Regenerative Agriculture Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Episode 92: Growing Regenerative Opportunities with Koen van Seijen Sep 28, 2023

Show notes

Koen van Seijen has interviewed over 250 investors, investment fund managers, opinion leaders, farmers, and scientists to find out how money can best be used to regenerate soil, people, local communities, and ecosystems. He is currently a member engagement manager of Toniic, the global community of dynamic and active impact investors. Previously Koen supported Aqua-Spark, an impact investing fund focused on sustainable aquaculture companies. In this conversation, John and Koen discuss:

Current investment activity in agriculture
The role of capital in regenerative adoption
Regenerative practices and topics attractive to investors
Regenerating the water cycle at a local ecosystem level
The benefits of nutrient absorption through foliage
The need for education in the finance world
Areas of opportunities for growers today
Increasing consumer interest through nutrient density

To learn more about Koen and the "Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food" podcast, please visit: https://investinginregenerativeagriculture.com/

Additional Resources

"Back from the Brink: How Australia's Landscape Can Be Saved" by Peter Andrews
"The Hidden Life of Trees" by Peter Wohlleben
"The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth" by Tim Flannery
Walter Jehne YouTube Playlist

About John KempfJohn Kempf is the founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture (AEA). A top expert in biological and regenerative farming, John founded AEA in 2006 to help fellow farmers by providing the education, tools, and strategies that will have a global effect on the food supply and those who grow it.

Through intense study and the knowledge gleaned from many industry leaders, John is building a comprehensive systems-based approach to plant nutrition – a system solidly based on the sciences of plant physiology, mineral nutrition, and soil microbiology.

Support For This Show & Helping You Grow Since 2006, AEA has been on a mission to help growers become more resilient, efficient, and profitable with regenerative agriculture.

AEA works directly with growers to apply its unique line of liquid mineral crop nutrition products and biological inoculants. Informed by cutting-edge plant and soil data-gathering techniques, AEA's science-based programs empower farm operations to meet the crop quality markers that matter the most.

AEA has created real and lasting change on millions of acres with its products and data-driven services by working hand-in-hand with growers to produce healthier soil, stronger crops, and higher profits.

Beyond working on the ground with growers, AEA leads in regenerative agriculture media and education, producing and distributing the popular and highly-regarded Regenerative Agriculture Podcast, inspiring webinars, and other educational content that serve as go-to resources for growers worldwide.

Learn more about AEA's regenerative programs and products: https://www.advancingecoag.com/

VIDEO: To learn more from John Kempf about regenerative agriculture, watch this conversation between John and three AEA grower partners about how regenerative agriculture is changing lives and conventional farming: https://youtu.be/n9U6GwbYPDk

Episode 91: You Are What You Eat: Examining Beef and Plants With Dr. Stephan van Vliet Sep 08, 2023

Show notes

Dr. Stephan van Vliet performs clinical and translational studies to evaluate the effects of whole food ingestion and physical activity interventions on body composition, physical function, inflammation, insulin action, and intracellular signaling pathways that regulate muscle mass with advancing age. His work has been published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the Journal of Nutrition, and the Journal of Physiology. Dr. van Vliet earned his Ph.D. in Kinesiology and Community Health as an ESPEN Fellow from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received post-doctoral training at the Center for Human Nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine. Dr. van Vliet also holds a Masters in Nutrition Science.

As a member of the Duke Molecular Physiology Institute within the Duke University School of Medicine, his work focuses on the effects of primary (protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins) and secondary compounds (phytochemicals, polyphenols, antioxidants) and the molecular mechanisms by which they impact human metabolism. His work often involves physical activity interventions and utilizes an integrative approach to improve human health.

In this conversation, John and Stephan discuss:

Nutrient differences in grass-fed beef
Other studies focused on beef, bison, and milk
Implications of plant secondary metabolites being consumed
Variations in phytonutrient density
Soil health and ergothioneine levels
How different plant species provide different compounds to livestock
Organic production and nutrient density

Additional Resources Follow Stephan on Twitter: @vanvlietphd For more webinars featuring Dr. van Vliet, please search "Dr. Stephan Van Vliet" on YouTube Stephan's Google Scholar Profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=L5KcySQAAAAJ&hl=en To learn more, please visit his website: https://stephanvanvliet.com/

About John Kempf John Kempf is the founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture (AEA). A top expert in biological and regenerative farming, John founded AEA in 2006 to help fellow farmers by providing the education, tools, and strategies that will have a global effect on the food supply and those who grow it.

Support For This Show & Helping You Grow Since 2006, AEA has been on a mission to help growers become more resilient, efficient, and profitable with regenerative agriculture.

