Regenerative Agriculture: Blair Beattie Insights

Farmer’s Footprint is a national not-for-profit organisation giving voice to Australia’s regenerative food story. It promotes the widespread use of regenerative agriculture to improve soil, human, and environmental health.

My guest today is the Managing Director or CEO of Farmer's Footprint Australia, which just started a few months ago, Blair Beattie. It's a wonderful conversation. At the end of the conversation, I'll share with you the really fantastic short six-minute video that Farmer's Footprint has produced. And it is a truly inspiring video with many guests, many farmers on there that have been guests on this podcast.


Blair Beattie: The Importance of Farmer’s Footprint and Engaging with How Our Food is Grown Introduction 

Now, today we are re-engaging with the story of regenerative agriculture, and in particular, we are exploring Farmer’s Footprint. Now, Farmer’s Footprint is an organisation that was born in the States, United States about two or three years ago. It was based really on the work of Dr. Zach Bush, who I have tried on several occasions and hope to still get on as a guest. 

I did have the opportunity to speak to the CEO of Farmer’s Footprint, David Lyon, and we’ll be presenting that episode this same week, so you can catch up on that. But I know that Farmer’s Footprint looks at best practise in regenerative farming and is about telling stories which engage people in this process.

Now, regenerative agriculture is something I have felt very passionate about. In fact, holistic land management is something I’ve felt very passionate about for at least the last 15 or 20 years. When I had the pleasure of meeting my very good friends, Vicki Poulter and Tim Poulter. 

And Vicki comes from agricultural royalty, the daughter of Bill McClymont, who set up the rural science faculty at the University of New England many, many years ago. And Vicki attended a talk I’d given. We were talking about holistic health care, and she introduced me almost 20 years ago to holistic land management. And I thought, “Wow, well, if we are thinking holistically, these two stories need to be talked about together.” 

Because a nutrient-dense diet is something we have focussed on in the Unstress Podcast continuously and in my professional life continuously for a long time. And a nutrient-dense diet comes from healthy plants, healthy animals, and that all happens when there is healthy soil. And what’s good for the animal and good for the plant is good for the person, good for the planet, and good for the farmer that grows it. It’s just a win-win-win all the way round.

Now, I’ve had the pleasure of talking to some wonderful people on this journey. I’ve met the legendary Allan Savory. I’ve spoken on one of our first podcasts was on perhaps one of the most famous farmers in the world, regenerative farmers, Joel Salatin. I’ve spoken to wonderful people like Charlie Massy, Charlie Arnott, Grahame Rees, and Terry McCosker. Gee, I hope I haven’t left anybody out, but there are so many great people along the way.

Actually, Charlie Massy, most interestingly, refers to five different cycles in the regenerative world, which are the solar cycle, the water cycle, the soil mineral cycle, biodiversity, and the human social cycle. And that is what we are focussing on today, and that’s what Farmer’s Footprint is also focussing on.

My guest today is the Managing Director or CEO of Farmer’s Footprint Australia, which has just started a few months ago, Blair Beattie. It’s a wonderful conversation. At the end of the conversation, I’ll share with you the really fantastic short six-minute video that Farmer’s Footprint has produced. And it is a truly inspiring video with many guests, many farmers on there that have been guests on this podcast. I hope you enjoyed this conversation I had with Blair Beattie.

Podcast Transcript

Dr Ron Ehrlich: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to Unstress. My name is Dr Ron Ehrlich. I’d like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which I’m recording this podcast, the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation, and pay my respects to their Elders – past, present, and emerging.

Dr. Ron Ehrlich: [00:00:22] Now, today, we are re-engaging with the story of regenerative agriculture, and in particular, we are exploring Farmer’s Footprint. Now, Farmer’s Footprint is an organisation that was born in the States, United States about two or three years ago. It was based really on the work of Dr. Zach Bush, who I have tried on several occasions and hope to still get on as a guest. 

I did have the opportunity to speak to the CEO of Farmer’s Footprint, David Lyon, and we’ll be presenting that episode this same week, so you can catch up on that. But I know that Farmer’s Footprint looks at best practise in regenerative farming and is about telling stories which engage people in this process.

Dr. Ron Ehrlich: [00:01:06] Now, regenerative agriculture is something I have felt very passionate about. In fact, holistic land management is something I’ve felt very passionate about for at least the last 15 or 20 years. When I had the pleasure of meeting my very good friends, Vicki Poulter and Tim Poulter. 

And Vicki comes from agricultural royalty, the daughter of Bill McClymont, who set up the rural science faculty at the University of New England many, many years ago. And Vicki attended a talk I’d given. We were talking about holistic health care, and she introduced me almost 20 years ago to holistic land management. And I thought, “Wow, well, if we are thinking holistically, these two stories need to be talked about together.” 

