The RegenNarration

Longer term listeners to this podcast will feel increasingly familiar with Ian and Di Haggerty, creators of what Charles Massy has called their world breakthrough regenerative farming operation. But you won’t quite have heard them like this. Just last Monday, a capacity audience of 170 people from every state in Australia (and even a few continents) flocked to the shearing shed on one of the Haggerty farms in the WA wheatbelt, for a special day out. Years in the making, this was to be an exploration of what they call Natural Intelligence farming – what it means, how it works, and how they got here - in a way they’d never done before. With the need and appetite growing for what they’re offering, there’s a feeling among a growing number of people that it’s time to share more of ourselves and put it all on the line. So in that spirit of generosity, Di offered a 45 minute presentation, before Ian joined us on stage.This conversation was recorded live at the Haggerty farm in the WA wheatbelt on 24 October 2022.Title slide image: gathering round Di and Ian on a tour of the farm (pic: Anthony James).Music: Regeneration, composed by Amelia Barden, from the soundtrack of the new film Regenerating Australia, available for community screenings now. Find more:Di Haggerty on LinkedIn.Read a transcript of our conversation and see a few photos on the episode web page.Tune in to episode 68 for a tour around the farm with Di and Ian, produced over the first weekend we spent there in 2020. And to episode 124 with co-founder of Natural Intelligence farming, Jane Slattery.Nutrisoil, the organisers of this event, and long-term collaborators with the Haggerty’s.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Well known ABC radio presenter Natasha Mitchell called this an “unbelievably powerful session ‘On Fire!’” Ballardong Noongar leader and regenerative landholder, Oral McGuire, was alongside Greg Mullins, the former NSW Fire Commissioner who became a major national figure in the Black Summer bushfires, and Professor Lesley Head, co-author of the latest book in the incredible First Knowledges series (the first book in that series, Songlines, was featured in episodes 92 and 93, and they’re still among the top 5 most played episodes on this podcast). The event billing read: It’s a fundamental tool, but also one of our greatest fears. Join former NSW Fire Commissioner Greg Mullins, Indigenous fire expert Oral McGuire, and cultural geographer Lesley Head, as they talk with Anthony James about our relationship with fire as the planet warms.This conversation was recorded live at the Quantum Words Festival in the WA State Library in Boorloo / Perth on 17 September 2022.Title slide image: Anthony, Greg, Lesley and Oral in conversation (pic: from the Twitter post by Natasha Mitchell).Music: Regeneration, composed by Amelia Barden, from the soundtrack of the new film Regenerating Australia, available for community screenings now. Find more:Read a transcript of our conversation on the episode web page. Greg’s book ‘Firestorm’. Lesley’s book ‘Hope & Grief in the Anthropocene’ And Lesley’s latest co-authored book ‘Plants: Past, Present & Future’, part of the First Knowledges series. To hear more from Oral (and Heidi Mippy), tune into ep 122, Regenerating Australia Live in Leederville.Quantum Words Festival, Perth.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Bruce Pascoe in an Aboriginal Australian man, award-winning writer, and farmer. Last month I was fortunate to host Bruce in conversation at the brilliant Quantum Words Festival here in Perth. This was Schools Day, so there were about 150 people, mostly students, in the theatre. The session’s touchstone was Bruce’s extraordinary book Young Dark Emu. In keeping with its themes, we travelled deep and wide here, and in pin-drop attentive silence. The event billing read: In Young Dark Emu - A Truer History, Bruce Pascoe uses the accounts of early European explorers, colonists and farmers, to argue for an understanding of Australia prior to the arrival of Europeans as a land of cultivated farming areas, productive fisheries, permanent homes, and thriving villages. Bruce discusses his work with Anthony James.This conversation was recorded live at the Quantum Words Festival in Walyalup / Fremantle on 16 September 2022.Title slide image: live audience for this event at John Curtin College of the Arts.Music: Regeneration, composed by Amelia Barden, from the soundtrack of the new film Regenerating Australia, available for community screenings now. Find more:Read a transcript of our conversation on the episode web page. You can also watch our conversation here (starting at 2.06.30) Black Duck Foods. Young Dark Emu (and so much more at Magabala Books in Broome). Quantum Words Perth.