The RegenNarration

This is an extract from what has quickly become one of the most played episodes on this podcast - and the second most played episode in the last year (behind only my conversation with Zach Bush MD, the keynote international guest to RCS Australia’s Conference scheduled next year). It features the last 20 minutes of my conversation with Terry McCosker for episode 67, Behind the Greatest Regenerative Agriculture Movement in Australia: Dr Terry McCosker on life, death and learning true power. We talk about the power of intention, where the regenerative economy is at in Australia (prompted by a revealing exchange with Hunter Lovins on her home state of Colorado in episode 61), some of Terry’s pioneering story and the history of a movement, the perspectives he’s come to from all that, and his compelling belief and vision for Australia and beyond.Title slide: off the RCS website.Find more:You can hear the rest of our conversation on the main episode 67. You’ll find a series of links in the show notes of the main episode too, including to a special extra with Terry. You can also hear my conversation with Terry’s close friends and fellow regenerative agriculture pioneers, Dianne and Ian Haggerty, on location in the wheat belt of WA, for episode 68. 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!

This is an extract from my conversation with Dianne and Ian Haggerty for episode 68, Natural Intelligence Farming: The ‘world breakthrough’ regenerating land, health and community. You'll hear the last 20 minutes of the main episode, back at the homestead, after we’d been getting around a couple of the farms over the preceding days. We talk about how the Haggerty's are creating and supporting ‘work to own’ and value-add enterprises to help regenerate community on country. This is a great place to live, they say, with plenty of space and opportunity. And they’re helping people do it. We go on to chat about what’s amazed them, and ignited others, on their extraordinary regenerative journey. And given they’ll tell you they’re only scratching the surface of what’s possible, we explore how people everywhere can go about it.Title slide: Di, Ian & Anthony recording on location in the wheat belt of Western Australia (pic: Olivia Cheng).Find more:You can hear the rest of our conversation on the main episode 68, ‘Natural Intelligence Farming: The ‘world breakthrough’ regenerating land, health & community’. You’ll find a series of links in the show notes of the main episode too, including to some extras. There are a series of photos on the main episode page too.You can also hear my conversation with Mark Taylor from Miller & Baker in North Perth (talked about in this extract) for episode 69, ‘Communities Were Built Around This: The return of the miller and baker’.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!

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 intelligence’ grains go to this local miller and baker. Well, I’ve followed the grain’s trail to hear more of this brilliant story.Mark had barely even run a mill before embarking on this adventure. But with wife Rachel, they found an increasing passion for it, and a growing base of support, and opened late last year. Even during the coronavirus pandemic, and partly because it, business has taken off. They find themselves open every day of the week now, with rapidly growing volumes of regeneratively grown grains coming in from the wheat belt, and out via the mill. And their vision has only just begun.Mark was kind enough to show me around this pretty special venture – the sort of local processor and store that seems so central to what is needed now – for healthier food and communities, secure and joyful supply chains, and no less than a functional living world as a whole. Title slide: supplied (see more photos on the episode web page).Music:Gone Clear, by William Tyler off his album Modern Country.Find more:Miller + Baker. Hear more about where the grains come from, in my conversation with Dianne & Ian Haggerty on location in the wheat belt: Natural Intelligence Farming: The ‘world breakthrough’ regenerating land, health & community. 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!

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 with carbon; to the intuitive depth underpinning their re-connection with Country, and how we might better engage with the land and its traditional custodians to bring that to the forefront.We start by the fire, where families and friends gathered at dusk. You’ll hear some of those voices in the off-the-record grabs in the second half of this extra. Then jump in the ute with us, as we head back to the homestead. Title slide: The view from the off-the-record fireside conversation that features in this extra (pic: Anthony James).Music:By Jeremiah Johnson.Find more:You can hear the rest of our conversation on the main episode 68, ‘Natural Intelligence Farming: The ‘world breakthrough’ regenerating land, health & community’. You’ll find a series of links in the show notes of the main episode too, including to another extra on the Haggerty’s back story. You’ll find a series of photos on the main episode page too.You can also hear my conversation with Terry McCosker (Terry is referenced towards the end of this extra) for episode 67, ‘Behind the Greatest Regenerative Agriculture Movement in Australia’. 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!

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 told they’d never make it.Ian and Di Haggerty were raised in farming families. They’re both of the wheat belt in WA. But that line of work didn’t pan out initially, so they headed to other places and professions. When running a roadhouse in the remote Kimberley of Western Australia, they spent formative time with Aboriginal communities and influential pastoralists, and the lights were switched on. They picked up a degraded farm back in the wheat belt and transformed it. That’s now the foundation of their regenerative mission, progressively picking up farms, now totalling around 65,000 acres, each on the regenerative path with staggering speed and success. Title slide: The sheep at the heart of the ‘natural intelligence’ operation, grazing in the distance under the rainbow (pic: Anthony James).Music:By Jeremiah Johnson.Find more:You can hear the rest of our conversation on the main episode 68, ‘Natural Intelligence Farming: The ‘world breakthrough’ regenerating land, health & community’. (You’ll find a series of links in the show notes of the main episode too.)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!

