Podcasts

There used to be one way to do good conservation: Save a species and protect some land and water… but as we are in the midst of a pandemic, a climate crisis, and we are seeing an increase in chronic disease, conservation has, not surprisingly, shifted and it has never been more important to bring back economic success and life to our lands and our farms. So, what is conservation really? Why has this been such a hard subject to speak on? The Spokane Conservation District out of Spokane, Washington will speak directly to growers, managers, and consumers in the Pacific Northwest region to get to the root of why we need to connect economic incentives of consumers – to growers – to drive full system regeneration.

"We could think of no better guest today than Dr. Jonathan Lundgren, a leader in the Regenerative Agriculture movement that is slowly beginning to be noticed.
His work with soil microbiomes and overall soil regeneration, the restoration of cover crops and plant diversity creating a living roof, the value of compost and the marriage, again, of crops and animals is making betters soils, better crops, better farmers and beginning to produce healthier honey bees."

In this episode of the No-Till Farmer Influencers & Innovators podcast, brought to you by Topcon Agriculture, No-Till Farmer editor Frank Lester talks with Jonathan Lundgren, founder of Blue Dasher Farm and the Ecdysis Foundation

In this episode, Jeff and Kim talk with Jon about his work, the importance of the soil and how the solution to the problems we are facing with honey bees is literally, under our feet!

"I'm an entomologist by training - and we found that the insecticide-treated conventional corn fields had 10 times more insect pests than the regenerative fields that had never seen insecticide use. That's not supposed to happen."

After 11 years at the USDA, responsible for his own lab and a good sized staff, the career of this well-regarded scientist and author began to fall apart when he published research that cautioned against the use of pesticides approved by the federal agency. How deep into the pockets of the USDA that big business reached, and to what extent science is compromised is surprising hear about.

In this episode, we discuss how diversity in insect populations decreases pest problems, why the term 'pesticide safety" in meaningless, and the ecological implications and risk assessment of pesticides.

Did you know that most insects are “good” and that they have a critical role to play in our national food security and good nutrition? Lundgren discusses his insightful understanding of insects, and how pesticides pose harm to unintended species, including soil microorganisms, pollinators, aquatic life and humans. Lundgren, a Presidential award-winning scientist, explains how his research questions on neonicotinoid pesticides became problematic at the USDA’s agricultural research lab, and why he left his USDA job to start an independent research farm.