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Here’s a little over 20 additional minutes of ‘offcuts’ from my conversation with Douglas Rushkoff. It features a few of our more personal exchanges. The first seven or eight minutes delves further into the dangerous appeal Douglas is seeing in the thinking of some prominent people. Which leads to exploring some recent experiences of the over-culture in our respective countries, with community-based election successes. Then we share a few instructive thoughts about respective older mentors, in life and death. And we go out with Douglas offering one of the wisest articulations I’ve heard on being a father in these times.Title slide image: Douglas Rushkoff.0.00 Introductions2.00 The danger in the appeal of some prominent folk6.15 The value or otherwise of aspiring for exponential change9.40 Experiencing the over-culture in our respective countries, with community-based election success stories and the ‘consumption thing’ wearing thin15.15 Some personal exchanges on our respective older mentors 17.00 The universal need for dignity and how it can lead to fascism, or better places19.00 Being a father in these times – back to polyvagal theory Music:Stones & Bones, by Owls of the Swamp.Find more:Tune into the main episode: ‘Douglas Rushkoff on surviving the tech billionaire mindset and embodying the over-culture’, with a few links in the show notes too, and a transcript, on the episode web page.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Douglas Rushkoff is the Professor of Media Theory and Digital Economics who MIT named one of the “world’s ten most influential intellectuals.” He also hosts the podcast I listen to most, called Team Human. And he’s the best-selling author of 20 books, including the new one, Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires. The publisher’s blurb reads: ‘We always knew but now we *know*. The tech elite mean to leave us all behind. In Survival of the Richest, Rushkoff traces the origins of The Mindset in science and technology through its current expression in missions to Mars, island bunkers, and the Metaverse.’ A big early influence on me, Frances Moore Lappé, said: “Beyond eye-opening, this book is eye-popping. A master story-teller, Rushkoff brings to life perhaps the greatest challenge of our time, The Mindset that drives so much destructive behaviour, and blinds us to solutions beyond new technology and consumption. A must read.”This is a profound and fun journey, firstly into the Mindset, then back out again. Where the billionaire preppers and trans-humanists are ultimately dead ending, the current of life is flowing elsewhere. 0.00 Introduction3.30 The Mindset!19.30 Origins of The Mindset 33.00 Getting caught up in The Mindset while trying to ‘fix it’ (while exploring family stories and the wonders of epigenetics)42.30' encounter with the Maori and our respective exchanges with Tyson Yunkaporta53.30 ‘Human’ economies and platforms61.00 If we’re the over-culture now …66.00 A transformative tale in Douglas’ life before choosing to start a family73.00 Music ...This conversation was recorded online with Douglas at home in New York City on 27 September 2022 (Australian time).Title slide image: Douglas Rushkoff.Music: Regeneration, composed by Amelia Barden, from the soundtrack of the new film Regenerating Australia, available for community screenings now. Find more:Stay tuned for a special ‘offcuts’ extra to this episode, out next week.Read a transcript of our conversation on the episode web page.Douglas’ website, where you can also pick up the book Survival of the Richest (and others). The Team Human podcast. Hear my previous conversation with Douglas on episode 41: ‘Playing for Team Human’.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Matthew Evans is a chef, farmer, host of the popular TV series Gourmet Farmer, and most recently the author of ‘Soil: The incredible story of what keeps the earth, and us, healthy.’ And what an incredible story. Prepare for perhaps the most mind-blowing hour on this podcast (and that feels like it’s saying something). Matthew’s framed it as a story of bombs, of civilisations falling, of gods and pestilence, and redemption. Author and journalist Gabrielle Chan wrote, ‘This book is an urgent and passionate plea to take soil seriously, not just for farmers, gardeners and cooks, but for anyone who eats.’ In fact, Matthew was partly motivated to write this book due to the polarisation around the topic of his last book, On Eating Meat. Perhaps the topic of soil could be more universalising. And of course, it needs to be. I do feel this personally, too, as Matthew’s research affirms our growing understanding of soil (and our treatment of it) as being at the heart of our mental, physical and even spiritual health – in profound ways.Due to Covid, and living over the other side of the country in Tasmania, Matthew had become something of a digital friend. So we resolved to wait to talk about this book till we could do it in person. And you’ll hear that we weren’t the only creatures celebrating that during our conversation. As often happens, the timing ended up perfect, allowing us to weave in some of the key happenings in the world right now.This conversation was recorded by Derbal Yerrigan / Swan River in Boorloo / Perth on 17 August 2022.Title slide image: Matthew Evans just before this conversation, dodging storms and sitting on tarps (pic: Anthony James).Music: Regeneration, composed by Amelia Barden, from the soundtrack of the new film Regenerating Australia, available for community screenings now. Find more:Read a transcript of our conversation and see a few photos on the episode web page.On the book ‘Soil: The incredible story of what keeps the earth, and us, healthy’. Fat Pig Farm.Hear my previous conversation with Matthew for episode 60 ‘On Eating Meat’.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Robert Pekin is the CEO & co-founder of Food Connect, the self-described ‘systems enterprise’ in Brisbane. You might remember Rob from episode 28 with his brilliant partner Emma-Kate Rose, when we talked at length about their back-story and their soon to be successful $2m equity crowd fund. And from episode 88 last year, with Kungalu and Birri-Gubba Woman Gaala Watson, on an imminent native grains - and milling - breakthrough, and a transformation in governance led by First Nations. When I was in Brisbane for Convergence recently, I dropped in for an update. Rob walked me around this old industrial property as it further transforms into Australia’s first multi-function Food Hub, now hosting over 40 enterprises - each outstanding stories in their own right.This was a quick visit. I’d just recorded with mutual friend Amanda Cahill for what became episode 134, and cycled up to the Shed for a look and some lunch together. I wasn’t going to record this, but as I was being blown away all over again by Rob, alongside Chair of the Food Connect Foundation, Wiradjuri man from Dubbo NSW, Uncle Kel O’Neil, I had to pull out the recorder and share some of it with you. So join us at the Shed, for the conclusion to our Queensland series, and more beginnings for Food Connect. This conversation was recorded on 14 July 2022.Title slide image: Rob Pekin (bottom) and Uncle Kel O’Neill (top) against the backdrop of the Food Connect Shed (pics sourced from their websites).Music: Regeneration, composed by Amelia Barden, from the soundtrack of the new film Regenerating Australia, available for community screenings now. Find more:Food Connect Shed. Food Connect Foundation.Hear my previous conversations with Rob, with Emma-Kate Rose in episode 28, and Gaala Watson in episode 88.Read a transcript of our conversation including time stamps on the episode web page.And you can now gain access to all of the presentation recordings at Convergence, including Rob with Gaala Watson, via RCS Australia for $150. Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Dr Terry McCosker OAM is the legendary co-founder of RCS Australia. Charles Massy credits RCS as being behind the greatest regenerative agriculture movement in Australia. And throughout its pioneering decades, Pam McCosker has been the unheralded lynch pin. Terry makes no secret of it. Nor did Charles when he wrote in his best-selling Call of the Reed Warbler: “When I look back over the rise of regenerative agriculture in Australia, I see at the forefront Terry and Pam McCosker and their RCS organisation. Today it remains a world leader in the field.” But almost incredibly, this is the first time Pam has ever appeared in media. Well, on the cusp of their 50th wedding anniversary next year, and with the zeitgeist coming in a rush to meet their trailblazing work, now seemed like a good time to speak with them together.This conversation was recorded at their home in Yeppoon, Central Queensland, soon after sharing in the extraordinary Convergence event in Brisbane that marked the 30th anniversary of RCS. We debrief on that here, including on some of the major flashpoints emerging right now, and contemplate what might come next. All interspersed in this intimate, at times heart-breaking, and often downright entertaining journey into their life together – their personal convergence - a life forged through unfathomable loss, ultimate successes, and a still deepening call towards the heart of it all. This conversation was recorded on 3 August 2022.Title slide image: Terry and Pam at home just after this conversation (pic: Anthony James).You can see more photos on the episode web page. There'll be more from the Convergence event on Patreon for subscribers.Music: Regeneration, composed by Amelia Barden, from the soundtrack of the new film Regenerating