Regenerative Skills

Jake Leguee gives a perspective from modern technological farming: Part 2

Today we’ll be wrapping up the second in a two part interview that I’ve been looking forward to doing for a long time. If you missed the first part of the interview then I really recommend that you go back and listen to it before this second half to get the proper context. 
As a quick recap, I’ve been speaking with conventional and industrial farmers for some time, not only to better understand the industry and the management practices they use, but also to understand the people who manage these farms, the decisions and challenges they face, and both the differences and commonalities they have with the regenerative farmers I speak to more regularly. 
In an effort to raise awareness of these issues and to introduce some perspective into the conversation that is going on now around the world about how we should produce food and manage the natural world that we’ve come to dominate, I reached out to a voice that I’ve been following for a number of months and that I believe represents very honestly the realities of modern industrial farming operations in North America. Jake Leguee is managing over 15,000 acres near Weyburn in southern Saskatchewan in Canada.
He grows durum, wheat, canola, peas, lentils, and flax and farms with his family, including his wife and three young sons, and several other family members. Together they are a 3rd-generation farm that strives to continually improve - to leave things better than they found them. Jake is also involved in various places in the agriculture industry as well. As a farmer and an agronomist, agriculture, and the science and business therein, is his fascination and passion.
In the first half of the interview we covered Jake's family’s history into farming and how has overseen some major transformations in how the land and business are managed since taking over the farm business. We also unpacked some of the points of friction that farmers like Jake have experienced when dealing with legislators and regulators in Canada, as well as how this is often representative of many other countries around the world. We wrapped up on a note about the importance of including farmers directly in discussion at the government level whenever decisions are being made that would affect their work and the farming sector in general. 
In this second part we’ll be exploring further some of the misunderstandings that Jake has observed about how the general public understands modern farming, the pressures that farm owners like him are under, and even how these misunderstandings can be overcome. We also talk about some of the more controversial management practices that modern farmers engage in and why Jake defends the use of certain crop protection chemicals, GMO crops, and the use of synthetic fertilizers among other issues.
Just as a quick reminder, my aim in giving voice to these positions is not to advocate for or to defend them, but rather to share the perspective and reality of the farmers that those of us in the regenerative fields often villainize or try to distance ourselves from. I believe that it’s essential to understand their positions and look for common ground rather than trying to convince others of our way of seeing things. I believe Jake does an admirable job of bringing thoughtfulness and compassionate advocacy to his way of life and farming and I hope that this will open up a larger discussion of how we can better include and welcome conventional farmers into the regenerative transformation of the farm and food industries that many of us are hoping to advance. 
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Links:
https://thelifeofafarmer.com/

Jake Leguee gives a perspective from modern technological farming: Part 1

Today I’ll begin the first in a two part interview that I’ve been looking forward to doing for a long time, but let me give you some background context before we get started. It’s no secret that I’m a major proponent of regenerative agriculture and many of the different methodologies, practices, and concepts that this wide label contains. I believe strongly that our generation has an opportunity and an obligation to reconcile our food production system with the natural world that we depend on and to use our knowledge, wisdom, and access to resources to regenerate the health of the Earth’s biomes as a primary function through which we produce value for our own species in the form of food, fiber, fuel, and medicine.With that said, I’ve long been observing an ugly manifestation of this advocacy creep into the online and media discourse around regenerative agriculture. As we hold up examples of success stories and best practices, many of these discussions are also propped up on derogatory mentions of conventional or industrial farmers and farming practices. Some of these even expand into contests of who is more regenerative or who is doing better for the climate. I am certain that insults, negative assumptions, and general dismissal of the people and practices in this sector does nothing to bring their voices to the table, and often serves to further separate our ideals in the regenerative ag movement from the people who we should be working hardest to welcome. 
For this reason I’ve been speaking with conventional and industrial farmers for some time, not only to better understand the industry and the management practices they use, but also to understand the people who manage these farms, the decisions and challenges they face, and both the differences and commonalities they have with the regenerative farmers I speak to more regularly. 
In an effort to raise awareness of these issues and to introduce some perspective into the conversation that is going on now around the world about how we should produce food and manage the natural world that we’ve come to dominate, I reached out to a voice that I’ve been following for a number of months and that I believe represents very honestly the realities of modern industrial farming operations in North America. Jake Leguee is managing over 15,000 acres near Weyburn in southern Saskatchewan in Canada. He grows durum, wheat, canola, peas, lentils, and flax and farms with his family, including his wife and three young sons, and several other family members. Together they are a 3rd-generation farm that strives to continually improve - to leave things better than they found them. Jake is also involved in various places in the agriculture industry as well. As a farmer and an agronomist, agriculture, and the science and business therein, is his fascination and passion.
My intention with this interview needs a little explanation. I’ve been reading Jake’s blog on thelifeofafarmer.com since the beginning of the year. There are few other places on the web where I’ve found confident and first hand defenses of many of the pariahs of regenerative and organic agriculture such as the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, GMOs and the massive increase in the average size of farms, yet Jake manages to do so in an articulate and compassionate way.I need to also mention that I do not agree with or defend the positions that Jake promotes in this talk, but that’s not at all the point. If you’ve been listening to this show for any length of time, you’re already well aware of my beliefs and opinions. The guests that I’ve interviewed over the last 6 years have done a much better job than I could at explaining them as well. My hope here is rather to reconnect those of us who are so susceptible to getting lost in an echo chamber of agreement with the humanity and core motivations that we share with the very people we often think we oppose. The biggest takeaway from this conversation for me was just h...