Because a nutrient-dense diet is something we have focussed on in the Unstress Podcast continuously and in my professional life continuously for a long time. And a nutrient-dense diet comes from healthy plants, healthy animals, and that all happens when there is healthy soil. And what’s good for the animal and good for the plant is good for the person, good for the planet, and good for the farmer that grows it. It’s just a win-win-win all the way round.

Dr. Ron Ehrlich: [00:02:24] Now, I’ve had the pleasure of talking to some wonderful people on this journey. I’ve met the legendary Allan Savory. I’ve spoken on one of our first podcasts was on perhaps one of the most famous farmers in the world, regenerative farmers, Joel Salatin. I’ve spoken to wonderful people like Charlie Massy, Charlie Arnott, Grahame Rees, and Terry McCosker. Gee, I hope I haven’t left anybody out, but there are so many great people along the way.

Dr. Ron Ehrlich: [00:02:54] Actually, Charlie Massy, most interestingly, refers to five different cycles in the regenerative world, which are the solar cycle, the water cycle, the soil mineral cycle, biodiversity, and the human social cycle. And that is what we are focussing on today, and that’s what Farmer’s Footprint is also focussing on.

Dr. Ron Ehrlich: [00:03:17] My guest today is the Managing Director or CEO of Farmer’s Footprint Australia, which has just started a few months ago, Blair Beattie. It’s a wonderful conversation. At the end of the conversation, I’ll share with you the really fantastic short six-minute video that Farmer’s Footprint has produced. And it is a truly inspiring video with many guests, many farmers on there that have been guests on this podcast. I hope you enjoyed this conversation I had with Blair Beattie.

Dr. Ron Ehrlich: [00:03:53] Welcome to the show, Blair.

Blair Beattie: [00:03:55] Thank you for having me, mate. It’s great to be in the virtual room with you.

Dr Ron Ehrlich: [00:04:00] Blair. We some time ago, I became aware of Farmer’s Footprint. Obviously, Dr. Zach Bush is the public face of it in America and probably globally. And we had the opportunity to speak to the CEO of Farmer’s Footprint, David Lyon. But when we connected a few weeks ago, I was excited to learn that Farmer’s Footprint has found its way to Australia. I wondered if you might just share it with us. Remind us. Farmer’s Footprint. What is it?

Blair Beattie: [00:04:31] So it birthed two and a half years ago in the States as a… not a reaction to, but a by-product of Zach leaning into what is the solution for food system transition and what does it look like and where do we need to head? Because of current methodologies, current systems have kind of been hijacked. Somewhat. And what we’re not getting is healthy, nutrient-dense food. 

And also, we are depleting our soils, our soils, and our ecosystems and losing biodiversity. So through all that, he was sent on a trajectory to find out what is the most efficient solution that can sort of cover those bases. And it was changing our methodologies of agriculture and what some would call regenerative agriculture.

Blair Beattie: [00:05:19] So through that, they realised that storytelling is probably what’s needed, bringing awareness to where we’re at and what these solutions, these beautiful solutions are. And through that, Farmer’s Footprint was born as a narrative and the storyteller around this movement, and to bring awareness to consumers and stakeholders and create an invitation for farmers to look at changing practises should show that the where they are, where their geographic locations are and their ethos. So and we’ve, yeah… It was just inevitable that that beauty was going to pervade over the pond.

Dr Ron Ehrlich: [00:06:10] Yes, yes. And now it’s now found its way to Australia. And I was really excited, too, because we connected a few years ago when this all started, and it was encouraging and exciting to learn that now Farmer’s Footprints found their way officially into Australia, telling some important stories. I think it’s something it’s interesting. 

There’s so much you’ve said there about food transition, soils, ecosystems, and biodiversity because I think a lot of people want to be healthy. I think that’s a fair assessment. And diets and often important ones, but engaging with how our food is grown is perhaps, well not perhaps, it’s an important first step, isn’t it?

Blair Beattie: [00:06:57] It’s a massive first step. And I think that what sits around that is we gave away some of those powers and those responsibilities. But in going into the supermarkets, or these large industrial, mechanistic kind of corporations that produce our food, we still consider that food healthy. We still consider that food is giving us the nourishment for us to be the best versions of ourselves. But that is not always the case. 

And with we’ve seen that in spades with epidemics of disease and health challenges across the board. And a lot of this stems back to how our food is produced and where it’s produced and what inputs and the like are used through that process. So when we go to a supermarket, we seem to think that they have our health at heart. And that’s not really the case.