Learn more about AEA's regenerative programs and products: https://www.advancingecoag.com/

Episode 90: Scaling Regenerative Supply Chains with Anthony Corsaro Aug 25, 2023

Show notes

Anthony Corsaro is an entrepreneur, investor, and regenerative agriculture evangelist whose mission is to help heal our people and planet through ventures that inspire the production and consumption of healthy, nutrient-dense foods. Anthony's family has been deeply involved in the food system for almost 100 years since his orphaned grandfather started selling produce in the early 1930s. That business grew into one of the country's leading regional fresh produce distributors and today serves 2,500+ retail customers in 20 states.

Anthony is the Founder and Managing Director at Outlaw Ventures: a family office backing the rebels, radicals, and revolutionaries building the better food system of tomorrow. Outlaw Ventures is raising a venture capital fund to invest in early-stage regenerative consumer brands. Anthony is also the Creator and Co-Host of The ReGen Brands Podcast: a podcast about the consumer brands supporting regenerative agriculture and how they're changing the world. He is also the Founder of Regeneration Nation: a clothing company and community hub for the heroes and advocates of regenerative agriculture.

In this conversation, John and Anthony discuss:

Regenerative vs. extractive relationships in supply chains
Building regenerative infrastructure to create better routes to market
Increasing market accessibility for growers
Nutritional integrity and its impact on buyers
"Upstream Disease" - examining the whole supply chain
Opportunities and limiting factors for growers
The importance of networking to expand market access

About John Kempf John Kempf is the founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture (AEA). A top expert in biological and regenerative farming, John founded AEA in 2006 to help fellow farmers by providing the education, tools, and strategies that will have a global effect on the food supply and those who grow it.

Support For This Show & Helping You Grow Since 2006, AEA has been on a mission to help growers become more resilient, efficient, and profitable with regenerative agriculture.

Learn more about AEA's regenerative programs and products: https://www.advancingecoag.com/

Episode 89: Regenerative Agriculture, Cover Crops and Water Holding Capacity with Jimmy Emmons Aug 03, 2023

Show notes

Jimmy Emmons is a third-generation farmer from Oklahoma. He and his wife Ginger have been farming and ranching together since 1980. They have a 2000-acre farm with a diverse rotation of crops that include: wheat, soybeans, sesame, sunflowers, irrigated dairy alfalfa, canola, grain sorghum, and several cover crops for seed.

Jimmy has been monitoring soil health with soil testing since 2011 and is a proponent of using multi-species cover crops to enhance soil health. He is currently involved in a multi-year water holding capacity study examining the water use of cover crops. Jimmy also incorporates other regenerative practices, such as companion crops, to attract beneficial insects and decrease the need for additional synthetic nutrients.

In this conversation, John and Jimmy discuss:

The benefits of cover crops for water retention in the soil profile
Drought resilience of crops and plants grown in diverse environments
Companion crop mixes and their benefits
The importance of talking to your legislatures about regenerative farming
The negative effects on quality markers from grower practices and input decisions
Using nutrient-dense food as medicine

About John Kempf John Kempf is the founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture (AEA). A top expert in biological and regenerative farming, John founded AEA in 2006 to help fellow farmers by providing the education, tools, and strategies that will have a global effect on the food supply and those who grow it.

Support For This Show & Helping You Grow Since 2006, AEA has been on a mission to help growers become more resilient, efficient, and profitable with regenerative agriculture.

Episode 88: The Relationship Between Fungi, Endophytes, and Native Soil Biology with Dr. Mary Lucero Jul 20, 2023

Show notes

Dr. Mary Lucero has over 30 years of experience in scientific research and education in agriculture. Her research examines the microbial relationships between plants and soil health and proves that the regenerative approach offers a way forward for growers and consumers. As Co-founder and Systems Biologist at End-O-Fite Enterprises, she works with growers and biostimulant producers to optimize regenerative techniques to restore microbial ecosystems.

Mary and her husband, David, run Jal Farms, a family-owned fruit and beef operation in Eastern New Mexico. Her farm focuses on regenerative practices to restore soil health and growing nutrient-dense foods and even has an on-farm lab for her research.

In this conversation, John and Mary discuss:

The importance of creating an environment for native biology to thrive
How fungi are great shapeshifters
The Mycosome Hypothesis developed by Peter Atsatt
The importance and complexity of endophytes
Horizontal organism transfer
Indigenous concepts and principles
Mary's experience with farm ownership

To connect with Mary and her work and to learn more about her online classes, please visit: https://endofite.com/

To learn more about the Mycosome Hypothesis developed by Peter Atsat, please visit: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12730709/.

About John Kempf John Kempf is the founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture (AEA). A top expert in biological and regenerative farming, John founded AEA in 2006 to help fellow farmers by providing the education, tools, and strategies that will have a global effect on the food supply and those who grow it.

