Deep Seed - Regenerative Agriculture

In this episode of The Deep Seed Podcast, I sit down with wildlife biologist and conservation scientist Dr Shekhar Kolipaka to explore one of the biggest questions at the heart of regeneration: how can humans learn to live with nature again?

Shekhar takes us from ancient rock art and Indigenous relationships with wildlife to the rise of agriculture, modern cities and increasingly fragile food systems. We explore how humans gradually became disconnected from the ecosystems that sustain us and what it might take to rebuild that relationship.

But this isn’t only a philosophical conversation.

In Kabirdham (India) Shekhar and his colleagues are working with Commonland and local partners on the regeneration of an entire landscape. Bringing together forest restoration, agriculture, water, biodiversity, livelihoods, food security and local communities rather than treating each challenge in isolation.

We explore why farmers in the plains and communities living in the forested hills depend on one another, how relatively small changes can cascade through an entire landscape, and why ecological restoration ultimately requires something much harder than planting trees or changing farming practices: people have to want to participate.

That led Shekhar to investigate something rarely discussed scientifically in the world of regeneration: inspiration.

Drawing on psychological research into how inspiration actually works, his team asked a fascinating question: can you deliberately inspire an entire landscape to change?

Their experiment eventually led to Anjor, a gathering in Kabirdham designed around hundreds of local change-makers and the idea that transformation can spread from person to person. Effectively, turning inspiration into action.

We also explore human rewilding, biophilia and biophobia, urban food resilience, the importance of traditional ecological knowledge, and what landscapes around the world can learn from one another.

This conversation ultimately asks us to reconsider something fundamental: perhaps regeneration isn’t simply about restoring degraded ecosystems.

Perhaps we need to restore our relationship with them too.

🎙️ GUEST - DR SHEKHAR KOLIPAKA

Wildlife biologist, conservation scientist and landscape restoration practitioner working with Commonland in India.

✨ COMMONLAND

Commonland is a global organisation working to restore degraded landscapes at scale. Through its Four Returns framework, Commonland brings together local communities, farmers, businesses, governments and investors to build healthy and resilient landscapes for generations to come.

https://commonland.com/

✨ THE DEEP SEED

The Deep Seed is a podcast exploring the people, ideas and solutions helping regenerate our food systems and ecosystems. Through long-form conversations with farmers, scientists, entrepreneurs and leading thinkers, we explore how we can build a healthier relationship with the living world.

🔔 Subscribe for more conversations on regenerative agriculture, soil health, ecosystem restoration, biodiversity and the future of food.

🌱 IN THIS EPISODE

Coexisting with nature • Biophilia & biophobia • Wildlife conservation • Ancient rock art • Traditional ecological knowledge • Human rewilding • Food-system resilience • Landscape restoration in India • Kabirdham • Regenerative agriculture • Water & biodiversity • Commonland’s Four Returns • The psychology of inspiration • Anjor • Community-led regeneration • Scaling landscape restoration

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Astrid Vargas has spent her life helping bring endangered species back from the brink of extinction, from the black-footed ferret in North America to the Iberian lynx in Spain.

But over the years, her focus expanded from saving individual species to something much bigger: restoring entire ecosystems and landscapes.

In this episode, we follow that remarkable journey. We explore the silent decline of butterflies and insects, the extraordinary recovery of the Iberian lynx, what happens when predators return to an ecosystem, and why restoring nature ultimately means working with the people who live within it.

Astrid also shares the story of AlVelAl, a pioneering landscape restoration initiative in southern Spain bringing together farmers, conservationists, entrepreneurs and local communities to regenerate a region threatened by desertification.

We talk about rewilding, trophic cascades, regenerative agriculture, the politics of environmentalism, the power of community, and why hope and inspiration may be just as important to restoration as ecology itself.

At its heart, this is a conversation about something surprisingly hopeful: nature can come back. And we know more about how to help it recover than we might think.

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In this episode, we explore:

• The extraordinary recovery of the Iberian lynx
• Why top predators can transform entire ecosystems
• Trophic cascades, explained simply
• The silent decline of butterflies, insects and pollinators
• Why conservation must move beyond saving individual species
• Rewilding vs ecological restoration
• How Astrid helped catalyse AlVelAl in southern Spain
• Regenerative agriculture and landscape restoration
• Commonland’s 4 Returns and 3 Zones frameworks
• Why restoration must create livelihoods as well as biodiversity
• The importance of local ownership and community
• How restoration can happen at bioregional scale
• Why hope may be one of conservation’s most important tools

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✨ASTRID VARGAS

Astrid Vargas is a conservation biologist whose career has taken her from endangered-species recovery programmes to large-scale landscape restoration. Her work has included the black-footed ferret in North America and the Iberian lynx in Spain, where she played a major role in the species’ captive-breeding programme.

She later worked with Commonland and helped catalyse AlVelAl, the large-scale landscape restoration initiative in south-eastern Spain that brings together ecological restoration, regenerative agriculture, entrepreneurship and community development.