Blair Beattie: [00:07:58] We commodified our food. You know, post the Industrial Revolution, food became a commodity. It came all about scale. Let’s go big. Productivity and profitability. And as soon as we did that, we lost our connection to our food source. The one thing that fuels us to be healthy humans. And unfortunately, they don’t have our best interests at heart. And so what we get is something that is productive and profitable but may not necessarily be nourishing and what our bodies need, and it might be devoid of all of that beauty and that complexity. 

So taking responsibility as individuals for what we ingest in our bodies is probably that first step and that realisation, that aha moment where, “Oh, I can have discernment over where my food comes from and also honouring ourselves enough to say I want to put the best fuel in my body so I can be the healthiest, happiest man for myself and my family and my community.

Dr Ron Ehrlich: [00:09:06] Yeah. Yeah. And it’s so interesting, isn’t it, because you mentioned food has been commodified. I think health has also been commodified. And those two go hand in hand. And unfortunately, good health, while it may make sense, doesn’t make dollars and, you know, for either the food or the pharmaceutical or health industry. But it’s a story that’s really easy to miss, but once you’re aware of it, difficult to ignore. 

You mentioned stories, and I love that video. And we’re going to have… We will share that video that’s currently on Farmer’s Footprint in Australia because some of the people that are on that video have been guests on this podcast and specifically, well, Charlie Arnott, of course, and Charlie Massy. Gee, it sounds like you have to have what Charlie seems to be an important part of the system, but anyway. Yeah. That’s part of the fun, the changing not just our attitude as consumers, but changing the farmer’s attitude as well is a big part of this, isn’t it?

Blair Beattie: [00:10:19] It’s a huge part of that. And I think we’re all intrinsically linked. If we want to see transition or systemic change, this needs to come from all sectors. So we have our farming and agricultural sector, our consumer sector, but also the spaces in between that. the people that sit in between that, whether they’re input producers, whether they’re retailers or hospitality, we all have an opportunity to be part of this transition, and without sort of a cross-section movement that’s inclusive of everyone in that, then I think we may find, and we may struggle. 

Farmers are a linchpin in this story, of course, because they are the ones that are on the ground. They’re the most amazing humans on earth. It’s the most, one of the toughest and most economically unrewarding pursuits you could be in. But they are the ones connected to their lands, and they’re the ones that feed us. They’re not given the kudos that I think they deserve. And they’re not rewarded economically and financially for the products they deliver. Again, because of this commodification process.

Blair Beattie: [00:11:37] But if you look back 50 years ago, we were probably spending a lot of portion of our salaries on food that’s now transitioned or reversed flipped itself where we’re spending most of our salaries on rent, on just our housing and our food is now a small part of our expenditure, which doesn’t quite make sense. 

So there’s a lot to that story. But to try and answer your question, farmers are intrinsic to this move movement. And we’re seeing and why we featured some of those guys that, you know, in our first creative piece that there have been people doing this for years. We have the wisdom keepers and educators to bring forth this transition and invite other farmers on the way. But a lot of the challenge we see in that movement is probably cultural. It’s a thing of brevity and takes quite a courage to go against the grain and to bring on new ideas or to see a new way or a new methodology that you might want to introduce onto your landscape or in your farming practises. 

So there’s the culture that sits behind that decision-making process. So what we need to do, what we think by telling stories, we can invite that conversation. And in the hope that we can introduce some of these amazing people that will help guide and choose a mentor for this transition in a safe and friendly space.

Dr. Ron Ehrlich: [00:13:16] I think what I love also about the farmer’s footprint model is it’s not about reinventing the wheel. It’s about finding what is already best practise and sharing.

Blair Beattie: [00:13:28] Exactly. We have all the technologies. We have the healthy tech, we have the wisdom keepers. It’s all there and available to us. What we haven’t told and haven’t is that engagement piece, that awareness piece. And hopefully, that’s one of the key areas that by telling stories can be that invitation for everyone to come on board on this. 

Because time is ticking and soil loss is happening, and we’ve already seen what these cataclysmic weather events have shaken up, and we probably expect a little bit more of them to be coming. So we say it’s imperative to tell these stories and bring them into the public sphere and the farming sphere, and the agricultural sphere so we can try and be that catalyst for a conversation or change.

Dr. Ron Ehrlich: [00:14:23] I thought one of the most interesting comments, and I forget who it was that said it in this short film which will play, you know, we actually should play it and have a listen to it together. Maybe we will do that. I don’t know. But anyway, but the point being, he said that he thought he was a farmer, you know, he was farming cattle or sheep or crops. But what he realised was he was a soil farmer.

Blair Beattie: [00:14:48] That was David Marsh. And I think that’s the awakening moment for many farmers. It’s like it’s what’s going on below the ground that is the most important ingredient for a productive, you know, farming system. An ecosystem. The soil is. And that’s I think that’s shining through with some of the conversations across the globe at the moment. We’re finally having that realisation of that connection between soil health and human health and animal health and planetary health.

