Soil to Soul: Farming, Food, Wine, and our Collective Future is brought to you by Bonterra Organic Estates, dedicated to exploring diverse voices and perspectives as they relate to farming, food, wine, and the collective future we’re working to build. Soil to Soul is hosted by Jess Baum, Bonterra’s Senior Director of Regenerative Impact.

Today’s guest is Elizabeth Whitlow, the Executive Director of the Regenerative Organic Alliance. Elizabeth’s role at ROA is the culmination of over 20 years working in the field of organic agriculture. She began her career as an advocate for organic coffee growers in Central America. Since then, Elizabeth has worked across the spectrum of elevated certifications, both in farming and ranching, earning high-level placements with organizations such as CCOF and EarthClaims.  

Listen in as Jess and Elizabeth discuss the evolution of regenerative organic certification, the joys of smelling soil, and how regenerative organic agriculture is farming in service of life and transforming the world one farm at a time. In this episode, Elizabeth mentions that we’re nearing one million Regenerative Organic certified acres world-wide, and on August 8, the Regenerative Organic Alliance announced that the one-million acre milestone had been surpassed, a major accomplishment done in less than five years.

Today’s episode mentions Paul Dolan, a leader in the organic wine movement who passed away on June 26. We honor Paul’s contributions to the field, and are grateful for the many ways he touched our lives. 

To learn more about us and what we do, visit bonterra.com. 

In an unaired segment, Elizabeth read Jess a few lines from The Mad Farmer Poems, a book by Wendell Berry. She has always especially loved this line: "I like the world of nature, despite its mortal dangers."