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🌱 COMMONLAND

This episode was made in partnership with Commonland, an international non-profit working with local partners to restore degraded landscapes around the world.

https://commonland.com/

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🌱 ALVELAL

AlVelAl is a large-scale regeneration initiative in southeastern Spain, bringing farmers, businesses and communities together to restore degraded landscapes through regenerative agriculture, ecosystem restoration and a stronger local economy.

https://alvelal.es/

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What does it actually take to restore nature? Not just on individual farms or through isolated projects, but across entire landscapes?

For more than a decade, ecologist and Commonland founder Willem Ferwerda has been working on exactly that question.

In this episode, Willem takes us inside the thinking behind Commonland and the Four Returns framework: a long-term approach to landscape restoration that brings together ecology, agriculture, communities, business and finance.

We explore why restoring ecosystems requires thinking in decades; why technical knowledge is often not the biggest barrier to change; what Willem learned from decades working in conservation around the world; and why farmers and landowners can become what he beautifully describes as “islands of hope” within degraded landscapes.

We also get into the economics of regeneration: long-term finance, the role of farmers and communities, and why our economies ultimately need to operate within the ecological systems on which they depend.

At its heart, this is a conversation about moving from loss to return: restoring not only biodiversity, soil and water, but livelihoods, communities, purpose and hope. 💚

This episode is part of a special Deep Seed series produced in collaboration with Commonland, exploring what it really takes to restore landscapes at scale.

✨ WILLEM FERWERDA
Ecologist, conservationist and founder of Commonland.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/willem-ferwerda-1540135/

✨ COMMONLAND
A global organisation working with partners around the world to support large-scale, long-term landscape restoration through the Four Returns framework.

https://commonland.com/

Hosted on Ausha. See https://ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

What if humanity already knows how to restore the ecosystems we have degraded?

For more than three decades, filmmaker and ecologist John D. Liu has documented some of the world’s most ambitious efforts to bring damaged landscapes back to life.

His work documenting the restoration of China’s Loess Plateau showed him something that would shape the rest of his life: large-scale ecological degradation is not necessarily irreversible.

So if restoration is possible, why aren’t we doing it everywhere?

In this conversation, John takes us from the Loess Plateau to the possibility of restoring the Sinai Peninsula. We explore how vegetation, soil, biodiversity and the water cycle interact, why degraded landscapes struggle to retain water, and what happens when ecological function becomes the starting point for how we manage land.

But John’s argument goes much further than ecosystem restoration.

We discuss why our economic system often rewards extraction rather than ecological health, why GDP is such an incomplete measure of wealth, whether perennial polycultures and regenerative agriculture could reshape our food system, and what it would mean to organise human civilisation around restoring the living systems on which we depend.

John also reflects on ageing, responsibility, his friendship with Jane Goodall, the creation of the Ecosystem Restoration Communities movement, and his work as an Ecosystem Ambassador for Commonland.

At 73, after decades spent documenting both ecological destruction and extraordinary recovery, John remains convinced of something profoundly hopeful:

Humans don’t have to be a destructive force on this planet. We can become a restorative one.

This episode was produced in partnership with Commonland, a global organisation working to enable large-scale landscape restoration through its holistic Four Returns approach.

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🎙️ JOHN D. LIU

John D. Liu is a filmmaker, ecologist and ecosystem restoration advocate whose documentaries have helped bring global attention to the potential of large-scale landscape restoration.

✨ COMMONLAND

Commonland works with communities around the world to restore degraded landscapes and create thriving futures for people and nature through its Four Returns approach.

https://commonland.com/

✨ THE DEEP SEED

The Deep Seed explores the people, ideas and solutions helping regenerate our food systems and ecosystems.

Through long-form conversations with farmers, scientists, entrepreneurs and leading thinkers, we explore regenerative agriculture, soil health, ecosystem restoration, biodiversity and how we can build a healthier relationship with the living world.

🔔 Follow The Deep Seed for more conversations on regenerative agriculture, soil health, ecosystem restoration, biodiversity and the future of food.

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A few years ago, Anna Wynants decided to combine her two biggest passions: farming and cooking.

She opened ‘De Keukentafel’, which is both a small organic regenerative farm and a fine dining restaurant.

Every morning, she walks into the gardens with her coffee to see what’s thriving, what’s ripe, and which ingredients are ready to find their way onto the menu.

For a creative chef like her, it’s like paradise: a whole range of fresh and delicious ingredients to choose from. She then expertly and lovingly harvests, transforms and elevates these ingredients to create beautiful, original and delicious dishes. I had the pleasure of trying some of her food, and it’s truly exceptional.

I left De Keukentafel deeply inspired by both the place and the person behind it. I hope this conversation leaves you feeling the same.

✨TOP 50 FARMERS

Anna is one of 50 farmers selected for Top 50 Farmers 2026, a farmer-first accelerator program designed to empower, connect, and elevate regenerative farmers across Europe. This episode was produced in collaboration with Top 50 Farmers to bring you an example of how regeneration is being pursued in many contexts and many ways.

