#5 - Jessica Gnad: Building Communities to Help Soil Health

In this episode, we're exploring how to engage farmers, landowners and locals to improve soil health collaboratively. Our guest today - Jessica Gnad is a dedicated soil health advocate with over a decade of experience in the food and farming industries. Jess is the executive director of a new non-profit called Great Plains Regeneration which seeks to regenerate the vast Great Plains via collaboration with farmers, ranchers, and stakeholders and to mimic nature by using regenerative agriculture principles. Jess used to serve as an executive board member for Kansas State University Research and Extension. She also directs high impact events like Soil Health U, advises consulting company Soil Regen and is a speaker and soil advocate for Kiss the Ground.Jess describes herself as a row crop farmer and an avid gardener. She's passionate about growing her own fruits and vegetables following regenerative practices.Tune in to hear the soil health discussion between Rob and Jess. Follow Jessica Gnad on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicagnad/Learn more about Great Plains Regeneration: https://greatplainsregen.org/Learn more about Kiss the Ground: https://kisstheground.com/

In this episode, we're discussing the role of microbe communities in soil. How microbes can be profiled to better understand what is happening underground, how to nurture and retain microbes and how they impact plant growth. We're also gonna talk about carbon storage in the soil and the main factors to encourage healthy soil. Our guest is Adrián Ferrero, CEO at Biome Makers.Biome Makers was founded in Silicon Valley in 2015 and it's a global agtech company providing microbiome insights to empower smart agriculture. The company has developed a patented technology, integrating DNA Sequencing and ecological computing technologies using one of the more complex biomarkers: the soil microbiome. Today, Biome Makers have two headquarters - one in the US and one in Spain, 700 farmers, 60 ag-input manufacturers and 100 research institutions and labs in more than 35 countries benefitting from Biome Makers’ analytical tools - BeCrop® and Gheom®.Tune in to hear the soil health discussion between Rob and Adrian.You can follow Adrian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrian-ferrero-97a0153/Learn more about Biome Makers: https://biomemakers.com/

In this episode, we have two brilliant guests - Robin Ross and Annalisa Williams from Agnexus. Agnexus is a technical and precision market strategy development company for agri and agritech businesses.Robin is a professional agronomist who can fill both the “scientist”and “sales strategist” roles and has over 20 years of experience developing market-leading product offerings in the agribusiness industry. Prior to AgNexus Robin Ross oversaw all US-based R&D programs on row crops, vegetables, turf, and horticulture with Acadian Plant Health.Annalisa is into compellingly communicating the value of unique technologies to a diverse grower community. Prior to co-founding AgNexus Consulting, Annalisa worked for Acadian Plant Health building and managing their speciality crop corporate grower portfolio.Tune in and listen to this fascinating discussion!Robin Ross LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robin-ross/Annalisa Williams LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annalisamariewilliams/Check out Agnexus Consulting: https://www.agnexusconsulting.com/

In this episode, we have two incredible guests - Dr Elaine Ingham and Daniel Tyrkiel. Dr Ingham uncovered the Soil Food Web nearly 4 decades ago and has been pioneering research about Soil Food Web ever since. Widely recognised as the world’s foremost soil biologist, she’s passionate about empowering ordinary people to bring the soils in their communities back to life. Dr Elaine’s Soil Food Web Approach has been used to successfully restore the ecological functions of soils on more than five million acres of farmland all over the world. Our other guest, Daniel is the director of T.I. Soil Ecology Laboratory in charge of the commercialisation of a soil food web inoculum for use in large scale agriculture. The inspiration for his work and interest in soil health came from Dr Ingham. Tune in and listen to this fascinating discussion.Dr Ingham's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elaine-ingham-7223221b9/Dr Ingham's Soil Food Web  School: https://www.soilfoodweb.com/Daniel Tyrkiel LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-tyrkiel-2b50b338/

Welcome to the first episode of the Soil Health Hub Podcast! We're delighted to have Jake Freestone as our very first guest.  Jake is the farm manager for Overbury Enterprises, a LEAF accredited farmer and a Nuffield Scholar. In 2014, Jake won  Progressive Farmer of the Year by the Farm Business Awards and Soil Farmer of the Year 2020 by the Farm Carbon Toolkit. The discussion focuses on real-life examples and practical, long-term solutions to improving soil health. Tune in to find out more! #soilhealth