182. Liz Carlisle with Latrice Tatsey and Hillel Echo-Hawk: Climate, Justice, and the Deep Roots of Regenerative Farming

<p><strong>There’s a powerful movement happening in farming today, and it’s not a movement focused on flashy technology or producing food faster or at larger scales.</strong> Instead, it’s a movement that centers on farmers reconnecting with their roots, reviving their ancestors’ methods of growing food, healing their communities, and ultimately fighting climate change.</p> <p><a href= "https://townhallseattle.org/event/liz-carlisle-with-latrice-tatsey-and-hillel-echo-hawk/"> In her new book, <em>Healing Grounds</em>, Liz Carlisle</a> shared the stories of Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and Asian American farmers who are restoring native prairies, nurturing beneficial fungi, and enriching soil health to feed their communities and revitalize cultural ties to the land. One woman learned her tribe’s history to help bring back the buffalo. Another preserved forest that was purchased by her great-great-uncle, who was among the first wave of African Americans to buy land. Others have rejected monoculture to grow corn, beans, and squash the way farmers in Mexico have done for centuries. Through techniques long suppressed by the industrial food system, they steadily stitch ecosystems back together and repair the natural carbon cycle. This is true regenerative agriculture, Carlisle explained – not merely a set of technical tricks for storing CO2 in the ground, but a holistic approach that values diversity in plants and people.</p> <p>But this kind of regenerative farming doesn’t come easily – our nation’s agricultural history is marked by discrimination and displacement. Restoration, repair, and healing can only come from dismantling the power structures that have blocked many farmers of color from owning land or building wealth. Though the task is immense, it holds great promise and hope: that by coming together to restore farmlands, we can not only heal our planet, we can heal our communities and ourselves.</p> <p><strong>Liz Carlisle</strong> is an Assistant Professor in the Environmental Studies Program at UC Santa Barbar