The Joys and Challenges of Perennial Agriculture
Amy Glattly of Prairie Ramblings is teaming up with Kansas Rural Center to host a series of podcasts interviewing farmers and their soil health practices. In this episode, Charlotte from KRC joins in to interview Donna Pearson-McClish from Common Ground Producers and Growers.
Episode Timeline:
00:00 - What is Mercedes relationship with farming?
02:20 Land Institute and work with Perennial Grains
03:30 What Regenerative Practices have you implemented on your farm?
08:30 Framing regenerative practices with climate solutions
10:00 What makes Mercedes want to be involved in agriculture
16:00 Kernza Poster, look at these roots.
18:00 Annual Monocrops and Insurance
19:00 Farm Bill
22:40 What made you want to farm in this particular way?
24:00 Intellectual Hootenanny
27:00 What has been the biggest barrier to regenerative and perennial agriculture.
29:00 Funding and Supply Chains
33:00 Plant Domestication
35:30 What setbacks has Mercedes experienced in regenerative and perennial agriculture
38:00 How should agriculture and food systems change in the next decade?
42:30 What advice does Mercedes have for farmers and ranchers interested in these practices.
46:00 Community Resilience Hub - Kansas Wesleyan
49:00 Soil is the Cradle of Life, the Highest Thing