A podcast
about land, community, and connection to place.
There is a lot of doom and gloom these days from climate change, deepening inequalities, and a profound crisis of meaning felt by many of us. Yet in the media and from our politicians we tend to hear that we need to do more of the same - more tech, bigger markets, faster growth .
We think that there are answers that might be found elsewhere. Join hosts Emma Ractliffe and Austin Unruh, as they chat with farmers, philosophers, and entrepreneurs reimagining our relationship to the land - and to each other - to showcase real hope and solutions for the future.
Listen on –
Emma Ractliffe
Emma Ractliffe is an entrepreneur, activist and farming enthusiast based in New York and the Hudson Valley. Born and raised in France where her dad is a biodynamic vegetable farmer, she has always had a keen interest in agriculture and ranching. She spent the the early years of her professional career working with smallholder farmers in India and Egypt where she ran an organic food distribution company. Since coming back to the United States, Emma has been exploring the question of how we can redesign finance to create a better food system. This led her on a journey to visit farmers and ranchers across the United States practicing regenerative agriculture, working in an advisory capacity to both farmers and investors, and completing her MBA from Stanford University. Disillusioned with the emphasis on tech and market solutions that she saw in Silicon Valley, Emma believes that ecology, bioregionalism and a reconnection to place, holds the answers to our most pressing issues. Emma is currently working on developing a community investment model to support organic farmers seeking capital to purchase farmland while recovering common ownership over farmland in the United States.
Austin Unruh
Austin Unruh is the founder and CEO of Trees For Graziers, a company helping farmers in Pennsylvania and beyond take their grazing to new heights using silvopasture. It’s his goal to make silvopasture as easy and cost effective as possible for farmers, which is why TFG offers everything from planning and funding acquisition to planting and aftercare, while also growing silvo-specific nursery stock.
When not thinking about silvopasture, Austin’s favorite activity is picking all manner of tree crops with his young family.
Learn more at treesforgraziers.com
Agrarian Futures is produced and scored by Alexandre Miller of You Should Have a Podcast.