031: Changing the Narrative with Regenerative Agriculture with Ryan Slabaugh
Essential Ingredients Podcast
English - August 08, 2023 13:00 - 26 minutes - 22.1 MB - ★★★★★ - 127 ratingsNutrition Health & Fitness Business Entrepreneurship Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
“[Regenerative Agriculture] is a mindset that early adopters and farmers have, and it's a love of life that we're translating into the food supply, how we look at our food, how we look at our farming, and how we look at our agriculture. This is a multi-generational mindset shift that is dependent upon us.” —Ryan Slabaugh
Our current agricultural system revolves around sustainability— maintaining the status quo while doing minimal damage. But our world can no longer afford this argument. We need a better narrative, a regenerative one that encourages growth, revitalization, and improvement.
By realigning our agricultural practices with the ecological realities of our time, we will be able to approach the future with a hopeful lens. And this requires a shift not only in our mindset but also in our actions.
Think Regeneration, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, was established by Ryan Slabaugh with a focus on the regenerative movement. They are actively developing programs throughout the nation that aim at assisting farmers and ranchers. Their strategy includes revitalizing food cultivation ecosystems, curbing chronic disease rates, amplifying the perspectives of regenerative cultivators, and enhancing community resilience.
Listen in as Justine and Ryan present a different perspective on regenerative farming and how education plays a role in getting the outcome that we want. Plus, they also discuss the challenges faced in the regenerative space, the indispensable role of education in changing the narrative around regeneration, the importance of building the vision before the policy, ways to provide support for farmers and ranchers, and facing the question of long-term sustainability.
Meet Ryan:
Ryan Slabaugh is the founder and director of Think Regeneration and former executive director of Acres U.S.A., a 51-year-old education and media company known for being the Voice of Eco-Agriculture. Ryan has more than 20 years of experience leading businesses and individuals through change. Ryan is also the chair of the board of directors for Resource Central, a diversified nonprofit in Boulder, Colorado, that supports water management, landfill diversion, and energy use reduction goals for thousands in Colorado and students around the country.
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Episode Highlights:
01:38 Meeting Different Needs
04:23 What is Regenerative Agriculture
08:03 The Role of Education
14:03 The Challenge in Changing the Narrative
20:32 The Future of Regenerative Agriculture
23:34 The Biggest Concern