Discover more - http://www.top50Farmers.com

✨DE KEUKENTAFEL

https://www.de-keukentafel.com/

✨DEEP SEED PODCAST

Follow us for more stories about regenerative pioneers, scientists and experts (click on the ‘subscribe’ button under the video)

Email us at raphael@deepseed.eu

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Et si notre santé ne commençait pas dans l’assiette… mais bien plus bas, dans les sols ?

Dans cet épisode, je reçois Pierre Weill, agronome, auteur de Une seule santé et pionnier d’une approche qui relie santé des sols, santé des plantes, santé animale, alimentation humaine et santé publique.

On parle de One Health, de densité nutritionnelle, d’agroécologie, de maladies chroniques, d’oméga-3, de polyphénols, de goût, de prévention, mais aussi d’un sujet essentiel : comment créer un nouveau contrat entre agriculteurs, citoyens, scientifiques, entreprises et décideurs pour produire une alimentation qui régénère les écosystèmes au lieu de les épuiser.

Pierre explique pourquoi une tomate peut avoir le même nombre de calories qu’une autre, mais pas du tout la même richesse en micronutriments. Pourquoi la vie du sol influence la qualité nutritionnelle des aliments. Pourquoi la diversité est une clé fondamentale du vivant. Et pourquoi la transition agricole ne peut pas reposer uniquement sur les épaules des agriculteurs.

DANS CET EPISODE

• Le concept de One Health : pourquoi la santé des sols, des plantes, des animaux et des humains est indissociable.

• Pourquoi la densité nutritionnelle de nos aliments est l’un des grands enjeux de santé publique du XXIᵉ siècle.

• Comment les pratiques agricoles influencent directement la qualité nutritionnelle de notre alimentation.

• Pourquoi les maladies chroniques explosent et quel rôle joue notre alimentation.

• Les preuves scientifiques derrière les bénéfices de l’agriculture régénérative.

• Peut-on produire une alimentation plus saine sans la rendre inaccessible ?

• Comment reconnaître des aliments réellement nutritifs en tant que consommateur.

• Pourquoi la santé pourrait être le moteur le plus puissant pour accélérer la transition agricole.

PARTENAIRES DE CET EPISODE

🌱 Regenacterre accompagne les agriculteurs qui souhaitent faire évoluer leurs pratiques vers une agriculture plus régénérative. À travers du conseil technique, des formations et un accompagnement de terrain, leur objectif est d’aider les fermes à restaurer la santé des sols, renforcer leur résilience, améliorer leur rentabilité et produire une alimentation de meilleure qualité, tout en régénérant les écosystèmes.

🌾 Cultivae est une coopérative qui développe des filières agricoles régénératives en Wallonie. Elle accompagne les agriculteurs dans leur transition et travaille à mieux valoriser leurs productions en créant des débouchés pour des aliments issus de pratiques favorables aux sols, à la biodiversité et au climat. Son ambition est de faire émerger une économie capable de récompenser les agriculteurs qui régénèrent le vivant.

🌿 Le GAL Culturalité est un Groupe d’Action Locale qui rassemble citoyens, agriculteurs, entreprises, associations et pouvoirs publics autour de projets de développement territorial. Son objectif est de renforcer la vitalité économique, sociale et environnementale de la région en soutenant des initiatives locales innovantes, notamment dans les domaines de l’agriculture, de l’alimentation, de la biodiversité et de la transition écologique.

🔔 Abonnez-vous à Deep Seed pour explorer les liens entre agriculture régénérative, santé des sols, biodiversité, alimentation, climat et transformation de nos systèmes alimentaires.

Hosted on Ausha. See https://ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

In this episode of Deep Seed, regenerative farmers Naomi Oakley and Gunnar Thelin explore what modern agriculture could become if we stopped treating nature as a machine and started listening to living systems again.

This is not another conversation about agricultural policy, carbon markets, subsidies or food system bureaucracy.

It is a deeply human conversation about regenerative farming, biodiversity, grazing animals, soil health, ecosystem restoration, community, belonging… and joy.

For Naomi, farming is the privilege of waking up every morning to work alongside animals, landscapes and local communities she deeply loves. For Gunnar, regenerative agriculture is rooted in a profound feeling of connection to place: the understanding that the land does not belong to us — we belong to the land.

Together, they discuss how regenerative grazing systems can restore ecosystems, improve water cycles, increase biodiversity, rebuild soil health and strengthen climate resilience, while also giving farmers back something many have lost: meaning, dignity and hope.

This episode explores:
• regenerative agriculture and holistic grazing
• biodiversity and ecosystem restoration
• soil regeneration and water retention
• rewilding vs regenerative farming
• how cows and grazing animals shape landscapes
• why observation matters more than rigid agricultural recipes
• farmer mental health, purpose and community
• the role of farmers in solving climate and ecological crises
• why many young people are rediscovering farming and land stewardship

At the heart of the conversation is a powerful idea: farmers are not simply producers trapped inside industrial systems. They are observers, experimenters and caretakers of living ecosystems.

