Follow Nicole Masters
Nicole Masters is an agro-ecologist and educator in regenerative agriculture. She’s founder of Integrity Soils, and author of the new book, For the Love of Soil. We talk about how to apply regenerative agriculture practices for health and profit–and how these practices can have a positive transformative effect on both our well being as growers, eaters, and members of the planetary ecosystem. Nicole has been a keynote speaker in the past at the REGENERATE Conference and this year will be offering a workshop called “Getting to the Root of Quality Food Production” as part of REGENERATE 2019.
Show Notes
1’50 started studying great white sharks, which somehow led to soil science
3’02 experiences that led her to regenerative agriculture, including pesticide poisoning
4’19 parallel between her own healing and healing the land
5’06 how do you define regenerative
6’08 the five Ms–mindset, management, microbes, minerals, organic matter
6’37 the problem with black/white right/wrong thinking
9’23 examples from the field
10’15 turning an expense into a resource
11’25 building back topsoil a lot faster than happens naturally
12’11.1412 working with soil that blew away in the 1930s
13’38 reaching true and optimal sustainability
14’47 climatic stressors, and how to help soil repair themselves
15’51 water infiltration, making use of every bit of water
17’41 putting seed in cow minerals so that they poop out and thereby germinate native plants
18’48 seeds that lie dormant for decades and then come up when conditions are right
20’27 methods for growing topsoil
20’58 salting the fields — really! — to improve soil
22’32 “underground livestock” i.e. microbes
23’37 breakthroughs in soil science
26’29 people who need peer reviewed science if they’re going to make changes
27’59 universal and specific features of healthy soil
28’55 “rastafarian root systems”
29’41 many have normalized poor soil
30’10 colonialism led to poor soil very fast
30’41 what does the transition look like when you stop using farm chemicals
32’34 nitrogen fertilizer is incredibly inefficient
34’42 how do we close the loops and make inputs on the farm
35’17 a healthy system needs few or no inputs
35’57 ranches sometimes need soil augmentation
36’35 fallacies in conventional agriculture
38’19 thirty feet of topsoil in Montana
38’54 green revolution farming is like hydroponics
39’35 great soils on bison lands
40’19 the sounds of root systems breaking under the plow
40’45 can we make regenerative the majority way of doing agriculture
42’31 Dr. Richard Teague — drawing down large amounts of carbon
43’58 cows giving birth in mud
44’56 regenerative ag leads to stress reduction
45’49 can regenerative ag help society to shift into a more balanced state
48’00 the Regenerate 2019 conference
More Episodes
Episode 100 – Restoring the global water cycle
With the best of intentions and technological innovation, we have broken the world’s water cycle. Now, says water expert Sandra Postel, we need to work with nature in order to restore it—if we want to survive, thrive, and, well, eat.
Episode 99 – How—and why—to be good to your microbes
Dr. Emeran Mayer connects the human and soil microbiomes—both stretched to their limits and beyond by today’s diet, lifestyle, and industrial practices. And he tells us how we can eat and grow food in a way that heals the body, the economy, and the planet.
Episode 98 – Lush and Abundant Biodiversity—in a Desert City
Reese Baker has a vision for greening urban landscapes—and he wants to make Santa Fe an example of how to do it, by catching rainwater from roofs, streets, and parking lots, and channeling it into gardens, trees, and soil.
Episode 97 – The deep history of apples
Orchardist Gordon Tooley knows apple trees–and has been cultivating rare and heirloom varieties for three decades. But for him it’s as much about the landscape and lifestyle as about the product. We talk about living slowly, observing closely, and promoting healthy land, water, wildlife, and human communities.
Episode 96 – Pests, pathogens, and porcupines: thwarting the marauding hordes in an apple orchard
New England is lush and green—and all kinds of creatures want to eat a farmer’s crops. Apple grower and cider maker Steve Wood talks about Integrated Pest Management and its challenges.
Episode 95 – Rockweed: underwater forest or industrial commodity?
Seaweed has always been used for food, fertilizer, and medicine. But now, off the coast of Maine, over-harvesting threatens rockweed and the many species that depend on it.
Episode 94 – Designing systems that improve as they age
Jesse Smith‘s work aims for the opposite of planned obsolescence—the goals at Jalama Canyon Ranch are resilience and perennial productivity, through restoration of ecosystems and a truly regenerative vision of agriculture.
Episode 93 – Into the Pasture: Grassfed Goes Mainstream
Getting certified for grassfed meat can be challenging–but the American Grassfed Association supports producers in regenerative practices that are good for the earth, the farmer, and the eater.
Episode 92 – Busting myths about beef
Nicolette Hahn Niman was an environmental lawyer and vegetarian when she married a rancher—so she has a unique and broad-based perspective on agriculture. We discuss the new edition of her book, Defending Beef: The Ecological and Nutritional Case for Meat.
Episode 91 – Transforming the American Prairie, one strip at a time
Native Americans used fire and other methods to cultivate food on the prairie. In the 20th century it was plowed under for endless rows of monocrops. Omar de Kok-Mercado is part of a team that is working to make prairie land ecologically–and economically–sustainable.
Episode 90 – Welcome to Cowgirl Camp!
Beth Robinette grew up on a ranch but didn’t expect to stay there. But then she got so interested in food system and regenerative practices that now she’s ranching, developing new business models, and teaching the ropes to the next generation of ranchers.
Episode 89 – Lipan Apache: Bringing back the buffalo in Texas
Lucille Contreras calls buffalo her relatives. She’s a Lipan Apache and founder of the Texas Tribal Buffalo Project, which brings together food, culture, and language around this animal to reestablish its homeland.
Episode 88 – Regenerative production of…seaweed
Kristina Long is a ship captain and an artisanal kelp farmer in British Columbia. We talk about kelp ecosystems, food, and keeping sustainable practices in a growing market.
Episode 87 – Living and farming inside a closed system—for two years
Mark Nelson and Starrlight Augustine talk about the lessons learned from the ambitious experiment of 30 years ago, in which eight people lived in a sealed space and grew all their own food–recycling water, air, and waste.
Episode 86 – Starting a ranch–from the ground up
Rachael and James Stewart saw a lack of Black and Brown farmers and ranchers–and an opportunity to serve communities with unusual meat products. So they sold a classic car and started a ranch.
Episode 85 – Acclaimed chef Deborah Madison on her new food memoir
Author of fourteen books on food and pioneer in vegetarian cooking, she talks about her new memoir, An Onion in my Pocket, and her adventures during fifty years as a chef.