Three West Australian farmers sit down for a sharp, honest Q&A that cuts through the glossy version of “regenerative agriculture” and gets into the real work: what happens when your new practice fails, your numbers get tight, and the supply chain refuses to reward better outcomes. Jake Ryan, Tom Mitchell, and Rod O’Bree share the mindset shifts that keep them moving, from treating mistakes as learnings to building the skill of self-diagnosis when there isn’t a standard playbook to follow.

Today we dust off one last gem from the Regenerative Agriculture Conference in Margaret River in late 2023.

Jake Ryan is a global award-winning vegetable and livestock farmer from Three Ryans farm in Manjimup; Tom Mitchell is an award-winning market gardener from Worrolong Produce near Gin Gin; and Rod O’Bree is the bloke described to me as taking Natural Sequence Farming to the next level (to say nothing of his supply web work with distribution and retail companies) from Yanget farm just inland of Geraldton.

They’d each given a 15 minute presentation, then came together on stage for this terrific Q&A.

For more from the conference:

Ep 298 – the first panel.

Ep 295 – the story I told to kick off the conference.

Ep 188 – the final panel.

Ep 187 – the last panel on day 1.

Ep 180 – the opening night’s film Q&A.

Chapter markers & transcript.

Recorded 6 September 2023.

Title image: Tom, Rod, Jake & AJ (by Daniela Tommasi).

Come to Grounded Festival on 22-23 April 2026 (10% discount for paid subscribers).

Music:

Working the Fields, by Falconer (from Artlist).

Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.

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