Naomi and Gunnar speak honestly about how modern agriculture often disconnects farmers from nature, from their communities and even from themselves. Against that, they offer another path: one rooted in curiosity, humility, ecological intelligence and relationship with the living world.

It is hopeful without being naïve.

A conversation about farming, yes — but also about how humans might find their way back to meaning, resilience and connection in an increasingly fractured world.

🌿 SOIL CAPITAL This episode was made in partnership with Soil Capital - a company accelerating the transition to regenerative agriculture by financially rewarding farmers who improve soil health http://www.soilcapital.com

👨🏼‍🌾 EARA The conversation was recorded during a gathering organised by the European Alliance for Regenerative Agriculture (EARA), a growing network of farmers from across Europe working to regenerate soils, ecosystems, rural communities and food systems.

Hosted on Ausha. See https://ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Let me ask you this: do you think Europe can feed itself in 20–30 years under current conditions?

In this episode of the Deep Seed Podcast, I sit down with Ivo Degn (Re:source) to unpack a reality very few people are willing to face:

Europe’s food system is becoming more fragile, more volatile, and less resilient every year.

We talk about rising food insecurity, collapsing soil health, fertiliser dependency on fossil fuels, ageing farmers with no one to replace them, and a system that was never designed for the world we now live in.

This conversation reframes regenerative agriculture from a “nice idea” to a serious response to food system risk.

Because at the end of the day, agriculture is not just another sector. It is the foundation of civilisation.

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In this deep-dive masterclass, we explore:

• Why the modern agrifood system depends on assumptions that no longer hold

• How climate volatility (droughts, floods, shifting baselines) is destabilising food production

• Why fertiliser, energy and geopolitics are tightly linked

• The hidden structural barriers blocking regenerative agriculture in Europe

• Why farmers are often trapped in a system they know isn’t working

• How soil biology, biodiversity and regenerative practices are emerging as a viable alternative

• What needs to change at a system level to unlock the transition

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If you care about food security, climate change, regenerative agriculture, soil health, biodiversity, the future of Europe, or simply where your food comes from, this is one of the most important conversations you can listen to right now.

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🎙 ABOUT THE GUEST Ivo Degn is part of Re:source, working at the intersection of food systems transformation, regenerative agriculture, and systemic change across Europe.

🌱 ABOUT DEEP SEED Deep Seed explores the future of food, farming, and ecosystems — through long-form conversations with the people shaping the regenerative transition.

👨🏼‍🌾 SOIL CAPITAL The official partner of the Deep Seed podcast. Soil Capital is a company that accelerates the transition to regenerative agriculture by financially rewarding farmers who improve soil health and biodiversity ❤️ http://www.soilcapital.com

Hosted on Ausha. See https://ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

What if restoring our soils isn’t just a scientific challenge… but an emotional, even spiritual one? What if the future of farming depends as much on beauty, connection, and intention as it does on data, yields, and carbon?

In this powerful episode of the Deep Seed Podcast, landscape architect Marian Boswall takes us on a journey that starts with dead soil… and leads to a completely new way of seeing land, food, and life itself.

This is not your typical conversation about agriculture. It’s deeper. Slower. More human. And, honestly, more hopeful.

🌍 Why You Should Watch This Episode If you care about:

· Regenerative agriculture

· Soil health & soil microbiology

· Sustainable farming & food systems

· Biodiversity & ecosystem restoration

· Nutrient density & human health …

this episode will expand how you think about all of them. Because regeneration isn’t just about techniques. It’s about how we relate to the land... and to each other!

🧠 What You’ll Learn

· The fundamentals of soil health, composting, and the soil food web

· Why nutrient density starts in the soil (and affects your gut health)

· How biodiversity and agroecology can transform farms and landscapes

· Why beauty, design, and even energy matter in regenerative systems

· How anyone (yes, even in a city) can contribute to regeneration

· The risks of greenwashing in the regenerative agriculture movement

· Why beavers might be some of the best ecosystem engineers on Earth

🌱 A Different Perspective on Regenerative Agriculture Most conversations around regenerative agriculture focus on carbon, metrics, and productivity. This one adds something we don’t talk about enough: care, intention, and connection. Marian shares how landscapes can heal people, not just produce food. Farmers can reconnect with the food they grow Small actions (like compost or a balcony garden) can scale into ecosystem restoration

“We don’t just grow food—we grow the conditions for life.”

🎙️ About the Guest

Marian Boswall is an award-winning landscape architect, agroecology coach, and author. Her work bridges regenerative agriculture, ecology, and human wellbeing, helping design landscapes that restore both ecosystems and the people living within them.

🌿 SOIL CAPITAL

This episode was made in partnership with Soil Capital, a company accelerating the transition to regenerative agriculture. http://www.soilcapital.com

Hosted on Ausha. See https://ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

What if the future of food isn’t high-tech… but ancient wisdom?

We’ve built a global food system on just four crops... and it’s starting to crack!

The real question is: what happens when it breaks?

