A Mind Map Wrap: Closing the day at the Regenerating Food Systems conference

Last week’s episode and bonus extra featured the first panel conversation and my MC's introduction, respectively, to the Regenerating Food Systems conference hosted by RegenWA last month at Perth Stadium. Today, a final brief instalment from that event – a summary of all that happened during day one. With a little experiment. 

I was relieved and grateful when a bunch of people came up to me afterwards to say how much they appreciated that experiment. One person I respect even asked if they could access a recording of it. Well, there was a recording, and you’re listening to a podcaster of course, so maybe it could be podcast fodder. Could be a good way to share a taste of what went down with you too. It sure was an outstanding day. 

So I gave it a listen back (thanks to RegenWA), and on balance, it got the green light. As always, you’ll let me know if it shouldn’t have. But here it is. My ten-minute close to day one of the Regenerating Food Systems conference.

Here’s the conference program if you feel like tracing who I’m referencing throughout.

For more from both days, you can read RegenWA’s written debrief, standby for their release of other recordings, and of course listen to last week’s episodes.

Chapter markers & transcript.

Recorded 17 September 2025.

Title image by Alex Hawkins from Simple Ben Stories. 

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Music:

Beat Blitz by Sunny Fruit (sourced from Artlist).

Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.

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Episode Transcript

AJ (00:08):
G'day, Anthony James here for The RegenNarration, your
ad-free, freely availablelistener-supported podcast,
exploring how people areregenerating the systems and
stories we live by.
Last week's episode and bonusextra featured the first panel
conversation and my MC'sintroduction, respectively, to
the Regenerating Food SystemsConference hosted by Regen WA

(00:30):
last month at Perth Stadium.
Today, a final brief instalmentfrom that event.
Part of my charge as MC wasalso to decide how best to wrap
up all that had happened at theend of day one.
So I'm there thinking tomyself, I've got options.
I could just thank everyone andhead off to the sundowner.
Tempting.

(00:50):
Easy.
But sometimes it could add somevalue to retrace the day in
some way.
Those who've listened to thispodcast for a while would know I
wouldn't do this in a linearway, I'd sooner send us all of
that sundowner.
So I'm sitting in my seat asthe last session played out,
looking at the mind mapping I'dbeen sketching, wondering if

(01:11):
people would enjoy hearing meshare some of that to close the
day.
On a knife's edge about it, Itook a punt they would and
headed up to see how it'd comeout.
I was relieved and gratefulwhen a bunch of people came up
to me afterwards to say how muchthey appreciated it.
One person I respect even askedif they could access a
recording of it.

(01:31):
Thanks, Katie Stubley.
Well, there was a recording,and you're listening to a
podcaster after all, so maybe itcould be podcast fodder.
Could be a good way to share ataste of what went down with you
too.
It sure was an outstanding day.
So I gave it a listen, thanksto Regen WA, and on balance, it
got the green light.

(01:51):
As always, you'll let me knowif it shouldn't have.
But here it is, my 10-minuteclose to day one of the
Regenerating Food SystemsConference.
Heads up, you're gonna hearnames, but just first names.
By then we'd settled right in.
So I've linked the conferenceprogram in the show notes in
case you'd like to reference whoI'm talking about.
Oh and in case you'rewondering, we did something

(02:13):
entirely different to end daytwo and the conference as a
whole, an exercise with everyonein the room.
For more on both days, you canread Regen WA's written debrief,
stand by for their release ofother recordings, and of course,
listen to last week's episodes.
All links in the show notes.
One final note, there are a fewaudio yips in the first

(02:35):
minutes, but that evens out.
So let's head back to PerthStadium.
Now, I'll take Heidi's lead.
I've been mind mapping a bit asthe day's gone on.
So I'm gonna prattle off a bit,not necessarily attempt a
coherent narrative and retracethe day a little bit.
So we started the day with thegovernor here and the West

(02:57):
Australians of the year.
And I just want to make mentionof that again because that's
extraordinary.
Certainly, when I think back tosix years ago here, that's
extraordinary to think.
Evidence of shift enough insome ways, and certainly then
I'm reminded of the dialshifting fast, you know, for all
the conversations about how toshift it faster, that that's

(03:18):
actually in motion.
So, how does that inform how weapproach what goes from here?
And I think that touches rightback on where that ended off.
I might come back to that.
Because it was fascinating forme to see the thread throughout,
which was obviously noaccident, there was a session
around it, of the call forevidence.
And I respected the governorsort of landing that early from
his frame as a cop, that thatwould be true.

