Regenerative by Design

Joni and John talks about Millets and their potential impact on water conservation and the grain industry as a whole.

Show Notes

John Manuel has been working in the commodity grain market for decades and sits to talk with Joni about the over status of the industry.

How does grain transportation and inflation in general impact food costs and food purchase patterns.

The benefits of proso-millet crops on water usage and natural resources.

“The best thing you can do for water conservation is foods that use less of it to grow.”

How the industry is working on improving crop yield to benefit the farmer so it makes the growing of millet a profitable venture for farmers.

For animal feed crops, an egg from a millet fed chicken will require about 12 to 18 gallons less water than a corn fed chicken. Put another way, if chicken farms switched to millet feed, they could decrease water usage equivalent to 2% of the Missouri River fresh water source every year.

Talked about the hardiness of the millet crop when it comes to environmental extremes.

The largest impact will come from consumers when they communicate desires with the grocery stores they shop.  Make personal choices about what you eat and those actions will speak volumes.

To learn more about John and Dryland Genetics, please visit https://www.drylandgenetics.com.

What is Regenerative by Design?

Regenerative by Design Podcast where we get to the root of health, climate, economics and food.  Host, Joni Kindwall-Moore, is an RN, an Ethnobotanist and the founder of Snacktivist Foods. Join us on this journey as we explore the ideas, stories and personalities behind the regenerative food system movement including climate change, human health, economics and food as well as other deeply interconnected topics. 

In this podcast, we will be “going there” and leaning into topics that might make you squirm… just a little.  We want to challenge ourselves to think outside of the box and to discover the deeper side of our world’s problems so that we can better understand how to solve them. 

We aim to unpack some of the most dynamic issues of our day with some of the most inspiring minds who are pushing the boundaries of our current norms and thinking paradigms. 

We have seen incredibly disruptive events in the past few years like pandemics, climate events, disasters and war. These often trigger system changes that are reactionary and have short term gains. When these are practiced over the long term, they often have a degenerative effect on health and the environment.

Regenerative design thinking is the opposite, and is an intentional, premeditated process that involves a high level of observation, analysis, creativity, and looking beyond reductionistic principles while embracing systems thinking and additionality to create regenerative solutions.

Regenerative agriculture has become a powerful force for positive transformation and hope in todays world. And no discussion about agriculture is complete without a conversation about food. 

Food is the connection between people and the planet so grab a cup of coffee or your favorite running shoes and get ready to take a mental and philosophical leap into the future of food and our planet.