Deep Seed - Regenerative Agriculture

Astrid Vargas has spent her life helping bring endangered species back from the brink of extinction, from the black-footed ferret in North America to the Iberian lynx in Spain.

But over the years, her focus expanded from saving individual species to something much bigger: restoring entire ecosystems and landscapes.

In this episode, we follow that remarkable journey. We explore the silent decline of butterflies and insects, the extraordinary recovery of the Iberian lynx, what happens when predators return to an ecosystem, and why restoring nature ultimately means working with the people who live within it.

Astrid also shares the story of AlVelAl, a pioneering landscape restoration initiative in southern Spain bringing together farmers, conservationists, entrepreneurs and local communities to regenerate a region threatened by desertification.

We talk about rewilding, trophic cascades, regenerative agriculture, the politics of environmentalism, the power of community, and why hope and inspiration may be just as important to restoration as ecology itself.

At its heart, this is a conversation about something surprisingly hopeful: nature can come back. And we know more about how to help it recover than we might think.

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In this episode, we explore:

• The extraordinary recovery of the Iberian lynx
• Why top predators can transform entire ecosystems
• Trophic cascades, explained simply
• The silent decline of butterflies, insects and pollinators
• Why conservation must move beyond saving individual species
• Rewilding vs ecological restoration
• How Astrid helped catalyse AlVelAl in southern Spain
• Regenerative agriculture and landscape restoration
• Commonland’s 4 Returns and 3 Zones frameworks
• Why restoration must create livelihoods as well as biodiversity
• The importance of local ownership and community
• How restoration can happen at bioregional scale
• Why hope may be one of conservation’s most important tools

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✨ASTRID VARGAS

Astrid Vargas is a conservation biologist whose career has taken her from endangered-species recovery programmes to large-scale landscape restoration. Her work has included the black-footed ferret in North America and the Iberian lynx in Spain, where she played a major role in the species’ captive-breeding programme.

She later worked with Commonland and helped catalyse AlVelAl, the large-scale landscape restoration initiative in south-eastern Spain that brings together ecological restoration, regenerative agriculture, entrepreneurship and community development.

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🌱 COMMONLAND

This episode was made in partnership with Commonland, an international non-profit working with local partners to restore degraded landscapes around the world.

https://commonland.com/

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🌱 ALVELAL

AlVelAl is a large-scale regeneration initiative in southeastern Spain, bringing farmers, businesses and communities together to restore degraded landscapes through regenerative agriculture, ecosystem restoration and a stronger local economy.

https://alvelal.es/

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What does it actually take to restore nature? Not just on individual farms or through isolated projects, but across entire landscapes?

For more than a decade, ecologist and Commonland founder Willem Ferwerda has been working on exactly that question.

In this episode, Willem takes us inside the thinking behind Commonland and the Four Returns framework: a long-term approach to landscape restoration that brings together ecology, agriculture, communities, business and finance.

We explore why restoring ecosystems requires thinking in decades; why technical knowledge is often not the biggest barrier to change; what Willem learned from decades working in conservation around the world; and why farmers and landowners can become what he beautifully describes as “islands of hope” within degraded landscapes.

We also get into the economics of regeneration: long-term finance, the role of farmers and communities, and why our economies ultimately need to operate within the ecological systems on which they depend.

At its heart, this is a conversation about moving from loss to return: restoring not only biodiversity, soil and water, but livelihoods, communities, purpose and hope. 💚

This episode is part of a special Deep Seed series produced in collaboration with Commonland, exploring what it really takes to restore landscapes at scale.

✨ WILLEM FERWERDA
Ecologist, conservationist and founder of Commonland.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/willem-ferwerda-1540135/

✨ COMMONLAND
A global organisation working with partners around the world to support large-scale, long-term landscape restoration through the Four Returns framework.
https://commonland.com/

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What if humanity already knows how to restore the ecosystems we have degraded?

For more than three decades, filmmaker and ecologist John D. Liu has documented some of the world’s most ambitious efforts to bring damaged landscapes back to life.
His work documenting the restoration of China’s Loess Plateau showed him something that would shape the rest of his life: large-scale ecological degradation is not necessarily irreversible.

So if restoration is possible, why aren’t we doing it everywhere?

In this conversation, John takes us from the Loess Plateau to the possibility of restoring the Sinai Peninsula. We explore how vegetation, soil, biodiversity and the water cycle interact, why degraded landscapes struggle to retain water, and what happens when ecological function becomes the starting point for how we manage land.
But John’s argument goes much further than ecosystem restoration.

We discuss why our economic system often rewards extraction rather than ecological health, why GDP is such an incomplete measure of wealth, whether perennial polycultures and regenerative agriculture could reshape our food system, and what it would mean to organise human civilisation around restoring the living systems on which we depend.

John also reflects on ageing, responsibility, his friendship with Jane Goodall, the creation of the Ecosystem Restoration Communities movement, and his work as an Ecosystem Ambassador for Commonland.

At 73, after decades spent documenting both ecological destruction and extraordinary recovery, John remains convinced of something profoundly hopeful:
Humans don’t have to be a destructive force on this planet. We can become a restorative one.

This episode was produced in partnership with Commonland, a global organisation working to enable large-scale landscape restoration through its holistic Four Returns approach.