Laura Lengnick on the principles of building climate resilient farms. Part 1

It’s been a wild couple of weeks for me and as a result I’m struggling a bit to catch up. After the 5 day regenerative Design course at the Green Rebel farm in Miravet, Spain, then the three day Climate Farming conference at Schloss Kirchberg in Germany, and I’m now on a short break visiting the small farm of a good friend of mine in Dessau between events before a week long team retreat with the Climate Farmers team in Brandenburg. When I get back I’ve got tree planting events lined up in the Pyrenees and then I’ll be facilitating a course in Tuscany on restoring hydrological function to the landscape with Zach Weiss and Lorenzo Costa. Maybe by the end of November things will calm down in time for my partner and I to move into our new property which we were finally able to sign the papers on after a year of paper and admin work! Fewf!All of that is to say though I’ve got plenty of great interviews lined up for you, I might be a little irregular in releasing the episodes over the next month.But enough about me.
This week I’m thrilled to present the first in a two part series exploring the topic of building true resilience in agriculture. Resilience is often thought of as the ability to bounce back from a disturbance or a challenge, but in these two episodes we’re going to dig deeper and not only broaden the theory of true resilience, but also to look into case studies of growers and land stewards who are building lasting resilience on their farms. To help me to understand all of this better and to give practical advice that all of us, even those of us that don’t work directly with the land can use in our lives, I had a wonderful conversation with Laura Lengnick.Laura is an award-winning soil scientist with 30 years of experience working as a researcher, policymaker, educator, activist and farmer to put regenerative values into action in U.S. food and farming. Her research in soil health and regenerative farming systems was nationally recognized with a USDA Secretary's Honor Award in 2002 and she was a lead author on the 2013 USDA report, Climate Change and Agriculture in the United States: Effects and Adaptation.
Since 2015, Laura has led research and planning projects exploring agricultural climate solutions, developed carbon management plans for organizations, and designed and delivered climate risk management workshops for farmers. Laura is also the author of The 2nd edition of her award-winning book, Resilient Agriculture: Cultivating Food Systems for a Changing Climate in which she explores climate change, resilience and the future of food through the adaptation stories of 45 sustainable, organic, climate-smart and regenerative farmers and ranchers across the U.S. In 2021, Laura joined the Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming as the Director of Agriculture. You can learn more about Laura and her work at www.cultivatingresilience.com
In the first part of this series, we’ll explore how changes in climatic patterns and rise in temperatures are affecting farmers around the world and how they can understand the risks they’ll likely encounter in the coming decades. We also talk about the unique sensitivities that each landscape and farm has, and how you can use this understanding to build your own resilient capacity.
Thanks to my partnership with New Society Publishers who published Laura's book, as well as many other invaluable volumes centering on topics of regenerative living, listeners of this show who are also signed up on our Discord community, can now win either a physical or digital copy of Resilient Agriculture over the next two weeks. It’s super simple to be eligible to win. All you have to do is sign up for free to the Discord server either on the homepage on our website at regenerativeskills.com or through the link on our bio on instagram. Once you’re in, just send me a direct message letting me know that you’d like to win a copy of the book and I’ll enter you in the drawing which I’ll do a w...