In this episode of the Deep Seed Podcast, Professor Sayed Azam-Ali (University of Nottingham, Crops For the Future) reveals why the key to resilient, nutritious, and truly sustainable food systems might already exist—hidden in so-called “forgotten crops.”

We unpack how modern agriculture became dangerously dependent on a handful of commodity crops like wheat, rice, maize, and soy—and why this lack of diversity is driving soil degradation, biodiversity loss, climate vulnerability, and hidden hunger.

But this isn’t just a problem story. It’s a roadmap for transformation.

You’ll discover:

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Why crop diversity is the foundation of regenerative agriculture and food system resilience

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How underutilised crops like Bambara groundnut and fonio can outperform industrial staples in harsh climates

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The hidden link between ultra-processed food, micronutrient deficiency, and chronic disease

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Why global supply chains (COVID, Ukraine, Suez Canal) exposed the fragility of our food system

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How indigenous knowledge and farmer-led innovation hold critical solutions we’re at risk of losing

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What needs to change—from seed systems and subsidies to consumer behavior and food culture

We also dive into the bigger picture:

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Can regenerative agriculture scale without cultural change?

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What role should corporations, governments, and consumers really play?

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And why “cheap food” might be the most expensive mistake we’ve ever made

This conversation sits at the intersection of agroecology, climate change, nutrition, and food sovereignty—and challenges everything we think we know about what we should grow and eat.

Because the future of farming might not be about producing more…

…but about growing differently.

“We cannot fix the food system by tweaking it. We have to transform it.”

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🌿 SOIL CAPITAL - this episode was made in partnership with Soil Capital

http://www.soilcapital.com

❤️ Episode hosted by Federica Urso

Hosted on Ausha. See https://ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

What happens when a farmer publicly admits that modern agriculture might be broken?

In this episode, British farmer David Wheatley joins the Deep Seed Podcast to share the unfiltered reality of modern farming. After losing almost everything in a devastating farm fire and facing years of financial losses during COVID, David started posting honest videos about life on his farm — and unexpectedly built an audience of millions.

Today, his content offers a rare window into the real economics of agriculture: volatile weather, rising input costs, global commodity markets, and the constant risk farmers face every season.

David is a fourth-generation farmer from Cambridgeshire, UK, managing around 450 acres of arable crops, orchards and flowers. In this conversation we go beyond the viral videos to explore the deeper forces shaping farming today — and the new opportunities emerging through direct-to-consumer food systems, social media, and regenerative agriculture.

You’ll hear:

• how David nearly lost his farm after years of financial losses

• why many farmers feel trapped in a system where “the more you grow, the less you get paid”

• how social media unexpectedly became a lifeline for his farm

• why he sells flowers and apples directly to consumers instead of supermarkets

We also discuss David’s heritage orchards with over 250 apple varieties, why he refuses to certify them organic even though they are grown without sprays or fertilisers, and how customers are rediscovering what real food tastes like.

The conversation also explores David’s first experiments with regenerative agriculture, cover crops, direct drilling, biodiversity and diversified farming systems, and the real risks farmers face when transitioning away from conventional agriculture.

This episode is for anyone interested in:

• regenerative agriculture

• sustainable farming

• soil health and biodiversity

• the future of food systems

• farm economics and agricultural policy

• food security and resilience

At its heart, this conversation reminds us that the future of agriculture may depend on rebuilding the relationship between farmers, land and the people who eat the food.

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👨🏼‍🌾 About the guest

David Wheatley is a UK farmer, flower grower and orchard keeper known for sharing the unfiltered reality of modern farming with hundreds of thousands of followers online. His work highlights the economic pressures farmers face while exploring new ways to produce and sell food outside the traditional agricultural system.

Instagram: @petitepeonys

Website: http://petitepeonys.co.uk

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🌿 This episode was made in partnership with Soil Capital

http://www.soilcapital.com

❤️ Special thanks to Federica Urso for the research and preparation of this episode.

Hosted on Ausha. See https://ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

What happens when a former hedge fund trader walks away from finance… survives a near-fatal accident… and rebuilds his farm using regenerative agriculture?

In this episode of the Deep Seed Podcast, James Butcher shares how he transformed his Suffolk farm from a high-input, chemical-dependent system into a diversified regenerative farming model using:

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Companion cropping

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Livestock integration

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Agroforestry

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Reduced synthetic nitrogen

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Biological soil health principles

And here’s the kicker:

He slashed growing costs from £1,500–£2,000 per hectare to under £600 per hectare — while increasing resilience and, in some cases, yields.

Including one wheat field that yielded 2 tonnes per hectare MORE after being grazed by sheep.

Yes, really.

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🌱 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

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Why regenerative agriculture may be LESS financially risky than conventional farming

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How companion cropping reduces disease pressure without fungicides

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The economics of cutting synthetic nitrogen by more than 60%

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Why grazing sheep on standing wheat can increase yield

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How agroforestry improves biodiversity and long-term farm resilience

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The real psychological barriers preventing farmers from transitioning

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Why lower input costs = lower financial risk in volatile markets

If you care about soil health, biodiversity, food systems, climate resilience, carbon farming, or the future of sustainable agriculture — this conversation is for you.