Dr Ron Ehrlich: [00:15:21] Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think another factor that people are very focussed on at the moment is climate change. And you know, it’s so interesting to see how politically this is being dealt with and the demonisation of animals in that process, whereas they’re actually part of the solution.

Blair Beattie: [00:15:43] Yeah, they are. They are intrinsic to the solution. In all natural systems, animals exist. And unfortunately, there’s been a misconception. And that’s come from probably bad practise. If you’ve got set stocking, it degrades land. It creates issues. But if you have a healthy practise where you’re cell grazing livestock and moving them around and allowing nature to take hold and getting out of the way of nature and just following those beautiful cycles of nature, then animals are integral to that. 

And the by-products of that shift in methodology mean that we are creating healthier water cycles, we are creating a healthy carbon cycle, and we have happy, healthy animals. So yeah, there’s a jump to, at the moment happening around, around meat production. Then it’s not really the cow, it’s more the how.

Dr Ron Ehrlich: [00:16:50] Yes. Well, yes, that’s exactly… And actually, we had Allan Savory on as a guest very early on in my podcast. He’s one of my all-time heroes. And Allan said something which really is about what you’ve just said there. It’s not the resource that is the problem. It’s how the resource is managed. That’s the problem.

Dr. Ron Ehrlich: [00:17:10] And the other thing that you just said, which our listeners may have not picked up on, was this term set stocking. And, you know, for anybody in Australia, probably in America too, that’s driven down a country highway and looked out at the paddocks on the left and the right, and you’ve seen cows scattered through a huge field, that’s kind of what sets stocking is. You just leave cows out on the paddock for a few months to graze at a time. Is that my understanding?

Blair Beattie: [00:17:43] Yeah, that’s pretty on the money, mate. I mean, there’s rotational grazing, there’s a lot of stick set stocking that happens. But what you’re doing, if you’re not understanding the methodologies that Alan Savory has introduced, which is coming back to a natural system and mimicking what the large herds have done for aeons across landscapes. 

A little bit different in Australia because we haven’t had hoofed animals here prior to colonisation. So there is some conjecture around whether they should be here at all. But they are. So if they are, let’s utilise them to repair landscapes and bring back that biodiversity and that soil health. And it’s being done. We see, you know, we use it a lot. 

And I think in one of our recent posts, you can see that fence line across one side of the fence, you’ve got someone that’s been grazing holistically using natural functions for years. And then, across the course, it’s a stark difference. You’ve got a dilapidated, very dry, and arid landscape, and there’s a fence line between them. And the difference is methodologies.

Blair Beattie: [00:19:03] So there’s yeah, the proof is in the pudding. How we scale that will take skillful means, and our ethos at Farmer’s Footprint is progress over perfection. So we don’t introduce dogma into this space. We just want to open up conversations around how we can move forward and introduce some of this beautiful methodology to our farming communities without judgment. No one is doing anything wrong. 

Farmers are still the ones connected to these processes and still connected to their landscapes. It’s just this commodified vocation model. This beast that’s come in has not shifted them away to that connection to their land and a perspective of productivity and profit, where with the great, we’ve unfortunately lost our connection to the natural systems. And through that, we’ve kind of been hijacked on this model, which is about extraction rather than production or productivity. 

So there’s great hope. And with we already have everything we need to bring it forward. We just need to amplify this conversation across all sectors. And thank you for being one of those troubadours and advocates over the years, mate. The conversations you’ve had have been groundbreaking because they’ve been many years ago, and we’re still having the conversations. Just fortunate enough that more people are now listening, I think.

Dr Ron Ehrlich: [00:20:47] Yeah.

Blair Beattie: [00:20:48] You know, we can invite all those people that have concerns around climate change because changing our agricultural landscape will be and probably the most productive one in healing and repairing our carbon cycle.

Dr. Ron Ehrlich: [00:21:06] Yeah, well, you drew that line of that fence line, which on one side was very richly vegetated doing the regenerative practises. On the other side of the fence line, it was arid, it was really exposed land. And what was so interesting because I visited some farms up in the Northern Tablelands and in and around Armidale, and looking at the soil profile of those two properties side by side, exposed to the same climatic conditions, was incredible. 

I mean, the soil profile in the regenerative was like deep dark soil, which means carbon was in the soil, and on the other, it was only a few inches deep. So if people are wanting to get on board for just climatic reasons, sequestering carbon, I mean, gee, it’s almost a no-brainer, isn’t it? I thought it was so interesting that Elon Musk is given a price of I think, $100 million for anybody that can work out an effective way of carbon sequestering. And I think we got the answer in first-year high school biology. I think it was called photosynthesis.

