The path to positive food policy: Making the case for a more regenerative farm bill
Aria McLauchlan and Harley Cross, co-founders of Land Core, have been working for years on food and farming policy that promotes regenerative practices. In this podcast we talk about the Farm Bill––a trillion dollar piece of legislation which most people know little about, but which deeply affects all of our lives. It plays a huge role in how farming is done––and could help to make a shift toward regenerative practices and the many benefits that flow from them.
Show Notes
Farm photo by Artem Beliaikin on Unsplash
2’56 what has changed in the last several years in terms of the visibility of regenerative agriculture
3’49 agriculture is a bipartisan issue and has the potential to bring people together
5’03 problems that regenerative agriculture can help solve
6’40 the chemical-dependent cycle has been fostered by the government, and now is the time to heal that
7’42 farm bill is a trillion dollar spending package that oversees food and farming in the US
10’01 the biggest problems in the farm bill: subsidies for “conventional” farming, and encouraging oversimplification, mechanization, and industrialization of farming–at the expense of the earth
13’06 regenerative ag is central to risk mitigation, and should be incentivized
15’16 resilience is lost in monocropping systems
18’06 agencies may not always have the latest knowledge and training for farmers
19’07 too much focus on chemistry and not enough on biology
20’50 for small and medium farmers it’s important to have access to local and regional infrastructure
22’24 preserve identity of local products in the market is valuable to local farmers
25’08 examples of producers investing in infrastructure themselves–and the farm bill can help with this
28’17 regenrateamerica.com
32’50 the trick of getting good legislation written
35’12 more farmers wanting to move toward regenerative ag
37’29 how much multinational food companies are understanding the importance of healthy soils
38’05 new companies are coming in with regeneratively produced snacks and other brands
39’21 some of the big companies are building the infrastructure necessary to scale regenerative ag
41’09 how to scale up
44’23 mutual self interest works in the case of regenerative ag because there are so many benefit to it
45’39 ways to get involved landcore.org and regenerateamerica.com
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