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🐑 The Regenerative Practices James Uses Today

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Wheat grown with clover, vetch, peas or beans

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Legumes fixing up to 100 kg nitrogen per hectare

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No insecticides

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No fungicides

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No seed treatments

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Home-saved seed

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Grazing sheep across winter cereals

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Red Poll cattle mob grazing

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2,500+ trees planted in an agroforestry system

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Fruit, nuts, coppice biomass & biodiversity strips

This is regenerative agriculture in practice — not theory.

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🌍 Why This Conversation Matters

Global food systems are under pressure:

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Rising fertilizer costs

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Commodity price volatility

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Climate-driven droughts

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Soil degradation

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Biodiversity collapse

James’ story shows that regeneration isn’t just environmental — it’s economic.

As Wendell Berry said: “The soil is the great connector of lives.”

And rebuilding it may be the smartest financial decision a farmer can make.

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👤 About James Butcher

James Butcher is a regenerative farmer in Suffolk, UK. After starting his career in finance, he returned to his family farm and led a full-system transition toward regenerative agriculture, agroecology, livestock integration, and agroforestry.

His work focuses on soil health, biodiversity restoration, economic resilience, and long-term farm viability.

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🌿 SOIL CAPITAL - this episode was made in partnership with Soil Capital

http://www.soilcapital.com

❤️ Special thanks to Federica Urso who did all the research for this episode and helped me craft the questions

Hosted on Ausha. See https://ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

What if the future of regenerative agriculture won’t be decided in Europe… but in India, Africa, and the Global South?

In this powerful Deep Seed mini-episode, we sit down with Professor Nitya Rao, leading gender and climate researcher and contributor to the Lancet Commission on Food Systems, to explore a perspective we rarely hear in the regenerative agriculture movement.

Because here’s the uncomfortable truth:

👉 Many smallholder farmers in India are already farming regeneratively — not because it’s trendy, but because they have no choice.

👉 Women are carrying entire food systems on their backs — yet remain invisible in climate policy.

👉 And if governments don’t act wisely, the Global South may repeat the same industrial agriculture mistakes that pushed us beyond planetary boundaries.

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🔎 In this episode, we explore:

•

Why 90% of Indian farmers cultivate less than 5 hectares — and what that means for regenerative agriculture

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How monocultures, fertilizer subsidies, and “yield at all costs” policies affect soil health and biodiversity

•

The hidden reality of male migration and how women are sustaining farming and food systems

•

Why gender-blind climate policies fail — and what intersectionality really means in agriculture

•

The groundbreaking case of Andhra Pradesh’s community-based natural farming movement

•

Indigenous knowledge, nutrient-dense traditional foods, and ecosystem restoration

•

The biggest blind spot in the regenerative agriculture movement: evidence, economics, and social realities

Professor Rao challenges us to ask a deeper question: "regenerative for whom?"

Because sustainability isn’t just about carbon farming or agroecology techniques. It’s about livelihoods, labor, time, access to land, credit systems, and power dynamics.

If we ignore that… we risk romanticizing regenerative farming instead of scaling it effectively.

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🌱 Why This Conversation Matters

According to the Lancet Commission, global food systems contribute nearly 30% of greenhouse gas emissions and drive transgressions of multiple planetary boundaries — from nitrogen cycles to biodiversity loss.

The Global South stands at a crossroads.

Should countries increase industrial agriculture to raise yields?

Or can they leapfrog directly into nature-based solutions and sustainable farming systems that protect soil microbiology, biodiversity, and long-term food security?

As Professor Rao says:

“This is a very good moment for governments to say: don’t go down that track. Let’s show a different pathway.”

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🎧 If You Care About:

•

Regenerative agriculture beyond the Western lens

•

Agroecology and smallholder farming

•

Nutrient density and sustainable diets

•

Climate resilience and food systems transformation

•

Gender equity in agriculture

•

Indigenous knowledge and ecosystem restoration

This episode will challenge and expand your perspective.

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🌿 SOIL CAPITAL - this episode was made in partnership with Soil Capital

http://www.soilcapital.com

❤️ Special thanks to Federica Urso who did all the research for this episode and helped me craft the questions

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Can regenerative agriculture really restore biodiversity, rebuild soil health, increase farmer profits and still feed the world? Or is it just a powerful story we want to believe?

In this evidence-based Deep Seed conversation, biodiversity scientist Professor Lynn Dicks shares groundbreaking real-world research from commercial farms in the UK and India — revealing what the science actually says about regenerative agriculture, agroecology, nature-based solutions, and the future of our food system.

This episode is essential listening for farmers, policymakers, sustainability professionals, researchers, and anyone working to transform agriculture.

🌱 What the Research Shows

Through the UK-funded H3 Project (Healthy Soil, Healthy Food, Healthy People), Lynn and her team studied regenerative and conventional farms across England using real-world commercial data.