Ask me anything: Students from the regen design course interview ME!

Welcome to a very special episode. For the first time on this show I've given the mic over to the participants on my regenerative design course and told them they can ask me anything. This was completely unplanned and came out of some of the many amazing conversations with the group in the evenings. Many of the people who came out to learn with us here on the Green Rebel farm are long time listeners of the podcast and they were excited to take on a leading role on this episode.
They also saved my from having to stay up late and edit the episode that I'm behind on producing, so a big thanks to them.
I hope you enjoy a window into my own opinions on these topics we explore and if you'd like to hear more about my work and passion projects, just reach out and let me know what you're interested in.
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Blake Cothron on growing berries and other small fruit for profit. Part 2

Today I’m back with part 2 of my interview with Blake Cothron, the author of the new book “The Berry Grower: small scale organic fruit production in the 21st century.” Just in case you missed the first part of this episode, Blake Cothron is an organic farmer, educator, professional horticulturist and small business owner in Stanford, Kentucky, USA. He has been a grower for over 25 years and has been operating an organic plant nursery business for almost 10 years. His specialties are small fruit production, orchard care, nursery production, and temperate fruit growing. There’s a lot more to his backstory, but he explained everything in part 1 of this interview so be sure to go back and listen to it if you haven’t already. Building on the topics we covered in the beginning, Blake starts by explaining all you need to know about sourcing plants and propagation material and navigating the complicated world of plant nurseries and online plant vendors. It turns out there’s a whole lot more to it than most people are aware of. We also break down the practical assessments for planning a profitable berry business and how to design and plan your cultivated space to ensure you don’t have difficulties and inconveniences that cause you to lose money.
As a bonus to this series on small fruit and berry growing, I’m also giving away two copies of Blake’s new book, thanks to the generous people at New Society Publishers, to members of our Regenerative Skills Discord server. If you’re not already a member you can join for free on the homepage of the website at regenerativeskills.com or through the link in our linktree on the Instagram Bio. Once you’re in, just send me a DM and let me know you’d like to be entered to win a copy of the book. I’ll be announcing the winners one week after the second part of this series comes out
Join the discord discussion channel to answer the weekly questions and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
The Berry Grower
https://peacefulheritage.com/

Blake Cothron on growing berries and other small fruit for profit

I’m super excited to share with you all what is about to be a deep dive into one of the most promising and often overlooked small farm enterprises, small fruit and berry growing. 
In order to get the scoop on berry growing, I went straight to the source to speak with Blake Cothron, the author of the new book “The Berry Grower: small scale organic fruit production in the 21st century.” Blake Cothron is an organic farmer, educator, professional horticulturist and small business owner in Stanford, Kentucky, USA. He has been a grower for over 25 years and has been operating an organic plant nursery business for almost 10 years. His specialties are small fruit production, orchard care, nursery production, and temperate fruit growing. There’s a lot more to his backstory, but he lays it all out in the first few minutes of the episode so I’ll leave it for him to tell you.
We went really deep into this topic in our interview and covered more than 2 hours of material. For this reason I’ve broken the discussion into two parts to make it more manageable to get through. 
In this two part series, we covered almost the full range of the main topics in his book. In this first session we started by exploring why small fruit and berries are such an attractive enterprise and what sorts of farms they might be best suited for. We also look into the challenges and difficulties of growing bush and vine fruit that many people are yet unaware of. 
From there we dissect some essential learning and evaluation you should do of your land and climate in order to choose the cultivars that are best suited for your site and business as well as how to source your planting material considering all of the pitfalls of ordering seeds and plants from nurseries and online. We even start talking about maintenance considerations of different cultivars and care and fertility methods that Blake has found success with in his ample experience.All of this is going to set you up really well for the second part of the series when we break down the practical assessments for planning a profitable berry business and how to design and plan your cultivated space to ensure you don’t have difficulties and inconveniences that cause you to lose money.
As a bonus to this series on small fruit and berry growing, I’m also giving away two copies of Blake’s new book, thanks to the generous people at New Society Publishers, to members of our Regenerative Skills Discord server. If you’re not already a member you can join for free on the homepage of the website at regenerativeskills.com or through the link in our linktree on the Instagram Bio. Once you’re in, just send me a DM and let me know you’d like to be entered to win a copy of the book. I’ll be announcing the winners one week after the second part of this series comes out
Join the discord discussion channel to answer the weekly questions and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
https://newsociety.com/books/b/the-berry-grower
https://peacefulheritage.com/

