#068 Extra - The ‘Natural Intelligence’ Back Story
With Dianne & Ian Haggerty at the homestead
In this special extra to episode 68, we delve into the fascinating back story of Di and Ian’s ‘world breakthrough’ operation. We talk about how they came to their key insights and breakthroughs, Di’s formative experience in the health industry, what owning a remote roadhouse taught them, some of the extraordinary people, places and communities who’ve influenced them on the journey, and yes, how they were told they’d never make it.
The sheep at the heart of the ‘natural intelligence’ operation, grazing in the distance under the rainbow (pic: Anthony James).
“It really rang home very true that as farmers we had to be concerned about how to grow the best quality food we possibly could, for those appropriate health outcomes in the people that were going to consume it. There wasn’t much future we didn’t feel, at that point, in producing a food stuff that was just a commodity, that wasn’t respected truly for the capacity it had to enhance health. ”
Ian and Di Haggerty were raised in farming families. They’re both of the wheat belt in WA. But that line of work didn’t pan out initially, so they headed to other places and professions. When running a roadhouse in the remote Kimberley of Western Australia, they spent formative time with Aboriginal communities and influential pastoralists, and the lights were switched on. They picked up a degraded farm back in the wheat belt and transformed it. That’s now the foundation of their regenerative mission, progressively picking up farms, now totalling around 65,000 acres, each on the regenerative path with staggering speed and success.
Recorded on 17 and 18 July 2020.
Get more:
You can hear the rest of our conversation on the main episode 68, ‘Natural Intelligence Farming: The ‘world breakthrough’ regenerating land, food & communities’.
You’ll find a series of links and photos on that main episode page too.
Music:
By Jeremiah Johnson.