Down to Earth
Down to Earth is a podcast about regenerative agriculture. It’s about the place where food production and conservation come together, where the food we eat actually improves the health of land, water, people—and climate.
Above all, it’s a podcast about hope. We focus not on doom but instead on people who are developing practical, innovative solutions. We invite you to meet farmers, ranchers, scientists, land managers, writers, and many others on a mission to create a world in which the food we eat is healthy—for us, for wildlife, for the lives and livelihoods of the producers, and for the planet.
Recent Programs
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.
It’s the policy, stupid: shifting our food system to benefit farmers and eaters–not corporate monopolies
Joe Maxwell is a farmer and policy leader, and he knows that consumer demand is not enough to make the shift toward a healthy food system. He lays out the problems–and some ways forward.
From journalist to butcher: Camas Davis and the good meat movement
Camas Davis had what she calls an “early onset midlife crisis” when she was around 30–and it led her to study butchering in France. But when she came home she found that the market for local meat needed to be cultivated.
Deep resilience: healing through herbal medicine, farming, and ancestral memory
Jovan Sage carries on traditions passed down from African and Indigenous ancestors, and is a healer on many levels–herbalist, “food alchemist,” farmer, chef, and community organizer.
Renewing Native American food traditions
Sanjay Rawal ‘s new film, Gather, explores how Native Americans across the U.S. are rediscovering their food traditions–and building on them in the context of present-day realities.
Funding the science of regenerative ag
LaKisha Odom of The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research is helping to fund the research behind healthy soil practices so that more farmers can make the transition to regenerative agriculture and long-term sustainability and resilience.
Our Roots
Down to Earth is produced by Mary-Charlotte Domandi, long-time public radio and podcast producer/host, in collaboration with the Quivira Coalition, a non-profit organization that promotes healthy agricultural lands and food systems across the West—and across the world.
We’re dedicated to the idea of the Radical Center, in which people from divergent political, cultural, and professional worlds leave their differences aside and come together to work on the things they believe in—healthy soil, landscapes, and food…clean water and air…wise use of science and technology…and flourishing rural communities.
