The RegenNarration

Mark Taylor is the miller and baker at the Miller + Baker store, recently opened in North Perth. It is a spectacular American Stone Mill (the first of its kind in Western Australia), and an amazing bakery, but that’s not the half of it. You might remember in my conversation with pioneering regenerative farmers Dianne and Ian Haggerty, for episode 68, that they mentioned some of their ‘natural inte...

This additional extra to episode 68 features a series of conversations at the homestead that were reluctantly cut from the main episode, along with some off-the-record exchanges around the fire one evening. Together, they chart an important and moving part of the story. From how business is being done with the natural intelligence system, and the opportunities being sought for all – and not just w...

In this extra to episode 68, we delve into the fascinating back story of Di and Ian’s ‘world breakthrough’ operation. We talk about how they came to their key insights and breakthroughs, Di’s formative experience in the health industry, what owning a remote roadhouse taught them, some of the extraordinary people, places and communities who’ve influenced them on the journey, and yes, how they were...

Dianne and Ian Haggerty form a highly respected, pioneering regenerative farming duo. I’ve come to visit them in the central wheat belt of Western Australia, to learn more about what Charles Massy has called their ‘world breakthrough’ operation. They call it ‘natural intelligence’ farming. Guided by the microbiome, and a whole host of other living systems, the Haggerty’s are regenerating degraded...

In this special extra to episode 67, we talk about some of the key changes that Terry’s observed over the decades, and how to keep them coming. We also elaborate on the vision he articulated in the main episode, including some major shifts in supply chains and some of the positive politics currently unfolding around carbon and biodiversity credits. And we delve more deeply into his stock in trade...

Terry McCosker is a formidable store of experience and wisdom, born of a love of the land and an acute sense of humanity, and forged through suffering unimaginable tragedy. And that’s alongside the trials and tribulations that come from simply being at the vanguard of significant change. Terry is a farmer, self-described transient part-owner of the National Estate, and co-founder of RCS Australia....

David Pollock is one of Australia’s most prominent regenerative pastoralists. You may have seen David and his wife Frances on ABC TV’s Australian Story. You may also have heard my previous conversations with them on this podcast. The most recent of those was when David’s brilliant book was released, almost a year ago. It’s called ‘The Wooleen Way: Renewing an Australian Resource’, and it’s been de...

This is an extract from our conversation on Jansz Beach overlooking Ningaloo Reef, for episode 65. It features the first 15 minutes of our chat on the Resilient Reefs Initiative – the vision, the successful model it’s based on, and what’s happened so far. That includes some brilliant recent developments bringing people together, including some breaking news regarding the Traditional Custodians and...

We're back at the magnificent Ningaloo Reef for a couple of firsts - the first conversation in person for the year, and a world first collaboration aiming for the survival of the world’s coral reefs, and the communities that depend on them. Dr Peter Barnes is the Marine Park Coordinator at Ningaloo Reef – one of five World Heritage listed coral reefs. Australia is blessed with the responsibil...

This is an extract from the end of my conversation with Tony Rinaudo, the award-winning Senior Climate Action Advisor for World Vision, aka The Forest Maker. We talk about his global vision, how societies can come to read the land again, and how the extraordinary summer bushfires triggered a major new global collaboration recently launched in Australia. But it was the story Tony told of a truth an...

After we’d signed off on our conversation for the podcast, Tony and I kept talking. Thankfully I hadn’t stopped recording, because what followed could have been the first thing we talked about. In some ways, it sums up everything. So here it is. A little of our parting exchange. Starting with a story from the time of Tony's leaving Niger. If you’ve come to this extra first, head over to the m...

Tony Rinaudo AM is the award winning Senior Climate Action Advisor for World Vision, also known as The Forest Maker. This Australian agronomist revolutionized reforestation in Africa, alongside the communities in which he worked, with a system called Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR). In Niger alone, where the desert was still expanding 20 years ago, around six million hectares of land ha...

This is an extract from the end of my conversation with Open Food Network co-founder, Kirsten Larsen, featuring the story of her personal transformation, and how to get more involved with regenerative food systems. It starts, though, with the story supermarkets trade off – the story of efficiency, economies of scale, and cheap food. And increasingly, to their credit, a story of greening – getting...

