Down to Earth: The Planet to Plate Podcast

Sarah Jones didn't start out as a farmer, but when she married into a 4th generation farming family in the San Luis Valley of Colorado, Jones Farms Organics, she went all in. She recently co-founded the Rye Resurgence Project when she saw that rye, traditionally a cover crop, could be a profitable cash crop. Rye uses far less water than other crops being grown in the valley, and because it covers the ground in the winter, it protects and nourishes the soil. Its many varieties can be used for a wide variety of products including bread, cookies, beer, whiskey, and livestock feed. Jones has also opened a retail store, Hooper Junction Mercantile, which sells a variety of local food and locally-made products, and where she's planning to install a mill where people can mill their own grains.

Frances Whitehead is an award-winning transdisciplinary environmental artist who integrates art with plants, soil, food, and agricultural sustainability. Having spent much of her career in cities of the Great Lakes Basin, she moved to New Mexico five years ago because she wanted to live in a dry climate and work on what she calls "arid reworlding" — which is all about responding to climate change by building a healthy future that uses less water. On a trip to Mexico, her life was changed by an encounter with the Nopal cactus, which has been a staple of Mexican culture for millennia. This led to her project, Nopalogy, which addresses the potential role of Nopal as a future food in colder climates. In this podcast we explore the work with Nopal, as well as the role of the artist in agriculture and the food system, the latest research on Nopal, and the new field trials she's initiated in Santa Fe.

Karl Thidemann is co-founder of Soil4Climate, a non-profit that advocates for regenerative agriculture, with a focus on grazing and the restoration of grasslands. In this podcast he makes the case, supported by extensive scientific research, that the restoration of grasslands can provide a multi win-win––for the climate, biodiversity, soil health, good nutrition, farmer profitability, the water cycle, rural communities, anti-desertification, and maintaining traditional agrarian practices worldwide. He also challenges vegan narratives about food and climate, and, with a poem and a song, reminds us that the arts are an important part of the change toward a greener, healthier world. Thidemann makes references to many farmers and ranchers during this podcast, and I've linked to their work in the timeline below.

Gary Paul Nabhan is an agricultural ecologist, ethnobotanist, Ecumenical Franciscan Brother, and author of thirty-four books who has devoted his life to understanding the relationships among species in ecosystems and between human beings and their environments. His work spans regenerative agriculture, habitat conservation, indigenous communities, and so much more. In addition to his work in science, for which he has won many awards, including a MacArthur "Genius" grant, he is a poet, artist, and writer. In this podcast we talk about his latest book, Water in the Desert: A Pilgrimage.

Roxanne Swentzell was a young mother on a small piece of land at Santa Clara Pueblo when she was introduced to permaculture design principles––which dovetailed with indigenous patters of thinking and land use. She turned her yard from hard, sun-scorched earth into an agroforest that provides food, wood, fiber and habitat. She founded the Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute, which focuses on teaching principles and practices of desert gardening, composting, seed saving, animal husbandry, beekeeping, building, and maintaining cultural knowledge--based on principles of integrity, love, reciprocity, communication, work, and consideration.

At last year's Regenerate conference, I attended a session about climate emotion, led by Addie Candib of American Farmland Trust, in which participants were asked two questions: What is one thing you have lost to climate change? and What helps you build resilience in yourself/your land/your world? The answers were profound and fascinating. So I decided to ask some of the participants in that session to speak with us on the podcast. Addie Candib introduces the podcast, and then we talk to: Jonathan Cox,Policy Manager with Painterland Sisters Organic Yogurt in Westfield, Pennsylvania Alex and Clare McKeon, Father and daughter ranchers in Oakdale, California Laura Paskus, Environmental writer based in Albuquerque, New Mexico Adrienne Dorsey, Land steward from Durango, Colorado Craig Conley, Land steward in Northern New Mexico

In today's podcast we bring you an episode of the podcast Landed, from our friends at American Farmland Trust. It's called "We Need A Plan," and it's all about the issue of succession—addressing the question of what happens to our food-producing lands when the people who've been working them retire or pass on.

Beth Robinette is a fourth generation rancher in Eastern Washington State, where she and her family run a grassfed beef operation, the Lazy R Ranch, based on holistic management principles. She's co-founder of LINC Foods (Local Inland Northwest Cooperative), a local food hub based in Spokane Washington; and she runs the New Cowgirl Camp, an intensive ranching retreat for women.

Today we're sharing a conversation from the Down to Earth archive. We talk to Kevin Watt, who at the time was strategic advisor at TomKat Ranch in Pescadero, California, about the the practice and benefits of regenerative agriculture, how to incentivize it, and the dire long-term consequences of the degenerative practices of industrial agriculture—and the evolution toward new ways of thinking about productivity, healthy food, and thriving on a crowded planet. We recorded at the 2019 Regenerate conference, and the program posted in January 2020.

Anthropologist Ashanté Reese's new book explores Black community gatherings—and the nourishment, fellowship, and strength they cultivate. Reese is an anthropologist, author, and Associate Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, where she teaches and writes about food studies and food justice. Her new book is called: Gather: Black Food, Nourishment, and the Art of Togetherness. Reese looks at Black church gardens, family reunions, funerals, and activist spaces—in all of which food plays a powerful role. She shines a light on how food can play a role in everything from nourishing body and soul to building power and food sovereignty.