Del Ficke and Graham Christensen own farms that advocate a practice called Regenerative Agriculture. This practice sequesters a massive portion of CO2 in the soil and even in forests. Del is the owner of Ficke Cattle Company, a family run farm and livestock operation with a history dating back to 1860. Graham is the Founder of GC Resolve, an environmental consulting company based in Nebraska that specializes in grassroots community development, education, and mobilization.
Del and Graham join me today to discuss the practice of Regenerative Agriculture and what they have done to implement it in their farms. They share how they learned about regenerative practices and their success stories and explain why this type of practice is based on what’s already been done before, but long forgotten due to mass production. They also share examples of how regenerative ag can benefit farmers financially.
“We don't need to get bigger; we just need to get smarter on this and work with nature.” - Del Ficke
This Week on The Future of Agriculture Podcast:
- How they began working in the ag industry.
- Their farms before and after they embarked on their journey to regenerative ag.
- How they're able to earn more despite having smaller farms.
- The first step in moving towards regenerative ag.
- Common concerns towards regenerative agriculture.
- How they trained their banker to be comfortable with the regenerative agriculture approach.
- How regenerative practices revitalize rural communities.
Resources Mentioned:
Del Ficke and Graham Christensen’s Key Takeaways:
- It's helpful when you have other farms doing regenerative ag successfully. It makes you realize this type of farming does work.
- You can try to run a farm at 90% efficiency, but there's always something you can't eliminate.
Connect with Del Ficke:
Connect with Graham Christensen:
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