They found:

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Increased soil carbon storage

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Improved soil health and earthworm density

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Higher biodiversity in key beneficial species

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Reduced synthetic fertilizer and pesticide use

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Strong potential for increased farm resilience

But the story is nuanced. Pollinator numbers, for example, depend heavily on landscape-scale habitat — reminding us that biodiversity restoration requires thinking beyond individual fields.

🌍 Biodiversity vs. Productivity — A False Trade-Off?

We explore whether sustainable farming and high productivity can coexist.

Topics include:

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Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

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Ecological intensification

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Carbon farming

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Landscape restoration

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Livestock systems and land use

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Reducing chemical inputs without reducing yields

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The true cost of food

A global meta-analysis discussed in this episode shows farmers could reduce insecticide use by 44% without yield loss simply by spraying only when thresholds are reached.

That’s not ideology. That’s data.

💰 Is Regenerative Agriculture Profitable?

Profitability determines adoption.

Evidence from regenerative farms in the UK, US, and India shows:

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Lower input costs

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Reduced dependency on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides

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Comparable yields

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Increased resilience to market shocks

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In some cases, significantly higher profits

We also discuss agricultural policy reform, biodiversity net gain, nature credits, and who should pay for ecosystem services and public environmental goods.

🔑 Soil Capital

This episode was made in partnership with Soil Capital - accelerating the transition to regenerative agriculture by financially rewarding farmers who improve soil health and biodiversity. wwwe.soilcapital.com

Hosted on Ausha. See https://ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

In this episode of Deep Seed, I sit down with Andrew Voysey, Chief Impact Officer at Soil Capital, to go beyond slogans and dig into what it actually takes to scale regenerative agriculture in a world built for short-term output.

We unpack why most farmers feel trapped, why markets alone won’t fix our food systems, and how credible impact measurement — paired with smart policy and aligned incentives — could unlock transition at scale.

Whether you’re a farmer, a food-chain professional, a policymaker, an investor, or someone who eats food every day (which is all of us), this conversation reframes regenerative agriculture as economic reality rather than idealistic aspiration.

In plain language and big ideas, we cover:

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Why soil is a hidden systemic lever - and why degraded soil is behind so many global crises

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The real reason farmers are stuck - risk, cashflow pressures, and fragile livelihoods

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How Soil Capital is forging real economic pathways - paying farmers for measurable impact, not just good intentions

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Why big companies actually care - resilience, supply-chain security, and risk management

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Beyond carbon - how soil, biodiversity, water, and farm resilience can be credibly measured at scale

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The limits of markets - why policy and public finance still matter

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Headwinds and opportunities - political shifts, economic pressures, and the resilient core of the transition

This is not another “optimistic farming chat.” This is a real-world, systems-level, deeply practical conversation about how change actually happens when you remove the fantasy, face the bottlenecks, and structure incentives that work.

If you care about food, climate, landscapes, rural economies, or simply how the world actually works beneath the headlines, this episode is for you!

🎯 Topics Covered

Soil health, market incentives, regenerative practices, impact measurement, carbon vs. beyond carbon, agricultural economics, supply chain resilience, policy, and systems transformation.

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This episode was produced in partnership with Soil Capital, a company accelerating the regenerative transition by financially rewarding farmers who improve soil health & biodiversity.

https://www.soilcapital.com/

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Usefull Links:

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ANDREW VOYSEY: LinkedIn

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SOIL CAPITAL: https://www.soilcapital.com/

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THE DEEP SEED PODCAST - linkhttps://sustainablefoodtrust.org/news-views/the-hidden-cost-of-uk-food-is-malnutrition-a-national-scandal/

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Follow Us

• Instagram: @deep_seed_podcast

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/deep-seed

• Email: raphael@deepseed.eu

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Our food system is on the verge of collapse — but we can fix it.

In this episode, we’re joined by Tim Benton, one of the world’s leading experts on food security, to unpack the deep systemic drivers behind the crisis… and what a truly regenerative future could look like.

We cover:

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Why the food system is fundamentally unsustainable

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The 3 “lock-ins” keeping us stuck

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How planetary boundaries apply to farming and diets

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The myth of green growth

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What gives Tim hope — and what needs to change now

This is one of the most powerful and important episodes we’ve recorded. If you care about the future of food, farming, or the planet, you need to hear this.

🎙️ Guest: Tim Benton - Professor of Ecology, Chatham House Research Director, and former UK Food Security Champion

💚 Official partner: Soil Capital - a company accelerating the transition to regenerative agriculture → http://www.soilcapital.com

📬 Stay connected:

Instagram → @deep_seed_podcast

LinkedIn → Deep Seed Podcast

Website → http://www.deepseedpodcast.com

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What if every bite of cheap food you eat is secretly costing society triple the price you paid at checkout?