Kirsten Larsen is co-founder with partner Serenity Hill of the Open Food Network. It’s a not-for-profit, global collaboration building food distribution systems that are fair, local and transparent. The Network’s flagship open source platform had been successfully enabling ethical food distribution in multiple countries. Now, in the wake of COVID-19, it has gone to a whole new level, as producers...

The only thing limiting the future is the past.” – Zach Bush MD This is a second extract from the end of my conversation with globally renowned physician, Zach Bush MD, picking up from where the previous extract on glyphosate left off. Zach has been startled by our regenerative capacity, since his film Farmer’s Footprint became a global phenomenon. Now the broader project is about to launch - Proj...

“Glyphosate acts as a gateway chemical to all the rest.” – Zach Bush MD This is an extract from my conversation with globally renowned physician, Zach Bush MD, on the notorious and ubiquitous chemical, glyphosate (found in the common herbicide RoundUp). When I first heard Dr Zach Bush talk about the extent of the damage that the chemical glyphosate is doing to the biological underpinnings of life...

Here’s another little extra to my conversation with globally renowned physician, Zach Bush MD.  We chatted a while longer, after our ‘formal’ podcast conversation had ended, about our respective paths in life.  These few minutes inform so much about who Zach is today, so I ended up asking if he’d mind me sharing them here.  With his kind permission, then, here’s a snapshot of Zach’s meandering pat...

In this special extra to episode 62 with globally renowned physician, Zach Bush MD, we continue to delve into the coronavirus pandemic, through the lens of the microbiome.  Zach has found that when you map soil degradation, air pollution and other toxicity over viral outbreaks, the coronavirus starts to look more like a poisoning than an infection. If you’ve come to this special extra first, head...

Zach Bush MD is a renowned, triple board certified physician, and internationally recognized educator on the microbiome, as it relates to human health, soil health, food systems, and a regenerative future. Dr Zach became highly decorated in the medical field, with multiple awards.  Then a growing set of insights built towards a moment of transformation.  His touchstone insight was that we don’t ne...

I feel compelled to post one last extract from the very end of my conversation with the legendary Hunter Lovins - for those who might prefer to listen in ‘chapters’, for those who might not have made it all the way through on first listening, and for those who might be particularly interested in the themes covered here.  And because I’m still deeply moved by how our conversation culminated. This e...

This is a second brief extract from towards the end of my conversation with the legendary Hunter Lovins.  It opens by looking at the tectonic shift that is apparently underway in the capital flows that will back in regenerative economies.  Where banks are already looking at the stranded fossil fuel assets they’re reclaiming and wondering what to do with them.  And where the opportunities on the ot...

"We can roll back climate change." - L. Hunter Lovins This is a brief extract from episode 61 with the legendary Hunter Lovins, on the importance of the bio-regional scale – place and community - in creating regenerative economies.  Especially now. There are a couple of great stories in this short clip, including more of her own - starting here with how she recently took out the Humungou...

Hunter Lovins has been a highly influential figure for many decades in the regenerative economies movement.  She’s a best-selling author, including of the seminal Natural Capitalism, with Paul Hawken and Amory Lovins. She’s also founder and President of Natural Capitalism Solutions, founding Professor of Sustainable Management at the Bard MBA, a pioneering rancher, and Chief of Impact at Change Fi...

This is a brief extract from the end of episode 60 with Matthew Evans, exploring a vision for how we can feed the world (well), in a way that regenerates communities, economies and the planet as a whole. All the more, how we can do it by building on the foundation of where most food is currently produced. Matthew is a farmer and chef at Fat Pig Farm, host of the popular TV series Gourmet Farmer, a...

Matthew Evans is a chef, farmer, host of the popular TV series 'Gourmet Farmer', and most recently the author of ‘On Eating Meat – the truth about its production, and the ethics of eating it’.  The publisher calls it ‘A scorching manifesto on the ethics of eating meat by the best placed person to write about it.’ This is a book and conversation that I’ve so been wanting to have. Whether...