Support For This Show & Helping You Grow Since 2006, AEA has been on a mission to help growers become more resilient, efficient, and profitable with regenerative agriculture.

To get started, contact AEA here: https://www.advancingecoag.com/contact

Episode 87: Managing Ecological Systems with Living Mulches in Orchard and Vegetable Production with Helen Atthowe Jul 06, 2023

Show notes

Helen Atthowe is an author and farmer who has worked on developing systems that focus on ecological health by utilizing living mulches and minimal tillage. She is passionate about using the natural nutrient cycles present in ecosystems to reduce system inputs. Her research and experience have shown how focusing on the system can impact weed, disease, and pest management.

She and her late husband, Carl Rosato, co-owned and operated a certified organic orchard in California, where they pioneered methods for raising apples, peaches, and other crops to replace the need for pesticides. She also farmed and conducted additional research at Wood Leaf Farm in Eastern Oregon until early 2023. Now living in Western Montana, she is starting a new farm where she has planted a no-till orchard. Atthowe has a master's degree in horticulture from Rutgers University and has worked in education and research at many other institutions.

In this conversation, John and Helen discuss:

No-till living mulch systems in orchards
Managing ecological systems with residues
Strategies for disease and pest management
Minimizing inputs and maintaining yields
Mowing management and the importance of timing
Thinning and pruning practices
Vole management outcomes
Selective strip-till system in vegetable production

Click here to check out Helen's new book, The Ecological Farm

About John Kempf John Kempf is the founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture (AEA). A top expert in biological and regenerative farming, John founded AEA in 2006 to help fellow farmers by providing the education, tools, and strategies that will have a global effect on the food supply and those who grow it.

Support For This Show & Helping You GrowSince 2006, AEA has been on a mission to help growers become more resilient, efficient, and profitable with regenerative agriculture.

Learn more about AEA's regenerative programs and products.

Episode 86: Regenerating Hearts and Minds, The Basis of Regenerative Agriculture with Charles Eisenstein Jun 22, 2023

Show notes

Charles Eisenstein is a speaker, teacher, and author. A graduate of Yale University with a degree in Mathematics and Philosophy, his work covers various topics, including human civilization, economics, spirituality, and ecology. His published works include "The Coronation," "The Ascent of Humanity," "Sacred Economics," "The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible," and "Climate—A New Story." In the last-mentioned title, he argues that reducing environmental discourse into the single issue of global warming is a huge mistake for the environmental movement. The book focuses instead on the "Living Planet" view, envisioning what our relationship to nature might be if we saw that everything is alive, conscious, and sacred. Overall, his primary interest is exploring the boundaries of what is possible according to our received beliefs, habits, technologies, and ways of knowing. In this conversation, John and Charles discuss:

What defines regeneration
What we need to do to embrace regenerative landscapes
Why the quality of our life depends on the quality of our relationships
Indigenous knowledge of landscape management
The understanding of what real wealth is
The differences between control and responsibility
The Importance of exercising our capacity to create
The growing community and movement of regenerative farmers

To learn more about Charles Eisenstein and his work, please visit his website at https://charleseisenstein.org/ or subscribe to his substack at https://charleseisenstein.substack.com/

To learn more about his published work, please visit https://charleseisenstein.org/books/

About John Kempf John Kempf is the founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture (AEA). A top expert in biological and regenerative farming, John founded AEA in 2006 to help fellow farmers by providing the education, tools, and strategies that will have a global effect on the food supply and those who grow it.

Support For This Show & Helping You Grow Since 2006, AEA is on a mission to help growers become more resilient, efficient, and profitable with regenerative agriculture.

AEA has created real and lasting change on millions of acres with their products and data-driven services by working hand-in-hand with growers to produce healthier soil, stronger crops, and higher profits.

Episode 85: The Opportunities That Come From Regenerative Agriculture with Steve Tucker Jun 08, 2023

Show notes

Steve Tucker is a western Nebraska dryland producer who has been farming for 30 years. He introduced regenerative practices into his operation over 10 years ago and values diversity in his approach. Growing upwards of 10 crops per year while integrating livestock, such as chickens, pigs, and cows. Steve also uses no-till farming practices and biological applications on his farm. Steve advocates for growers to market themselves in order to access more opportunities and advises them to look for alternate streams of income for the crops they are growing.

Steve runs Agriforce Seed with his business partner Jeff Olsen. Steve grows sunflower, hay millet, oats, yellow field peas, winter wheat, Golden German hay millet, and forage pea/oat hay blends. His ultimate goal is to build soil health by mobilizing soil microorganisms to grow better, higher quality, more nutrient-dense food.