Australia, available for community screenings now. Find more:RCS Australia. Watch a 3-minute highlight video of the recent Convergence event, produced by Farmers Footprint Australia (which also launched at that event). And you can now gain access to all presentations from Convergence at RCS Australia for $150.Hear Terry and Anthony in conversation back in 2020 for episode 67: ‘Behind the Greatest Regenerative Agriculture Movement in Australia: Dr Terry McCosker on life, death and learning true power’. Read a trSend us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Ross O’Reilly is a former champion regional rugby league coach, real estate agent and restauranteur, all on the way to founding his ultimate vision in 2016 – High Valley Dawn. It carries the label ‘permaculture farm’, but somehow feels like so much more. Think incredible market garden and food forest, deeply restorative work place and learning centre, grazing animals and thriving community, with all sorts of layers on that. And it’s still just getting started.I first learned about Ross when Terry McCosker made particular mention of him when he was in WA late last year. Terry’s the legendary founder of RCS Australia who featured on episode 67, and will feature again next week, this time with wife Pam, to talk about the recent Convergence event in Brisbane, among other things. It was after that Convergence event that I drifted back to Yeppoon in central Queensland with the RCS crew, and made tracks for Ross’s place.The High Valley Dawn journey began for Ross when a passion for wellness and sustainable development collided with a desire to serve fresh, local, organically grown produce in his nearby restaurant Beaches in Rosslyn Bay. His intention to one day create a self-sustaining community that would fulfil these desires, and help inspire future generations to get back to working in harmony with Mother Nature was set. In 2016, the stars aligned. But really, this story goes way further back.This conversation was recorded at High Valley Dawn, just outside of Yeppoon, Queensland, on 2 August 2022.Title slide image: Ross O’Reilly at the farm, just before this conversation (pic: Anthony James).You can see more photos on the episode web page.Music:Regeneration, composed by Amelia Barden, from the soundtrack of the new film Regenerating Australia, available for community screenings now. Find more:High Valley Dawn.New Dawn Gathering on 24 September 2022.Transcript of our conversation on the episode web page.Quantum Words Festival in Perth 16-18 September 2022.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Dr Amanda Cahill is the CEO of The Next Economy. I feel like I’ve already introduced Amanda to you, given how often she’s come up in conversations here. And you might even recognise her from Damon Gameau’s film 2040, or more recently on the ABC’s Q&A program. Amanda’s work at The Next Economy supports communities, government, industry and others to develop a more resilient, just and regenerative economy. Most of this work results from being increasingly invited into regional communities around Australia. These are often major coal-producing communities at the centre of energy transition debates in this country. Tensions are often high, and polarisation rife, which has made us all subject to political exploitation at times. And we all lose from that. But Amanda’s work with these communities is creating a different trajectory. And now it’s not just communities inviting in The Next Economy - but governments, industry and media (even globally). I first met Amanda back in 2016, at the outset of the New Economy Network of Australia. We got to know each other a little at panel conversations and the like, as recognition of her work grew. But when we last caught up at her place in late 2018, it seemed like The Next Economy was going to end before it had even really begun. How things have changed. Soon after came the first transformative shift. And in the last year alone, the organisation has grown eight-fold. Transformative change is gaining momentum – across multiple inter-related systems. But Amanda’s still feeling concerned. The next three years are vital, she says. And all largely pending how well we can be really present with each other, deeply listen, and support communities in the transitions underway everywhere.This conversation was recorded at Amanda’s place in Brisbane, on 14 July 2022.Title slide image: Amanda Cahill at home, just before this conversation (pic: Anthony James).Music:Regeneration, composed by Amelia Barden, from the soundtrack of the new film Regenerating Australia, available for community screenings now. Find more:The Next Economy.Transcript of our conversation on the episode web page.Quantum Words Festival in Perth 16-18 September 2022.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!