Blair Beattie: [00:22:20] We did, mate.

Dr Ron Ehrlich: [00:22:20] I wonder if I should claim that $100 million thing, I just go, “Hey, Alan, you know, photosynthesis, great idea.”.

Blair Beattie: [00:22:28] “What a great idea.”.

Dr Ron Ehrlich: [00:22:29] But soils are being lost at the rate of knots, too. That’s another big issue, isn’t it?

Blair Beattie: [00:22:35] Yeah. It’s a massive issue. So degradation has been the crux of where we’re at, I think, at the moment. And, you know, when you look at the just from an Australian perspective and understand that almost 60% of our landmass here in Australia is under agricultural production and over 50% of that is livestock production. 

So if you think of what that might look like and when you look at better practise agriculture, holistic grazing or, you know, regenerative methodologies, still a very small percentage of that landmass. If we were to we can scale that, then I think it’s obvious when you look at that huge chunk of land that’s available for transition, that’s the huge amount of impact. And it can come in quick time. And in time you could say.

Dr Ron Ehrlich: [00:23:32] Yeah, in time. Another aspect of it is autonomy. I mean, what drives a lot of people to change in life in general, I think is trauma. You know, people who have a diagnosis of cancer often turn their life around and go, “Wow, my life is so much better since I had this.” And on the farm, I think there’s no shortage of potential traumas there but a drought or flood door or whatever. Autonomy is another aspect of this story. That’s quite an important feature, isn’t it, for the farmer?

Blair Beattie: [00:24:06] Yes, it’s huge. Like we see farmers that seem to be cornered into situations where you’ve got insurance companies, banks, and input providers that work cohesively. And if someone was to look out and see something new or a change they wanted to make, it makes it even more difficult because they’re not able to make autonomous decisions. 

Their reliance on the spectrum for their functionality and they’ve got a lot at stake. They’ve got land to the stake, a mortgage like a family. So the ability to have some spaciousness in the methodologies in their thinking and even to make those and activate those changes are compressed and constrained. So autonomy is certainly a big one.

Blair Beattie: [00:25:01] And I’m glad you brought that up because it also segways into health and wellness for our farming community. We band, we want agricultural transition, and many people do but to make that we cannot do it without the farmers and we need to turn around and check in with those guys. And we see that as appropriate action for reparation of the landscape and for all that beauty that brings about from an agricultural change. 

A conversation with that farmer that lands you with that person that’s actually connected to that piece of land is intrinsic to that transition. And the health and wellness of that person need to be at the forefront of our conversations and actions. When you look at the landscape and the steward there like there’s a mirror effect. Healthy landscape, healthy farmer. So let’s bring that to life.

Blair Beattie: [00:26:03] As challenging as that will be, I think that needs to be first and foremost in our conversations moving forward is checking in with our farmers. They have the highest suicide rates in the country.

Dr Ron Ehrlich: [00:26:17] Yeah.

Blair Beattie: [00:26:18] It is the most challenging pursuit on earth, especially when shit goes, excuse my language, when stuff goes wrong, when that nature, you know, shares her glory and rains down or you know, we’ve all experienced in that and seen that firsthand over the last few years. 

So we feel really passionate about having that farmer check in and see what we can do to help that process, because a healthy farmer creates healthy landscapes and makes healthy decisions. And I know that’s something that you are extremely passionate about as well. And it’s something that we will speak more about because we see that as an amazing covert operation to bring about this transition we’re all looking for.

Dr Ron Ehrlich: [00:27:04] Absolutely. And I think, you know, you say it’s a really tough gig being a farmer. But on the other hand, it is potentially the most, I believe, most rewarding gig on the planet. I mean, what could be more important than growing food that nourishes a population and looking after the land on which that food is grown, not just for now, but for the future? 

And it’s interesting to go back to that model of that land with the fence. And on one side is the vegetation, and on the other side is the bare land. Because when the rain falls, the farmer with the vegetation is really excited because he knows that water and soil are staying on his property and the guy on the other side is going, “Oh, I hope it doesn’t rain too much because not only is the water going to run off my property, but it’s going to take my soil with it.”.

Blair Beattie: [00:28:02] Mm hmm.

Dr. Ron Ehrlich: [00:28:03] I mean, you know, talk about autonomy. You know, two people exposed to the same climate have a very different reactions to that. They’re not victims as bigger victims. We’re all victims of the climate to some degree, but not as big victims. And I guess the input of chemicals is another major input on impost on farmers.

Blair Beattie: [00:28:29] Without a doubt. We, you know, because of the reductionistic methodologies around farming, we’re now relying on pesticides, herbicides, fungicides. We again lost connections to our biodiversity that supports life, you know.