Regeneration is for everyone! Stories from the Regenerative Skills community

Today I’m excited to share a special episode which comes from a presentation I gave about two weeks ago with Gaia Education, an leading organization in providing education in sustainable development.Through Ecosystem Restoration Camps, the NGO that I used to work with, I have co-facilitated the design portion of their Ecosystem Restoration Design course for the last few years.
Now, for the first time they’ve made the course available for open rolling registration, which means you no longer have to wait for the bi-annual signup times and take the course within a 6 month window. In order to promote this they organized and online summit and I was invited to present on a topic that I’ve been passionate about for years and that is the core motivation behind this podcast, which is to spread the message that Regeneration is for everyone.
So in this talk, which you can also find online in its unedited video form, which you can watch on the show notes for this episode on the website, I introduce some of the key concepts that differentiates the concept of regeneration from other paradigms of thought. To illustrate some of the myriad examples of regeneration in action I highlight 6 stories of amazing individuals that I’ve had the pleasure to interview on this show in the past, and that have inspired me in my work. At the end I wrap it up by outlining some of the design concepts and processes that I teach in the course to guide students through the creation of their own projects through the group activity.
Though there is an important visual component of this presentation I know you’ll get all the essential information from the audio and I also highly encourage you to listen to the interviews from the past with each of the people that I highlight in the talk.
And a quick reminder if you’re inspired by the concepts in this talk and the massive potential of designing through this process, I’ll be teaching a five day intensive in-person course on regenerative design between the 11th and the 16th of October at the beautiful Green Rebel farm in Miravet, Spain. We still have one or two spots available and you can find out all the details on the website or through our bio on instagram.
Join the discord discussion channel to answer the weekly questions and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsSl3cZPyjM
https://regenerativeskills.com/abundantedge-from-poverty-to-permaculture-and-beyond-with-luwayo-biswick-director-of-the-permaculture-paradise-institute-071/
https://regenerativeskills.com/dani-baker-on-why-its-never-too-late-to-start-your-home-scale-forest-garden/
https://regenerativeskills.com/invest-curate-mend-a-manifesto-for-our-clothing/
https://regenerativeskills.com/abundantedge-sean-sherman/
https://regenerativeskills.com/abundantedge-meredith-leigh/
https://regenerativeskills.com/abundantedge-fighting-food-apartheid-and-empowering-people-of-color-to-get-back-to-the-land-with-leah-penniman-author-of-farming-while-black-091/
https://www.programmes.gaiaeducation.uk/ecosystems-restoration

Elvira Di’Brigit on why we farm. Stories from growers of the Capay Valley

A lot of my work at the moment is centered around building community and connecting people across Europe who are on a journey into regenerative agriculture. As I learn more and more about the farmers that I’m working with and their challenges and desires for the future I’m struck by the stories that unfold. Stories of legacy, perseverance, experimentation, recovery from adversity, hope, and so much more. As I work to gather and record these stories and to connect these people so we can better collaborate and support one another, I’ve been drawn to reflect on some of the past episodes in this podcast that featured the unique stories of growers and land stewards.One of my favorite episodes that centered around telling the stories of farmers was with Elvira Di'Brigit, the author of the book “Why We Farm” which is an investigation into the whole truth about life as a modern day farmer. Viewed through the lens of the environment within the Capay Valley of northern California, each chapter features a different model of farming. In each profile, farmers share the stories behind their work and their lives on the farm; the business side of production, the personal challenges they face, and words of advice for the would-be-farmer. The book asks hard questions and gives a reverent yet realistic picture of a thriving local food system.In this interview from back in season 1 of this show, Elvira talks about how she first came to the Capay Valley and her motivations behind wanting to live a farming lifestyle. We talk about how the farmers profiled in her book tell a larger story of modern farming in the United States, and even the trends and challenges facing the agricultural industry around the world. Elvira also gives a unique perspective into the growing community outreach that is strengthening the bonds in the valley and fostering a larger network of resilience that should be inspiring for anyone living in a rural community.
Join the discord discussion channel to answer the weekly questions and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
Elvira on facebook
http://whywefarmcapay.com/

