, where practitioners such as Dr. André Leu have helped advance regenerative approaches that strengthen soil health, biodiversity, farmer resilience, and ecological stewardship.

The initiative also draws upon the experience of Mukti Kumar Mitchell, developer of UK’s top three farm carbon calculators and one of the leading pioneers in farmer-centred approaches to soil carbon, climate resilience, and small-farm regeneration.

Closer to home, we are learning from soil scientists, researchers, and practitioners connected with Punjab Agricultural University,
Punjab Agricultural Management & Extension Training Institute (PAMETI), as well as regenerative agriculture specialists such as Sundeep Priyadarshi, whose work in India provides valuable insights into practical pathways for soil restoration and farmer resilience.

Most importantly, this work is being shaped through ongoing relationships with farmers, landholders, researchers, entrepreneurs, and community leaders across Punjab, including Moga, Gurdaspur, Ludhiana, Tarn Taran, and Fazilka.

Our approach follows a simple pathway: Demonstrate → Validate → Share

We begin with practical demonstrations, learn from results on the ground, and share insights through farmer networks and partnerships. We believe lasting regeneration grows when local wisdom, practical experience, scientific inquiry, and community stewardship come together.

First-Year Outcomes (2026–2027)

By September 2027, the Living Soil Mission aims to:

✓ Transition approximately 100 acres toward regenerative management

✓ Engage 15–30 farming families

✓ Conduct 50+ soil health assessments

✓ Establish 4 farmer learning circles

✓ Reach 100+ farmers through field visits and peer-learning exchanges

✓ Create Punjab's first Living Soil Demonstration Landscape

✓ Develop initial Mitti-to-Thali market pathways

✓ Produce a publicly shareable learning report documenting lessons, challenges, and outcomes

These outcomes will provide the practical foundation for future learning networks, regenerative corridors, and wider landscape regeneration efforts across 23 districts of Punjab.

What Your Support Will Make Possible

This campaign seeks to raise USD 25,000 to establish the first phase of the Living Soil Mission.

Together, this funding will help establish Punjab's first Living Soil Demonstration Landscape — approximately 100 acres across 15–30 farming families working to restore soil health, strengthen livelihoods, and cultivate practical pathways for regeneration.

Your support will help:

• Farmer transition support and field facilitation

• Soil testing, monitoring, and ecological assessments

• Demonstration farm establishment

• Learning gatherings, field visits, and knowledge exchange

• Documentation, impact measurement, and public learning reports

• Coordination and stewardship of the demonstration landscape

Every contribution becomes part of a larger regeneration journey.

USD 12 helps restore living soil at the grassroots level.

USD 60 supports farmer learning and regenerative agriculture training.

USD 120 contributes directly to soil restoration and regenerative farming practices.

USD 300 supports demonstration landscapes and community learning.

USD 400 helps a farming family begin the transition toward regenerative agriculture.

USD 600+ supports village-scale regeneration and farmer learning networks.

USD 1,200+ contributes toward the growth of future regenerative corridors across Punjab.

This is an investment in living soil, secure water, farmer dignity, resilient livelihoods, and the regeneration of one of the world's most important agricultural landscapes.

Because regeneration begins with the farmer, but grows through community.

The People Behind This Work

The Mission is being stewarded by a growing network of farmers, practitioners, researchers, educators, and community leaders.

The initiative was catalysed by Sumeet Sandhu's conviction that Punjab's ecological, agricultural, social, and economic challenges cannot be solved in isolation, and that regeneration offers a pathway to restore the relationships between soil, water, food, livelihoods, community, and culture.

The founding team includes:

Sumeet Sandhu – Founding Steward and Bioregional Lead
Leads programme strategy, partnerships, organisational development, and on-ground implementation.

Mukti Kumar Mitchell – Honorary Co-founding Steward and Vision Holder
Leads soil health systems, carbon-linked pathways, systems thinking supporting ecosystem development, partnerships, and long-term regeneration pathways.

Arindam Mookerjee – Co-founding Steward
Leads organisational strategy, financial structuring, governance systems, and institutional alignment. Brings experience in business transformation, corporate governance, and operational scaling.

Together with local farmers, soil scientists, women leaders, youth participants, researchers, educators, and international collaborators, we are working to create practical pathways for regeneration rooted in Punjab's landscapes and communities.

Looking Ahead

We believe every restored acre can become a classroom. Every farmer can become a teacher. And every successful demonstration can inspire wider change.

The Living Soil Mission begins with 100 acres and 15–30 farming families. Our next milestone is to expand this work toward 500 acres and a growing network of regenerative farmers across Punjab.

Because if the soil lives, we live.