Dr Ron Ehrlich: [00:28:48] Yeah.

Blair Beattie: [00:28:48] You know, Charlie Arnott in our video says a great quote. You know, he woke up having to kill things every day.

Dr. Ron Ehrlich: [00:28:54] Yes, I saw that.

Blair Beattie: [00:28:57] And that’s still what we’re doing.

Dr Ron Ehrlich: [00:28:59] Yeah. I have to kill things to grow things.

Blair Beattie: [00:29:01] Yes. It’s just incredible. But again, a big passion of ours is moving away from that reliance. We can be doing our own imports on farms and increasing that relationship to the natural surroundings and inviting in that biodiversity is part of the process where we can move away from the fungicides, the herbicides. And what we’re seeing from that usage is that it’s having a resounding effect on human health.

Dr Ron Ehrlich: [00:29:31] Yeah.

Blair Beattie: [00:29:33] You know, we talk about glyphosate a lot, but there’s a slew of other chemical inputs that are utilised that also have adverse effects like estate takes centre stage and for good reason as well because that is a water soluble toxin that’s in our waterways. It’s in probably most of the foods that we eat, and we’re still using it and still supporting the use of it because it works really well. It does. 

It kills you, and it does it really, really well. But the unfortunate reality, which we’re only just waking up to at the moment, there’s a little bit of traction in the US around life is usage and moving it away from agriculture when we still use it in parks and gardens and schools and what we know it does is it is terrific, but that’s not common knowledge, and it’s not in the public sphere.

Blair Beattie: [00:30:28] We don’t have news people talking about, you know, the epidemic of autoimmune diseases that we’re having. Everyone that I know has got leaky gut. Their intestinal tracts been corrupted by these chemical uses that we’re seeing come through in our food and our waterways and our wine. It’s in there. So there’s so many stories to tell and bring awareness to. 

And I think when we do when people stop, these penny start dropping, and they start having these realisations that we have been led down the wrong path, and we open up the opportunity to do a U-turn and go down this beautiful path when we come back into connection with ourselves, start taking responsibility for ourselves and diminishing that separation from nature because that sits behind at all. 

We, as human beings, have been led to believe that we separate from it. We are not. We are part of nature, and that is our gift. When we start accepting and embodying that as human beings, we look at the world in a different way. The decisions we make a difference, and we come back into some sort of harmony again. And it’s just it’s an amazing feeling because I’ve been through that journey myself and then watching others and inviting others on this journey and then seeing that play out for them is the most rewarding thing we’d be doing.

Blair Beattie: [00:31:54] And as you said before, the most rewarding pursuit on earth is growing, farming is growing food for others, and nutrient-dense food that comes from healthy soil and landscapes that support farmers’ health, their health, and their communities health. It’s the most sovereign ambition on earth. 

The most sovereign act is to walk out and pick your own food. And I think that conversations coming with the likes of yourself and others it’s just such a beautiful it’s beautiful thing to be talking about. And that’s why we’re here because we want to have those conversations.

Dr Ron Ehrlich: [00:32:33] Yeah. I mean, I think I’ve said this before, and I said it in my book too, that the 20th century was the century of the revered economist, financier, you know, entrepreneur. And look where that got us. I mean, we could talk about that, but I would hope that this coming century and we’re almost a quarter of the way into it, but I think there’s still time could should be the century of the revered farmer. 

Cause within their hands is really where we know our future. And that’s actually my interest as a clinician has always been what is the effect of nutrient dense food on human health? And you only have to look at the epidemic of preventable chronic diseases, you know, heart disease, cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, to know that this is the issue for our health but also for our planet.

Dr. Ron Ehrlich: [00:33:30] So tell us about Farmer’s Footprint. I mean, what’s the plan over the next six, 12 months? Where what are we? What’s the plan for Farmer’s Footprint in Australia, Blair?

Blair Beattie: [00:33:42] So we obviously, as I’ve hopped on a few times in this conversation, we’re here for storytelling. We’re here to create awareness across all sectors. We want to engage people that the eaters, the feeders, and the growers, through storytelling. And that storytelling will come in a couple of forms. We were lucky enough and fortunate enough to have a really skilled set of shooters and producers that support what our journey and what we stand for. 

So we were able to come up with our first creative pieces, our impact rail, which is available on our website. That’s what we want to do. We want to create premium products. When you look around the current paradigm and see when TV advertising companies talk about food, they have these massive marketing budgets that support that and are able to brainwash people into thinking they should be eating a certain product which is probably devoid of any nutrient benefit and more than likely full of crap that their bodies don’t need that have come from horrible places around the earth that are producing them in terrible ways.