(03:38):
It makes perfect sense.
But then to have this flood ofevidence follow him.
And so, in some respects, it'salready there, and I hear it
again when it's said that thecompanies are already on to it,
they're not waiting for anymore, they're jumping in now,
they see the writing on thewall.
We know the consumer demand,the Haggerty's will say

(03:59):
consumers aren't the problem, wejust gotta get it there.
We might come back to that too.
But of course, that doesn'tdiscount developing more
evidence of all kinds, and Ithink about then, yes, natural
capital, the microbiome, the raygun, nutrient density, of
course, and the treaty.
I think about, in addition tothat, connection and story as

(04:23):
evidence, as knowledge.
And I take I take a bit ofRonnie's lead too when he says
to see things more whole.
That was a key in processes ofcoming together.
You didn't say these words,Ronnie, but it reminds me of
theories around intrinsic valuesthat we all respond to that.
Humans by and large respond towhat matters at that deep level.

(04:47):
You know, talked about kidsfront and centre, that actually
it can be a trap to try andreach people on money or status.
Extrinsic values.
So context to evidence seemsimportant.
Spirit, we heard aboutobservation, we heard about love
and consciousness andrelationship and trust and gut.
I'm reminded of Oral's phrase,which he didn't use here, and I

(05:10):
almost pulled it out in thepanel, but he said it as much.
But I'll say it here thatbiodiversity is the
manifestation of spirit.
And I think about all that andhow it feeds health in the
broader terms that had beenmentioned a lot today.
And I was thinking about thoseoutcomes then and heard so much
reflected back, the outcomesalong those lines, and that the

(05:34):
outcomes reflect back on thetrust and develop the trust,
that that's where we cantranscend a lot of our
differences.
I think about language, whichwe heard a lot about today, but
it hit me at one stage.
We heard ancient language atthe top today.
And I thought about the contextthat brings to our talk about

(05:54):
regenerative.
It seems so trivial to botherabout it in the context of
40,000 years of ancient languagethat evolved with this
landscape.
I think about Joel suggestingthat there'll be another term in
six years that people aregetting hung up about.
And it might bridge regen andconventional a bit more, even.

(06:15):
So let's just keep going.
I think about Dan, it's notwhat you call yourself.
I think about Heidi's poeticscribing and reframing language
and story and communicationitself.
And how when Heidi said we'renot farmers, but we've been
connected to country for 40,000years, feeding ourselves, etc.

(06:36):
So it's not what you callyourself.
Communities, we heard a lotabout.
Live like microbes, seems to bethe message, no?
Organize like the microbiome,I've heard many a time over the
last eight years, I could tellyou.
No surprises considering howmuch of a proportion of this
thing in front of you you seethat is bacteria and so forth.

(06:57):
We are.
I mean, what did you say,Craig?
Up to 99.9% of the of existenceis microbial community.
And how many times did I hear,and from Walter at the top
again, I sort of take the leadfrom that it's together or not
at all that we do this stuff?
And in that sense, very deeply,but together we can.