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🎙️ JOHN D. LIU

John D. Liu is a filmmaker, ecologist and ecosystem restoration advocate whose documentaries have helped bring global attention to the potential of large-scale landscape restoration.

✨ COMMONLAND

Commonland works with communities around the world to restore degraded landscapes and create thriving futures for people and nature through its Four Returns approach.

https://commonland.com/

✨ THE DEEP SEED

The Deep Seed explores the people, ideas and solutions helping regenerate our food systems and ecosystems.

Through long-form conversations with farmers, scientists, entrepreneurs and leading thinkers, we explore regenerative agriculture, soil health, ecosystem restoration, biodiversity and how we can build a healthier relationship with the living world.

🔔 Follow The Deep Seed for more conversations on regenerative agriculture, soil health, ecosystem restoration, biodiversity and the future of food.

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A few years ago, Anna Wynants decided to combine her two biggest passions: farming and cooking.

She opened ‘De Keukentafel’, which is both a small organic regenerative farm and a fine dining restaurant.

Every morning, she walks into the gardens with her coffee to see what’s thriving, what’s ripe, and which ingredients are ready to find their way onto the menu.

For a creative chef like her, it’s like paradise: a whole range of fresh and delicious ingredients to choose from. She then expertly and lovingly harvests, transforms and elevates these ingredients to create beautiful, original and delicious dishes. I had the pleasure of trying some of her food, and it’s truly exceptional.

I left De Keukentafel deeply inspired by both the place and the person behind it. I hope this conversation leaves you feeling the same.

✨TOP 50 FARMERS

Anna is one of 50 farmers selected for Top 50 Farmers 2026, a farmer-first accelerator program designed to empower, connect, and elevate regenerative farmers across Europe.  This episode was produced in collaboration with Top 50 Farmers to bring you an example of how regeneration is being pursued in many contexts and many ways. 

Discover more - www.top50Farmers.com

✨DE KEUKENTAFEL

https://www.de-keukentafel.com/

✨DEEP SEED PODCAST

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Email us at raphael@deepseed.eu

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Et si notre santé ne commençait pas dans l’assiette… mais bien plus bas, dans les sols ?

Dans cet épisode, je reçois Pierre Weill, agronome, auteur de Une seule santé et pionnier d’une approche qui relie santé des sols, santé des plantes, santé animale, alimentation humaine et santé publique.

On parle de One Health, de densité nutritionnelle, d’agroécologie, de maladies chroniques, d’oméga-3, de polyphénols, de goût, de prévention, mais aussi d’un sujet essentiel : comment créer un nouveau contrat entre agriculteurs, citoyens, scientifiques, entreprises et décideurs pour produire une alimentation qui régénère les écosystèmes au lieu de les épuiser.

Pierre explique pourquoi une tomate peut avoir le même nombre de calories qu’une autre, mais pas du tout la même richesse en micronutriments. Pourquoi la vie du sol influence la qualité nutritionnelle des aliments. Pourquoi la diversité est une clé fondamentale du vivant. Et pourquoi la transition agricole ne peut pas reposer uniquement sur les épaules des agriculteurs.

DANS CET EPISODE

• Le concept de One Health : pourquoi la santé des sols, des plantes, des animaux et des humains est indissociable.
• Pourquoi la densité nutritionnelle de nos aliments est l’un des grands enjeux de santé publique du XXIᵉ siècle.
• Comment les pratiques agricoles influencent directement la qualité nutritionnelle de notre alimentation.
• Pourquoi les maladies chroniques explosent et quel rôle joue notre alimentation.
• Les preuves scientifiques derrière les bénéfices de l’agriculture régénérative.
• Peut-on produire une alimentation plus saine sans la rendre inaccessible ?
• Comment reconnaître des aliments réellement nutritifs en tant que consommateur.
• Pourquoi la santé pourrait être le moteur le plus puissant pour accélérer la transition agricole.

PARTENAIRES DE CET EPISODE

🌱 Regenacterre accompagne les agriculteurs qui souhaitent faire évoluer leurs pratiques vers une agriculture plus régénérative. À travers du conseil technique, des formations et un accompagnement de terrain, leur objectif est d’aider les fermes à restaurer la santé des sols, renforcer leur résilience, améliorer leur rentabilité et produire une alimentation de meilleure qualité, tout en régénérant les écosystèmes.

🌾 Cultivae est une coopérative qui développe des filières agricoles régénératives en Wallonie. Elle accompagne les agriculteurs dans leur transition et travaille à mieux valoriser leurs productions en créant des débouchés pour des aliments issus de pratiques favorables aux sols, à la biodiversité et au climat. Son ambition est de faire émerger une économie capable de récompenser les agriculteurs qui régénèrent le vivant.

🌿 Le GAL Culturalité est un Groupe d’Action Locale qui rassemble citoyens, agriculteurs, entreprises, associations et pouvoirs publics autour de projets de développement territorial. Son objectif est de renforcer la vitalité économique, sociale et environnementale de la région en soutenant des initiatives locales innovantes, notamment dans les domaines de l’agriculture, de l’alimentation, de la biodiversité et de la transition écologique.

🔔 Abonnez-vous à Deep Seed pour explorer les liens entre agriculture régénérative, santé des sols, biodiversité, alimentation, climat et transformation de nos systèmes alimentaires.

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