Lynn Cassels on their journey to starting a successful farm with no prior experience

It’s no secret that the farmer population in Europe and many other places has been diminishing and growing older for a long time now. There are however still lots of younger folks who are interested in becoming farmers, but are struggling to get their foot in the door. Barriers to entry such as high land prices, high startup and infrastructure costs, lack of loan options, bureaucratic difficulties in inheritance, and a steep learning curve if you don’t already have experience farming are holding a lot of us back. Despite these challenges there are some incredible stories of new farmers who are finding success and fulfillment on the land. They’re often the ones pioneering new business models and best practices in ecological management. 
That’s why I reached out to Lynn Cassells, who along with her partner Sandra Baer own and operate Lynbreck Croft, an award winning farm in northwest Scotland. Lynbreck Croft is a 150 acre mixed land holding of everything from fields and woodlands, to hill ground and bog located in the Cairngorms National Park with the land ranging from 320m to 450m above sea level. 
Like many new farmers, Lynbreck has a unique origin story. Lynn and Sandra first met while working as rangers for the National Trust in the UK and soon realized that they shared a dream of living closer to the land. They bought Lynbreck Croft back in March 2016 – which they describe as 150 acres of pure Scottishness – with no experience in farming but a huge passion for nature and the outdoors. They now raise heritage breeds of cattle and pigs, grow produce and have become a model farm in their region for ecological production practices.
Lynn and Sandra also wrote an inspiring book all about their journey of moving onto the land and how they've developed their idea of the farmers they want to be and their involvement in their new community which you can find through Chelsea Green books. 
In this discussion I speak with Lynn about the initial challenges they faced in finding land and learning to make a living from it. We talk about the steep learning curve and the resources they turned to to make it manageable. Lynn also tells me about the unique challenges they have in the notoriously harsh climate of northwestern Scotland and how they’ve made choices on the farm to mitigate these difficulties. 
This discussion is full of insightful advice and learnings from a unique journey from two farming newcomers who’ve demonstrated that you can build a farm business from scratch in modern times. Be sure to listen to the end when Lynn gives valuable advice for other people who dream of starting their farm without any previous experience. 
Join the discord discussion channel to answer the weekly questions and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
https://www.lynbreckcroft.co.uk/ 
https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/our-wild-farming-life/
https://www.instagram.com/lynbreck_croft/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRJrQZN4-Boka2m88TKB-1w
https://www.facebook.com/lynbreckcroft/

Mateusz Ciasnocha on understanding the coming changes to the European common agriculture policy (CAP)

Ever since moving to Europe three years ago, I’ve been working to understand both the differences and similarities between the cultural, societal, and governmental background that I’m more familiar with from the USA and Mesoamerica compared to Spain and the larger European Union. Especially since my work is centered around agriculture and how we can set up the infrastructure to assist growers on this continent who want to shift to regenerative management, I need to first gain an understanding of what has incentivised and built the system we currently have. One of the largest influences that governs and regulates how people all around the different parts of Europe farm and manage land is the Common Agriculture Policy, known as the CAP.
In order to get a better understanding of the complex history and nuanced current reality of the CAP, I reached out to my friend and colleague in Climate Farmers, Mateusz Ciasnocha, our Policy & Industry Advocacy Lead in the company. In this episode, Mateusz explains a bit about the history of the CAP and how it’s been used to accomplish its stated goal of creating food security as well as its effect on the development of the agricultural sector in Europe in the past decades. He also helps me to understand how the different countries within the European Union work within the CAP as well as its differences in implementation in each member country. 
From there we talk about how the CAP will be changing in this next 7 year cycle and how current events are creating controversy and challenges to the new rollout. Be sure to stick around until the end when Mateusz gives his own opinion on how the CAP can be leveraged in the future to facilitate a regenerative transformation of agriculture in this region as well.
As a new resident in this continent, all of this information has been new to me and I’m also realizing the global implications of the European Common Agriculture Policy, so even if you don’t live in Europe, this is a good subject to build an understanding of because it may affect you more directly than you think. Also, please try and forgive my bumbling misunderstandings along the way in this interview. Terminology always trips me up.
Join the discord discussion channel to answer the weekly questions and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
https://www.climatefarmers.org/