Sustainability, Climate Change, Renewable Energy, Politics, Activism, Biodiversity, Carbon Footprint, Wildlife, Regenerative Agriculture, Circular Economy, Extinction, Net-Zero · One Planet Podcast · Mia Funk

SOS: Save Our Soils: How regenerative food & farming will save your health & the planet w/ LOUIS DE JAEGER

·1 hr 3 min·4 clips

He says one in every three people has a chronic disease, and one in every four takes antidepressants or sleeping pills.

De Jaeger starts from first principles: soil did not arrive with the planet, and it had to be made over immense stretches of time. Microorganisms turned rock into soil, and that slow work made trees and crops possible. He says modern agriculture is spending that inheritance too fast. In his view, the world is depleting soils at a dangerous pace. He cites a prediction that, in less than 25 years, 90 percent of soils could be degraded. The warning is not abstract for him. He says human beings can destroy in years what nature took millennia to build. He also argues that nature can regenerate quickly when conditions allow. If people help that healing along, recovery can speed up. The conversation places his book, SOS Save Our Soil, inside that larger argument about food, health, and the planet, and treats each meal as a vote for either destruction or renewal. The episode then moves into regenerative agriculture and food forest practice. He explains that these systems are not locked to one climate or one region. He points to a farm in Brazil called Fazenda da Toca as an example of agroforestry working in practice. He says roughly 50 hectares there are being used for that system within a much larger farm footprint. He argues that the model can scale to tens of thousands of hectares and even millions without breaking the economics. A major part of his case is financial. Regenerative organic farming can reduce fertilizer and pesticide use, and lower inputs can mean lower costs for farmers. He gives the example of a farmer saving enough money to buy a Mercedes-Benz, or now an electric Mercedes, each year because the farm uses fewer chemicals and less plowing. Throughout, the episode stays focused on the overlap of soil, climate, farming, nature, and the practical choices that shape the next meal and the next landscape.

As heard by us

A clear case for treating soil as living infrastructure.

Louis de Jaeger treats soil as the part of food systems people usually miss. He moves from the planet's long formation to regenerative organic farming and food forests, and the Brazil case at Fazenda da Toca gives the argument some weight.

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Why you'd press play

For when you want soil under your feet to explain how a planet gets repaired.

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