In this eye-opening episode, food systems expert Adele Jones (former Executive Director of the Sustainable Food Trust) pulls back the curtain on the true cost of our food. From soil health and ecosystem collapse to diet-related disease and skyrocketing healthcare costs, Adele explains how we’re already paying the true price of industrial farming. And it’s way more than what we spend at the supermarket!

But it’s not all bad news. Adele lays out a hopeful, inspiring roadmap to a regenerative food system where farmers are rewarded for improving soil, boosting biodiversity, and producing truly nutrient-dense food. We cover groundbreaking concepts like True Cost Accounting, the Global Farm Metric, and why livestock farming might just be part of the solution.

If you’ve ever wondered how to fix food, protect nature, and improve public health all at once: this episode is a must-listen! It’s one of the most mind-expanding conversations we’ve ever had.

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🔍 Topics Covered

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True Cost Accounting: the economic revolution hiding in plain sight

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How food is much more expensive than it seems (but not at the checkout)

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Regenerative agriculture vs. conventional farming

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Why big food companies are (finally) waking up to soil and sustainability

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Livestock farming: villain or ecosystem ally?

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What if we paid farmers for nutrition per hectare instead of yield?

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Feeding Britain regeneratively: is it possible? (Yes!)

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Nutrient density, soil health, and the future of public health

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Lessons from Bhutan: what a happiness-first food system looks like

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The Global Farm Metric: a universal language for farm sustainability

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How to make food and farming a political (and public) priority

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Official partner: Soil Capital

-> a company accelerating the regenerative transition by financially rewarding farmers who improve soil health & biodiversity.

https://www.soilcapital.com/

Usefull Links:

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ADELE JONES: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adelejones/

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SUSTAINABLE FOOD TRUST: https://sustainablefoodtrust.org/

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The Hidden Cost of UK FOOD - link

Follow Us

• Instagram: @deep_seed_podcast

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/deep-seed

• Email: raphael@deepseed.eu

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In one of the driest, most degraded landscapes in Europe, farmer and agroforester Antonio Coelho has built 60 cm of fertile topsoil, raised organic matter to 7.4%, and slashed irrigation by 85% - all in just six years!

In this #REWIND episode, Antonio shares his deeply inspiring journey into entropic agroforestry, a form of regenerative agriculture that mimics forest ecosystems to grow food, restore land, and rebuild water cycles. He explains how complex, layered polycultures can outcompete monocultures - not just ecologically, but economically too - if we shift how we define productivity.

You’ll learn:

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Why dense, multi-species systems don’t compete — they cooperate

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How to retain water and thrive even with 8-month droughts

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What it means to feed the soil first, not just the crop

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Why economic models must account for real planetary costs

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How biomass, pruning, and photosynthesis create energy loops that regenerate land over time

This episode challenges conventional logic about competition, inputs, and profitability — and offers a bold, hopeful vision for the future of farming.

🎧 Tune in now and see why this is Deep Seed’s most-watched episode on YouTube yet. To see Antonio’s farm and the system in action, head to our YouTube channel for the full visual experience.

If you enjoy this episode, leave a rating or share it with someone who still thinks farming in the desert is impossible ❤️

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This episode was made in partnership with Soil Capital - www.soilcapital.com

Hosted on Ausha. See https://ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

What if you could bring a dead river back to life by working with farmers, not against them?

In this powerful #REWIND episode, Silvia Quarta shares the story of a forgotten valley in one of Europe’s driest regions, where springs stopped flowing, wells ran dry, and the river disappeared. But through radical listening, community trust, and regenerative agriculture, a new vision is starting to emerge.

Rooted in hope, soil, and local food systems.

This episode is about reimagining what rural life can be, and showing that farmers, shepherds, and citizens can become stewards of large-scale ecological restoration.

🌱 Topics covered:

• Community-led ecosystem restoration

• Water retention and soil regeneration

• Rural resilience and land abandonment

• Regenerative agriculture as a water solution

• Local food systems and consumer connection

• Working with farmers to restore landscapes

• Building collective hope in degraded regions

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This episode was made in partnership with Soil Capital ❤️ http://www.soilcapital.com

Hosted on Ausha. See https://ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

What if we stopped just talking about regeneration… and started measuring it?

In this #REWIND episode, Peter Fröhlich, engineer, farmer, and co-founder of AgriPurpose, lays out a powerful, outcome-driven approach to regenerative agriculture. No fluff! Just clear, data-informed tools to guide land restoration at scale. Peter explains how satellite data, targeted soil testing, and simple metrics like biomass productivity, plant cover, and input efficiency can help farmers, funders, and policymakers align around real impact — not vague promises.

This is regeneration with roots. Practical, radical, and full of hope.

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🧠 Topics covered:

• Outcome-based regenerative agriculture

• Soil health and biomass productivity

• Remote sensing and satellite measurement

• Regenerative indicators beyond labels

• Ecosystem restoration through data

• Lowering input costs through smarter design

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This episode was made in partnership with Soil Capital, a company accelerating the transition to regenerative agriculture by financially rewarding farmers who improve soil health and biodiversity 💚

http://www.soilcapital.com

Hosted on Ausha. See https://ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.