The Peter Byck Show

Grassland Birds Need Grass with Mike McGraw

Do you miss the sounds of quail and other birds? Peter sits down with Roots So Deep (you can see the devil down there) fan favorite bird specialist Mike McGraw for a wide-ranging conversation about their ten-year, ten-million-dollar research project to explore the impact of regenerative grazing practices on farmland in the Southeastern United States. As an ecologist and avid birder from Philadelphia, Mike found himself bonding with farmers throughout the Southeast as their passion for birds built common ground. Here in the US, more than half of all grassland birds have disappeared over the last 50 years, and every farmer we’ve talked to misses them. From bobwhite quail to bobolinks to meadowlarks, birds bring everyone together. Their presence, or absence, tells an important story about the overall health of any ecosystem.  When farmers work with nature, they not only increase their profits and improve their quality of life, they build thriving habitats for native birds that everyone loves. From robust insect populations to feast on, to native grasses for nesting, diverse pastures create the conditions grassland birds need to thrive.  We hope you enjoy this conversation about the power of grazing to restore our native bird populations, the way regenerative agriculture refills a farmer’s soil bank account, and why the science always came first while filming our four-part docuseries following maverick scientists and farmers working to improve their soils, lives, and communities! "When you stand on healthy soil, there's a universe beneath your feet."

Cattle Can Be Heroes, The Real Climate Warmer is Soil Erosion with Jason Rowntree

Meet Jason Rowntree, the "city boy from Houston raised by a dentist" who became a world-class cattle expert and groundbreaking research innovator. In this episode of The Peter Byck Show, Peter Byck dives deep with Jason, one of the key scientists from the Roots So Deep science team, on the science, economics, and nuance of regenerative grazing.  Jason moves beyond a polarizing "grain versus grass" debate, emphasizing that great grass-finished beef marbling comes down to energy and management. As a serious scientist, Jason focuses on the nuance of the research behind Roots So Deep, and shares some of the very real challenges studying nature can pose. His massive new project tracks ecological function (carbon, water, and greenhouse gases) across a spectrum of 30 intensive sites across the US to better inform supply chains and ranchers. Like Peter, he believes solid data is key to driving real change. We hope you enjoy this wide ranging conversation that covers everything from nutrient density to water sequestration to fly fishing in the latest episode of The Peter Byck Show! "When you stand on healthy soil, there's a universe beneath your feet."

Ray Archuleta USDA Scientist Learned to Work with Nature

Ray Archuleta, featured in documentaries like Kiss The Ground and Common Ground, spent decades as a USDA employee working with farmers and ranchers. Despite his long career in the traditional system, which he describes as attempting to "manipulate, force, and control nature," Ray grew discouraged. He witnessed persistent soil erosion and struggling farmers. His perspective shifted dramatically when he encountered regenerative farmers such as Allen Williams, Gabe Brown, and Neil Dennis—the subjects of our short film soil carbon cowboys. This meeting was a revelation, providing the answers he had been seeking. Though convinced, he spent years at the USDA wishing his colleagues would recognize the potential of this new approach. Ray sat down with Peter to share his journey in regenerative agriculture, discuss the rapid soil improvement he has observed, and articulate his deep, spiritual belief in treating nature with respect. "When you stand on healthy soil, there's a universe beneath your feet."

The Bottlenecks for Regenerative Ag with Jon Lundgren

Peter sits down with Dr. Jon Lundgren, an ambitious scientist and a farmer who has been part of our team since 2013, when he worked with Peter to assemble  the research team featured in the docuseries Roots So Deep (you can see the devil down there).  Dr. Lundgren is an agroecologist, Director of the ECDYSIS Foundation, and CEO for Blue Dasher Farm. He received his PhD in Entomology from the University of Illinois in 2004, and was a top scientist with USDA-ARS for 11 years before resigning to focus on alternate agricultural practices. Jon’s work focuses on the alarming loss of biodiversity on farm land, including critical pollinators and other insect life. As he says “That system is collapsing, and what's replacing it is exactly what you're talking about. It's farming with a connection to the natural world. It's farming with a connection to family and to community in ways that the industrialized food system really pulled out. We're going to be able to offset all of our carbon emissions using our food system while increasing life on the planet,as well as reversing desertification and improving the resilience of our rural communities and human health problems.”  Through the years, Jon taught Peter a lot. And there's one elemental thing he'll never forget. That farmers are the true scientists, and that the Roots So Deep science team was there only to measure what the farmers were doing and not get in their way.  Sign-up for our newsletter: https://rootssodeep.org/take-action/newsletter-sign-up Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carboncowboys/ Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carboncowboys/ Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@carbon_cowboys "When you stand on healthy soil, there's a universe beneath your feet."

Who funded us? Did it influence our results? with Marion Nestle

In this episode of The Peter Byck Show, Peter sits down with well known critic of Big Ag research Marion Nestle, a beacon of scrutiny when it comes to keeping a sharp eye on food industry funded research. Marion Nestle is Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, Emerita, at New York University (NYU), and Visiting Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University. In 2019, Peter reached out to Marion to see what she would think about our AMP grazing research that you see in “Roots So Deep (you can see the devil down there)”. We sought funding from big food, clothing, and even oil companies, figuring they should all help pay to get the carbon out of the air where it's become a problem, and into our soils, where it offers a ton of solutions. We knew that would invite pushback, which is why we worked with skeptics and critics from the beginning to ensure our methods - and our results - would stand up to the strictest scrutiny. In this episode, Peter and Marion discuss our goals, our funders, and our approach behind our $10 million research budget. You can read all of our funding history here: https://rootssodeep.org/amp-research/funding-sources-for-research-and-documentary Sign-up for our newsletter: https://rootssodeep.org/take-action/newsletter-sign-up Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carboncowboys/ Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carboncowboys/ Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@carbon_cowboys "When you stand on healthy soil, there's a universe beneath your feet."