In this episode, John and Steve discuss:

Being content with the size of the farm you operate
Making connections by marketing yourself
Selling by the pound vs selling by the bushel
Looking for sales opportunities around you to sell
Pursuing multiple streams of farm income
Identifying opportunities that come from promoting more life on the farm
Using biologicals, including AEA's BioCoat Gold
Finding the freedom of doing things on your own terms

AgriForce Seed is Nebraska's largest pulse seed producer. Agriforce provides yellow peas, chickpeas, and many other types of pulse crop seeds. Also available are hay millet seed and a large selection of cover crop seeds and forage products. To learn more, call 308-289-4853

To learn more about AEA's BioCoat Gold, please visit - https://land.advancingecoag.com/buy-biocoat-gold-now

About John Kempf John Kempf is the founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture (AEA). A top expert in the field of biological and regenerative farming, John founded AEA in 2006 to help fellow farmers by providing the education, tools, and strategies that will have a global effect on the food supply and those who grow it.

Support For This Show & Helping You Grow The recognized leader in regenerative agriculture since 2006, AEA is on a mission to help growers become more resilient, efficient, and profitable.

AEA works directly with growers on the application of its unique line of liquid mineral crop nutrition products and biological inoculants. Informed by cutting-edge plant and soil data gathering techniques, AEA's science-based programs empower farm operations to meet the crop quality markers that matter the most.

AEA has created real and lasting change on millions of acres with their products and data-driven services by working hand-in-hand with growers in North America to produce healthier soil, stronger crops, and higher profits.

Learn more about AEA's regenerative programs and products.

VIDEO: For more conversations with John Kempf about regenerative agriculture, watch this amazing conversation between John and three AEA grower partners about how regenerative agriculture is changing lives and conventional farming: https://youtu.be/n9U6GwbYPDk

Episode #84: Joel Williams May 25, 2023

Show notes

Joel Williams is an independent plant and soil health educator who provides lectures, workshops, and consultations on soil management, plant nutrition, and integrated approaches to sustainable food production. Joel enjoys designing farming systems that focus on managing soil biology along with crop and soil nutrition to optimize plant immunity and soil function. He has extensive experience working in Australia, the UK, and Canada, integrating soil and plant analyses as a joined-up strategy for managing production.

In this episode, Joel and John discuss:

The differences between the chemistry vs. biology approach
The importance of a well-structured soil
Reasons for using biological seed coatings
Efficiencies of foliar applications vs. soil applications
Crop responses to incremental changes over extended periods
Strategies for efficient foliar applications
Nitrogen applications and management
Yield expectations during regenerative transitions

To learn more about Joel and his work, please visit https://integratedsoils.com/

About John KempfJohn Kempf is the founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture. A top expert in biological and regenerative farming, John founded AEA in 2006 to help fellow farmers by providing the education, tools, and strategies that will have a global effect on the food supply and those who grow it.

Support For This Show & Helping You Grow The recognized leader in regenerative agriculture since 2006, Advancing Eco Agriculture (AEA) is on a mission to help growers become more resilient, efficient, and profitable.

Learn more about AEA's regenerative programs and products, and check out the Regenerative Agriculture Podcast.

VIDEO: For more conversations with John Kempf about regenerative agriculture, watch this inspiring webinar featuring John and three AEA grower partners that share how regenerative agriculture is changing the way they farm and live: https://youtu.be/n9U6GwbYPDk

Episode #83: John Warmerdam May 09, 2023

Show notes

John Warmerdam is a third-generation stone fruit grower in the San Joaquin Valley of California. His grandfather came to the area from Holland in 1911 and started a small farming operation that John's father, John N. Warmerdam, eventually took over. Today John and his dad farm over 350 acres of peaches, plums, nectarines, kiwi, and almonds. The Warmerdams also have one of the largest cherry-growing operations in the southern San Joaquin Valley and have been innovators in the fruit packing industry for 45 years. In this episode, they discuss:

Cultural management practices for stone fruit
Transitions in his farming systems
Mite management
Driving factors for considering regenerative management
Pruning and thinning management
Future water usage issues
Generational shifts in farming

Additional Resources: Concepts for Understanding Fruit Trees by Theodore DeJong

Learn more about Warmerdam Packing Learn more about John Warmerdam

About John Kempf John Kempf is the founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture. A top expert in the field of biological and regenerative farming, John founded AEA in 2006 to help fellow farmers by providing the education, tools, and strategies that will have a global effect on the food supply and those who grow it.

Support For This Show & Helping You Grow The recognized leader in regenerative agriculture since 2006, AEA (Advancing Eco Agriculture) is on a mission to help growers become more resilient, efficient, and profitable.

Learn more about AEA's regenerative programs and products and check out the Regenerative Agriculture Podcast.

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