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 drylands grappling with salinity, chemical residues, climate and other compounding issues, and turning it into thriving cropland, even with as little as 100ml of annual rain. They’re finding it resulting in an extraordinary array of benefits, including clean quality produce, significant carbon drawdown, and a much less stressful way of life. And it doesn’t stop there. From detoxifying even the notorious herbicide glyphosate, to returning fresh water to salt-ridden lakes, they are constantly surprised by what nature is turning up. And they achieve all this while successfully producing for both local and global markets, and backing in the next generation of regenerative farmers.Ian and Di currently run around 65,000 acres of farmland, each on the regenerative path with staggering speed and success. And that’s recasting all sorts of possibilities – for human health and prosperity, animal welfare, regional communities, and a regenerative economy and culture more broadly. With the UN forecasting we have less than 60 harvests left in our degrading soils, this has global relevance. I got around a couple of the farms with Di and Ian – in some brilliant rare rain – for this conversation (recorded on 17 and 18 July 2020). Title slide: Ian and Dianne Haggerty (pic: Anthony James).Find more:Tune into the extra to this episode with Di & Ian, coming later this week.And catch Di & Ian (along with Charles Massy) on Australian Story, screening on the ABC in September 2020.Ground Cover, a short film featuring Di & Ian Haggerty by Smart Soil Media. 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!

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 – what regenerative education looks like! Terry tells the story of the teacher who triggered his growth from high school drop-out to where he’s at today. And another moving story anchors our closing conversation on the vital issues of drought and flood, fire and First Nations people, and trust, in the regeneration of country.Title slide: from the RCS website.Music:Gone Clear, by William Tyler off his album Modern Country.Find more:You can hear the rest of this conversation with Terry for episode 67, ‘Behind the Greatest Regenerative Agriculture Movement in Australia’. (You’ll find a series of links in the show notes too.) 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!

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. Charles Massy has called RCS this country’s leading broad-scale grazing and farming education company. And he says, “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.”Terry is credited with bringing holistic grazing to Australia, having connected with global pioneers Stan Parsons and Allan Savory. But let it be known, he thought it was “the greatest pile of shit he’d ever seen”. He ended up embarking on extensive research testing the theories and practices for himself. When he became convinced of Parsons' and Savory’s work, “Thus began”, Massy says, “arguably the single greatest broad-acre regenerative agriculture movement to turn around land degradation and profitability in farming in this country.” Now there are almost 10,000 producers around Australia, and the world, that have been involved in RCS’ programs.Whatever your walk of life, and whatever angle you’re taking, or thinking of taking, in the regenerative movement, this conversation resonates on a deeply human level. It was recorded last Thursday, 30 July 2020.Title slide: Terry McCosker (supplied).Music:By Jeremiah Johnson.Find more:Tune into the extra to this episode, ‘Recarbonising the Economy, Regenerative Education & the Fire in the Belly of Reconciliation, with Terry McCosker'.RCS Australia’s International Conference – Convergence: Agriculture | Human and Planetary Health, featuring Zach Bush MD and many more, with Anthony James as MC.RCS Australia’s website.Project Pioneer, RCS' brilliant work on improving the health of the Great Barrier Reef.Listen to current RCS Chairman, David McLean, in conversation for episode 39 ‘Stop Riding the Unicorn: Empowering the regenerative agriculture movement’. 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!

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 described as ‘The astonishing story of reviving the oldest land on Earth’. Well, a lot has happened in a year, so I’m back at Wooleen Station to see how David and Frances have been experiencing it. David’s book has been shortlisted for the Premier’s Prize for an Emerging Writer, carbon trading has been formally introduced on pastoral lands in Western Australia, and of course COVID-19 has happened. We also talk about one of David’s key proposals in his book, that we didn’t cover last time – how mining could be harnessed towards the regeneration of country. There are a few other updates on our chat from last year too. And while it’s barely rained here in the last year, unfortunately, this meant we got a look at how the enduring health of the landscape was holding up.David and I took a walked around the Station museum and workshop on a cool afternoon a little over a week ago, for this conversation.Title slide: The Wooleen Station Homestead (pic: Anthony James).You'll find a range of photos from this visit to Wooleen Station on the episode web page. Find more:David’s book ‘The Wooleen Way: Renewing an Australian Resource’.Wooleen Station. You can hear the detailed conversation David and I shared on the release of his book ‘The Wooleen Way’ in episode 44. You can also hear David and his wife Frances in conversation with Charles Massy in episode 16 ‘Grassroots Revolution’.And my conversation with Frances back at Wooleen Station in episode 9 ‘Regenerating Land & Food Systems’.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!

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 now Native Title holders. The last 5 minutes or so is drawn from the end of the episode. It includes how we can help, an epiphany that sparked some of the work, and a closing story that encapsulates some of the power and meaning of coral reefs. Some great Australian music we could licence for the podcast sends us home (thanks to Adam Gibson) – and even a little bloopers reel. Oops!Title slide: Ningaloo Reef, by Joel Johnsson.Music:On the Punt, by Adam Gibson and The Aerial Maps. Find more:You can listen to the full conversation in the main episode 65 – Keeping Coral: Regenerating coral reef communities & livelihoods, with Dr Peter Barnes & Joel Johnsson.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!