Blair Beattie: [00:35:06] So when you look at the current paradigm and how that story is told, where we believe that we need to meet that in its production value, in its delivery, because that’s the expectation of people and that the agricultural story, our food story hasn’t the alternative food story, this new paradigm has not been told that way previously. 

So we see a great opportunity that is to meet them and see with how we deliver products. But it also being of so much higher value and intrinsic to our shared futures and our children’s futures and our children’s children’s futures that there’s a story that people will align with and attached to. And through that awareness, start making better decisions. Start going into their farmers’ markets or start thinking about the food that they had just in their bodies and supporting the stakeholders that sit in between those spaces. 

There are so many stories to tell, and we kind of think that the important stories to tell are the human stories. We see lots of success stories in people that have done great things. But what we’ve missed in the spaces in between our agricultural transition is the human story. And that’s not always a successful one. That’s a story of hardship. But it’s a story that people can engage with because that is our shared life journey.

Dr Ron Ehrlich: [00:36:34] Hmm.

Blair Beattie: [00:36:35] So if we can start bringing these to life and finding people across our nation that identify with this, there’s an invitation for all of them to join this journey. And that’s not our journey. This is a shared journey. This is a co-creative journey. We are a vehicle for telling stories. And we want to point everyone to what they’re driving with and where they see positive action coming, whether that be their local farmer, their butcher, or other people which are interested in this movement. So our main focus is to be the voice for our regenerative food story in Australia.

Blair Beattie: [00:37:21] And yet, I could go on. To throw events through and through engagement and through appropriate action, and that means doing a lot of listening. It’s a complex landscape out there. So we don’t think we have all the answers, but we think through listening and conversing with lots of people across all these sectors, we can be telling stories that are appropriate and amplify the beauty that we become in contact with. 

We also see as I spoke earlier, as farmer’s health and wellness is a real keystone in that conversation. So our hope is that we can be part of bringing something to life which is truly holistic, which is mind, body, and spirit. And all of this comes from people supporting this movement, supporting us in what we’re doing. 

We’re not for profit. We don’t really have a product to sell. So all we can do is invite businesses, like-minded businesses, and like-minded people to support us in telling this story, knowing that transition and change are imminent. We just have to bring it on as quickly as we can.

Dr. Ron Ehrlich: [00:38:37] Well, Blair, You know, that’s why I was so excited to reconnect with you a few weeks ago and was so looking forward to having you on to talk about what is happening in Australia. And I think we will obviously have links to the Farmer’s Footprint website. 

This is about engagement, and there is so much noise out there bombarding us with the commodification of our food and our health. But telling these stories, which are not for profit, just for health, is a really important one. So thank you so much for joining us today and sharing this story with us.

Blair Beattie: [00:39:20] Look, it’s an absolute pleasure. And thank you for your years of work in this space, mate. You’re one of the troubadours in the regenerative agricultural movement that has been voicing these stories for a long time. So kudos to you. And may we walk together on this journey and invite everyone along because it’s a beautiful one. It’s an imperative one, but it’s one that leaves a positive impact on Earth, our community, and our kids. And we need to leave something for them.

Dr. Ron Ehrlich: [00:39:53] Thank you so much. Thanks, Blaire.

Blair Beattie: [00:39:56] An absolute pleasure, mate. Cheers.

Dr. Ron Ehrlich: [00:39:58] Well, there it is. And I will finish this episode by playing that short six-minute video. So this is another good reason why you should be watching this on YouTube, but it will work just as well as in audio. So don’t worry. I’m reminded of Charlie Massy once saying it is we should be enabling nature rather than domineering nature. 

And if you are interested in your health, if you are interested in human health, if you are interested in climate change, then this is an organisation that we should all be supporting so that these stories can be spread far and wide. 

The stories cannot be told often enough, because, let’s face it, we are constantly bombarded by “stories” and commercial stories that do not have our best interest nor the best interests of the planet at heart. And that is why Farmer’s Footprint is a movement worth supporting. I hope this finds you well. Stay on board for this short video. Until next time. This is Dr Ron Ehrlich. Be well.

Speaker 1: [00:41:11] And so it came that I would follow in footprints I admire. And with each step, I met my foes of drought, flood, and fire. Of drought, flood, and fire. Of drought, flood, and fire…

Narrator: [00:41:31] Mother Nature is tapping us on the shoulder. The signs are all around us that something needs to change. And Australian farmers are on the front line.

Charlie Arnott: [00:41:44] I was getting up every morning and killing stuff. That was the job. Why is it that we got to kill so much stuff to get things to live and grow? We were bashing our heads against nature and nature’s, I mean, name a time when nature hasn’t won.

