A conversation with Anthony James, host of The RegenNarration podcast, a Prime Ministerial award winner for service to the international community and Honorary Research Fellow at UWA. He has had many legends at his microphone and joins us to share what he’s learned, what he sees, and what he thinks is coming next in regenerative food and agriculture.

The pioneers who spent decades developing innovative approaches to land stewardship won’t be around forever, but they’re actively passing their hard-earned wisdom to a new generation eager to accelerate positive change. Anthony shares how his own journey from business student to regeneration advocate parallels the transformative experiences many have when connecting deeply with the land.

We dive deep in issues of land access and ownership, how health concerns provide a universal entry point for engagement with regenerative principles, as people experience the immediate benefits of nutrient-dense food grown in living soil. Finally, we explore how finding ways to bring communities together, resolve conflicts, and see each other’s humanity may be the essential ingredient in catalyzing the regenerative transformation our world urgently needs.

A LONG CONVERSATION WITH ONE OF THE STORYTELLING LEADERS IN THE REGEN SPACE

Anthony reflects on his journey into regenerative storytelling, emphasizing the importance of amplifying marginalized voices and bridging divides through narrative.

“It’s ultimately trying to understand how the human presence in the world functions well, functions together well in kinship with the whole. So it’s not that I neglected agriculture to that point and food. But it came into stark, like for me, and did change me when I started to get out to their farms and stations and ranches rather than expecting them to come to the cities. And that’s when the podcast really grew legs“.  Anthony James

“The podcast comes along because, I basically, through various roles in university, heading up briefly a community-based graduate school, trying to broach these things. But I had a focus, like an old mentor of mine, to be very public with this stuff. So, I, for 10 years, ended up running pretty big sort of panel event discussion things, town halls, as we would call them in Australia.” Anthony James

WE HAVE A SMALL WINDOW IN TIME TO LEARN FROM THE REGEN LEGENDS, BUT IT’S CLOSING

Anthony stresses the urgency of learning from pioneers who are aging and the need to support their successors before their knowledge is lost.

“The legends are not going to be around forever. Even a bit tired, it might be fair to say, still charging on, but to the detriment in some ways, it’s time for the rest of us to really turn up and when it is such an incredible opportunity, not just to see those external results, but to feel the internal hum of life or whatever you want to call it. Some people would refer to it as the divine, you could just say it’s purpose, it’s the feeling when you have joined something that actually does make a massive, beautiful impact.’’ Anthony James

THE UNDERFUNDED BUT ESSENTIAL ROLE OF STORYTELLING AND MEDIA

Storytelling has transformative potential, but it lacks financial support, despite its role in shifting mindsets and systems.

“The story piece is vital. If we are going to have different narratives emerge, understandings across some kind of scale, a political constituency ultimately that would back this stuff in more. […] The story piece that is very often now I think recognized as important, narrative shift, listening, sharing, it’s not being backed as much as it could be. ” Anthony James

“I had a brilliant filmmaker on the podcast who ends up winning the short film award at the Santa Film Festival, Joel Caldwell. I had him on because he’d made a film for Patagonia  Outstanding Short Film 20 Minute Thing. We met then he was so turned on by the podcast and, and this particular story of Buffalo Restoration and a particular guy doing it outta Montana that he said, gotta be the next film. I’d love that to be the next film. I wonder if we could get some support for that. And the short of it is to date ‘no”. – Anthony James

OTHER POINTS DISCUSSED

Koen and Anthony also talked about:

• The transformative impact of physically experiencing regeneratively managed land
• Why land access and ownership models need reimagining to enable the next generation of stewards
• The power of building communities

LINKS:

• RegenNarration podcast
• Call of the Reed Warbler by Charles Massy
• #100 Wanted Land Doctors Rehydrating landscapes, reversing desertification & rebuilding the wealth of country, with Chris Henggeler – RegenNarration podcast
• Sustainable Table – Australia

LINKED INTERVIEWS:

• Chris Henggeler – Standing on the shoulders of giants (Savory, Ingham, Provenza) and managing over 77000 hectares in remote Australia
• Wouter Veer – Trying to fix private land ownership, the root cause of all our issues
• Thomas Rippel, checking in on land ownership, stable coins, pensions for farmers and city folks
• Ian McSweeney and Kristina Villa – You can’t address food security, soil carbon sequestration or climate change without first tackling the crisis of land access
• Judith D Schwartz on why our current economic framework is completely inadequate for regeneration at scale
• Nicole Masters and Abby Rose on how tech can enable an army of creative thinking farmers

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The above references an opinion and is for information and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.