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
Eat Mesquite? Yes. Really.
The new cookbook from Desert Harvesters in Tucson, Eat Mesquite and More: A Cookbook for Sonoran Desert Foods and Living, is not only about how to make food from local ingredients, but also how communities and deeper understanding of local ecosystems arise from local eating and cooking.
Patron saints of regenerative agriculture: Gabe and Paul Brown
Gabe Brown and his family endured hail, drought, and near ruin before they changed their way of farming and ranching. Theirs is a story of creative response to adversity that led to a healthier and more successful landscape and business.
Wes Jackson on the problem of agriculture and the perennial solution
Wes Jackson, founder of The Land Institute, talks about solving not only problems within agriculture, but the problem of agriculture itself. What does that mean? Find out here!
The Water Win-Win: Food and ecosystems in balance
Sandra Postel is an expert on water, and on balancing the needs of water users in creative ways, so that both wildlife and food can flourish. Yes, it can be done. And needs to be done a whole lot more.
The deck is stacked against family farmers. Here’s one rancher’s powerful response.
Mike Callicrate left industrial feedlot agriculture to raise meat animals in a way that is healthier for everyone, including the animals and the people who eat them.
The Butchers meet the Buddha: Conscious meat production today
Adam Danforth is part of a new breed of artisanal butchers who are concerned with quality of meat, quality of the animal’s life and death, and how to shift the way meat is produced and experienced.
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.
