Building resilience on farms against drought, flood, and fire

Building resilience on farms against drought, flood, and fire

Author: Oliver Goshey August 14, 2026 Duration: 1:07:29
Wherever you’re listening to this right now you’re probably feeling the changes this summer in a big way. It’s not only us here in the Mediterranean region of Europe who are experiencing record heat waves, droughts, and wildfires. I’ve been watching news reports from all over the world and the other day my Mom in Spokane Washington even told me that fires had nearly reached their home. I have no desire to go into the doom and gloom of climate reality, but we also can’t ignore two very important things. The first being that massive action needs to be taken to restore the damaged ecosystems of the world, and two, governments and industries just aren’t going to act fast enough. It falls to all of us to inform ourselves and get to work. This episode today is meant to help you do just that. Today I spoke with Lorenzo Costa who has been on the show a couple times already, but now that I’m in Italy and have been observing the effects of this severe summer weather, I knew I had to get in touch with him again and get his perspective as someone who travels the country working with growers of all types to restore the hydrological function and cycling of their land to build resilience in their operations. While it’s worth going back to his previous episodes where he talks about his own vegetable operation in the Chianti region of Tuscany, as well as the water projects he was doing a few years ago, in this episode we get an update on the patterns and learnings from all the new projects he’s seen and worked on recently.  Now that we’ve covered a lot about the concepts and theory behind watercycles and how they interact and are affected by landscape management, as well as how my colleague Nick Steiner and I assess and read a landscape ahead of a project, we’re going to be focusing increasingly on practical restoration options and case studies from innovative farmers and restoration workers from around Europe. So let’s jump right into this exploration of the current challenges and potential in Italy from Lorenzo

What does it mean to live a regenerative life, and how do we actually do it? That's the central question explored in Regenerative Skills, hosted by Oliver Goshey. This isn't just about theory; it's a practical dialogue focused on stewardship of the natural world and fostering strong, resilient communities. Every week, Oliver brings conversations with a diverse range of global experts right to your ears, translating their knowledge into actionable steps you can integrate into your daily habits. You'll hear tangible strategies for everything from soil health and sustainable food systems to building local networks and re-skilling ourselves for a better future. The aim is to move beyond sustainability toward active regeneration, providing the tools and perspectives needed to make a tangible difference right where you are. Tune into this educational podcast for a grounded, hopeful, and deeply informative journey. Together, these discussions build a comprehensive guide for anyone looking to heal their relationship with the environment and their neighbors, proving that positive change is woven from countless small, intentional actions.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 50

Regenerative Skills
Podcast Episodes
Practical considerations for designing and installing water systems [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:46
Since water management and landscape rehydration is a topic that I’ve covered in depth over years now, I wanted to try and dig into some of the often overlooked, and sometimes less exciting considerations for water. Toda…
Alternative markets and sales strategies for farm products [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:39
As important as it is to manage the land well to create healthy and abundant produce, it's just as important to sell that produce to a market that values its quality. Many large scale markets buy volume at the lowest pri…
Reading the landscape for water cycle restoration [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:36
Following up from the last episode in which I explained some of the broader concepts of water cycles and their relationship with land, vegetation, and management practices, we're going to go down to ground level to explo…
Farm centered research and learning [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:24
As we’ve explored in recent episodes of the Regenerative Skills Podcast, there’s an unfortunate disconnect between academic institutions, independent research, and real farms. We all know there are endless opportunities…
The fundamentals of water management for farms [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:38
Today we're going to pause our deep-dive episodes to launch a new series supporting a regenerative agriculture master’s program being developed with European universities, starting with regenerative water management . In…
Small-Scale Processing and Rural Micro-Industry panel [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:02
Farm viability depends on much more than what happens in the field. While we often focus on production and farm management, many of the biggest challenges farmers face are shaped by what happens. After harvest: processin…
Undervalued biodiversity: Fostering overlooked lifeforms [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:19:26
After the biodiversity panel from the last episode, I got to thinking about how protecting biodiversity is so often reduced to the life forms that humans value. The ones we find beautiful, friendly, or otherwise useful t…
Wildlife on farms: Challenges and benefits of coexistence [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:28
This month we’re tackling the challenges and benefits of wildlife in all its forms. Wildlife and wild spaces are often spoken about as if they're at odds with the goals of farms. We often talk about battling weeds, deter…
Are carbon markets the best way to finance regenerative transition? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:09:19
It’s been over a year now since Climate Farmers let go of its Carbon credit program, and yet I know that many people who’ve been following our company don’t know the full story about how we got started in the carbon mark…
Farms as learning centers: workshops, research, and students [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:14
The only real way to learn and gain experience in farming is to get your hands dirty and put knowledge into practice. For that reason farms play an essential role in training others to get into this sector and navigate t…