(07:18):
The word, Liz, I think youtrotted it out late.
It's an invitation, and I feltlike that slotted right in
there.
And for that matter, back toRonnie, and and I guess so many
voices I hear, it's farmer-led,it's soil up, and it's
farmer-led in that sense, andlike the process in Collie in a
way, including acrossdifference, as we continue to

(07:39):
hear.
And part of how we extendourselves, perhaps, questions
you were raising, Ronnie.
I think about livelihood andeconomies for this.
And then hearing Terry speak,again, just reminded me, having
heard him speak over the years,of family.
And so I'll say communityagain, in all that.
That sure, we might find waysto get paid more and should, for

(08:02):
nutrient density, which may bethen equating with getting paid
properly for producing goodfood, as Terry also said.
And then perhaps we don't evenneed so much of the other stuff
that Terry talked about asbeing a s a result of not
getting paid properly for goodfood.
But sure, biodiversity schemes,carbon, etc.
Lance actually um suggestedbefore the conference, akin to

(08:27):
uh you know, would-be miningrehabilitation fees paid by
people who are extracting,industries extracting, where
mine rehab basically doesn'thappen.
I think I can I'll put that outthere anyway.
Basically doesn't happen.
I remember David Pollocktalking about why don't we put
the money that's supposed to gointo mine rehab that doesn't
happen anyway, and apply it tovastly bigger landscape areas

(08:50):
through work that you guys do.
How would that be?
And then importantly, it's notjust financial return, huh?
As we heard from the commonland folk, but oral rings loud
in my mind.
You get paid in life in so manyways.
And I need not add to how heput it, and Heidi echoed it
really.
To get away from, I mean whenyou think about it, how crazy it

(09:12):
is that we commoditized food,that we treated it like iron
ore, let alone land itself.
So there's that ownershiptenure conversation, which we
must have more of.
Okay, to round out, I do thinkabout yield.
So Dan says that he managed toincrease yield with nutrient
density.
Great.
If it all plays out like that,awesome.

(09:33):
But Heidi, I'm so glad you wentback to that waste issue that
Hannabeth raised early.
It's a screaming howler of animmoral aspect of something that
largely flies under the radarand is so central to everything
we're talking about on a foodsecurity and caring for land
level.
Plus the resilience factor.
If the Haggertys were here,they'd be talking about how when

(09:55):
they got 84 mil of rain in thenorthern wheat belt a couple of
years ago, they still got ayield that wasn't markedly
lower.
It is remarkable.
So, sure, in a good rain yearlike this, the NPK crops might
torch them, but not by muchthese days.
But when the bottom drops out,they're still there.

(10:15):
And that classic farmer, mentalhealth suicide stress thing
just doesn't need to be thatway.
I think about penultimately,access to market was mentioned,
and in a risk frame too.
I think about so much of what Ihear of and the Valley of
Death, the transition thing.

(10:36):
Ian Haggerty will tell us, hetold us at Government House,
geez, was that last night?
No, the night before.
He said, to think about how wecan get more farmers farming
like this is a bit cart beforehorse now.
We need the new systems thatenable more farmers to get to
market by farming like this.
And in a different way, ofcourse, that's not
commoditizing, but that doeshelp you through the valley of

(10:59):
death, maybe even eradicates it.
I've heard from some farmersthat's their experience.
They didn't experience thevalley of death when they had
those opportunities.
So what might that look like?
And finally, the new knowledgesystem that Heidi mentioned.
It echoed what I spoke atlength about with a couple of
people a while back when a bookcalled Songlines, The Power and

(11:22):
the Promise came out.
The first book in the firstknowledges series.
Oh, it's over there, it's atthe bookstore?
There you go.
I highly recommend it.
And essentially their entirethesis bringing together what
was termed the most powerfulknowledge system ever, with of
course, this modern powerfulknowledge system.
Who can deny, for all the goodand bad, the power of the

(11:45):
Western knowledge system?
What if we brought themtogether?
It was about transcending thatto indeed a new knowledge
system.
Which then brings us fullcircle, no?
To Walter, doing that together.
It's together or not at all,but wow, what if we did it
together?
Collective action.
And then that was echoed timeand again.
Listening, like deeplylistening, gratitude mindset,

(12:06):
scaling deep.
And for what it's worth, therewas a guest on a podcast who I
actually then met again in NewMexico not long ago, who works
in this stuff too, bringingpeople together in fractious,
often brought in last resort,right?
People coming to arms even overin the States.
Go slow to go fast.
And that was an evidence-basedphrase.

(12:28):
One big thanks once again.
Please give yourselves a hugehand.
It was a great day.
Have a wonderful evening.