Save our Soils: Regenerative Farming with Louis De Jaeger

The clock is ticking as we face an imminent agricultural crisis. It is likely that we only have around sixty global harvests left until the world's top soils are depleted. Regenerative agriculture offers many potential and practical solutions toward a more sustainable relationship between food production and environmental stewardship. However, sustainable farming is a broad church with many different and sometimes contradictory methodologies, from mob cattle grazing to veganic farming practices to precision fermentation. Which ones do we choose? Louis De Jaeger, author of “SOS: Save Our Soils”, asked this question as he travelled the world to explore the whole gamut of regenerative farms and land management practices. Louis’ holistic, non-judgemental and open-minded approach is very refreshing. As far as we’re aware, he is the only person who has managed to endorse veganic farming while also enjoying an enthusiastic introduction to his book by Allan Savory, figurehead of the holistic grazing movement. Louis concludes that all regenerative farming methods have their place, depending on context, so long as the soil is kept healthy with its precious microbiome intact. Louis de Jaeger is a Belgian based eco-entrepreneur, landscape consultant, speaker and author. You can find out more at his WEBSITE (https://louisdj.com/en/). “SOS: Save Our Soils”, launched in June 2025, is an impressive blend of research told through a conversational, easy-to-read style which makes it an essential addition to the growing wealth of regenerative literature. To purchase your own copy of SOS, visit HERE. (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FF3R1NKK) Industrial agriculture is a top global driver of environmental change. A post-growth future requires us to completely reimagine how we approach agriculture, not only with regard to methodology, but also to the size and scale of our food growing enterprises. Following the interview with Louis, co-hosts Mark Allen and Michael Bayliss engage in a ‘panel discussion’ where Louis’ book and interview are discussed (along with the broader regenerative movement) from a post-growth perspective. We encourage you to stick around to the end of the interview. Many thanks to West Australian permaculture band ‘Formidable Vegetable’ for the inclusion of their song ‘Earthworm Bill.’ You can find out more about Formidable Vegetable at their Bandcamp page HERE (https://formidablevegetable.bandcamp.com/album/micro-biome). Michael recently made a short video on a Johnson Su method composting workshop which also includes this song. It may be watched HERE (https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19YEcXSJAP/). We highly recommend watching the debate between George Monbiot (precision fermentation advocate) and Allan Savory HERE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FihlOvsVkY&t=1382s). If you would like to listen to more episodes on the theme of regenerative agriculture, you may enjoy PGAP’s interview with Charles Massy HERE (https://pgap.fireside.fm/fenner). We also recommend several episodes on permaculture, including special guests David Holmgren HERE (https://pgap.fireside.fm/holmgren) or Shane Simonsen on Zero Input Agriculture HERE (https://pgap.fireside.fm/zeroinput). In other news, we are pleased to share an online trophy awarded to us by Million Podcasts (https://www.millionpodcasts.com/), an aggregate podcast site. PGAP sits in the top 50 of global ‘Sustainable Living’ podcasts, which is very encouraging. This is made possible by the PGAP community and word of mouth. Please consider sharing this and other episodes of PGAP with your networks. Alternatively, you can rate and review us on Apple Podcast (https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/post-growth-australia-podcast/id1522194099)or your favourite podcast platform. You can find out more about co-hosts Mark Allen HERE (https://holisticactivism.net/) and Michael Bayliss HERE (https://michaelbayliss.org/) Time stamp - Introduction with Mark Allen and Michael Bayliss 00:00:00 to 00:05:28 Interview P1 with Louis De Jaeger 00:05:43 to 00:35:21 Intermission + 'Earthworn Bill' from 'Formidable Vegetable' 00:35:38 to 00:38:20 Interview P2 with Louis De Jaeger 00:38:20 to 00:53:42 Panel Discussion and Outro with Mark Allen and Michael Bayliss 00:53:57 to 01:07:30 Special Guest: Louis De Jaeger.