David Marsh: [00:42:01] I was one of the first people around here to use glyphosate and human beings as suckers for anything that looks like it’s going to give you a benefit and makes life convenient.

Bruce Pascoe: [00:42:12] You’ll definitely get a bounce in your pasture out of superphosphate, but it’s destroying the soil.

David Marsh: [00:42:19] Regardless of how hard I tried, our debt tended to just keep on increasing.

Chris Hall: [00:42:25] The orchard wasn’t as healthy as it should be and getting die back in the limbs.

David Marsh: [00:42:31] I felt ashamed of the way this property looked.

Charlie Arnott: [00:42:34] You can’t grow nutritious, good food in a landscape that’s wounded.

Chris Hall: [00:42:39] This place had roundup resistance. They end up spraying twice to get a result. So now there’s got to be a better way.

Narrator: [00:42:48] This is the regenerative farming movement. A holistic approach that works with Mother Nature and not against her.

David Marsh: [00:42:56] We thought our business was the livestock. We didn’t realise that’s actually the grass that’s your business.

Charlie Arnott: [00:43:03] Can I have more of that GMO corn and that lettuce sprayed with lee matt that bloody caterpillar killer was great. Can I say more of that? No one is saying that. They’re going into shops and grocery stores, and they’re saying, “Can I have more of that organic corn?”.

Fabien Fabbro and Jodie Viccars: [00:43:19] Everything that you do on a farm starts right there at your feet. I love looking at the soil. There’s a bit of a little bug there.

David Marsh: [00:43:27] But the people say it’s so intensive. But you check the water today, and then a couple of days later, you open the gate and let the cattle into the next paddock. I mean, it’s so blindingly simple.

Charlie Massy: [00:43:38] You’re disempowered, big boys, that they’re not being able to flog the chemical in the fertiliser because you’re making your own worm juice, your own compost extra. It’s the so-called peasants taking on the world’ and starting to win.

Chris Hall: [00:43:52] I mean, with regenerative agriculture, we are contributing to helping the planet to store carbon. And if we can start taking carbon out of the atmosphere and putting it back to where it belongs, in plants and in the soil. That’s massive.

Narrator: [00:44:06] It offers some of the best solutions for reinvigorating our landscape, our people, and our planet.

Fabien Fabbro and Jodie Viccars: [00:44:14] All we’re doing is enabling and helping nature to do what it’s done for millennia.

Chris Hall: [00:44:19] The typical regendive shot is down the fence line with the neighbours on one side and your own place on the other side. Cattle-like leaning over the fence and chewing on my side of the fence.

Narrator: [00:44:32] Regenerative farming isn’t a new idea, but its time has surely come.

Laura Dalrymple: [00:44:37] There are people doing extraordinary things and transforming landscapes and transforming relationships and transforming communities. It’s happening now, and we can all participate in that.

Ella Bancroft: [00:44:49] I don’t know if it’s actually the farmer’s responsibility. I think it’s actually a responsibility for consumers to think, “Okay, how do we start supporting our farmers?” And the way we do that is with money.

Voice: [00:45:01] We’ve eliminated 80% of the costs what we used to use.

David Marsh: [00:45:04] It’s good for the human psyche not to feel beholden to others like the bank.

Narrator: [00:45:11] Farmer’s Footprint is a platform giving voice to the growing community of Australian caretakers who want to share their knowledge, learn from the past and create a future where we not only survive but thrive.

Voice: [00:45:25] Today, there’s enough knowledge and support that you can transform your system and your place without losing money.

Charlie Massy: [00:45:35] Most of the regenerative farmers I know I find the journey so exciting. They’re not on about saying we’re better than Joe Beau.

Voice: [00:45:42] We’re not better. We’re just being different, but we are not better.

Voice: [00:45:48] If I go to a supermarket, that’s not perfect. If I see potatoes like this. This is perfect for me.

Voice: [00:45:56] Food from a region farm is always going to taste so much more delicious because it’s just got so much more abundance and life to it.

Bruce Pascoe: [00:46:05] People say, “Oh, you want to turn Australia over to your way of farming?” “No, I don’t. I want farmers in trouble financially to look at an alternative.

Charlie Massy: [00:46:16] This is the biggest crisis that’s ever confronted our species. We have some of the best solutions. Let’s bloody get on it. Simple as that.

Narrator: [00:46:26] If not us, then who? If not now, then when? We are Farmer’s Footprint. The journey has begun.

This podcast provides general information and discussion about medicine, health, and related subjects. This content is not intended and should not be construed as medical advice or as a substitute for care by a qualified medical practitioner. If you or any other person has a medical concern, he or she should consult with an appropriately qualified medical practitioner. Guests who speak in this podcast express their own opinions, experiences, and conclusions.