Regenerative Agriculture Podcast

Jonathan Lundgren is an agroecologist, Director of the ECDYSIS Foundation, and CEO of Blue Dasher Farm. He received his Ph.D. in Entomology from the University of Illinois in 2004 and was a professional pesticide evaluator with USDA-ARS for 11 years. Jonathan's research and education programs focus on assessing the ecological risk of pest management strategies and developing long-term solutions for sustainable food systems. His ecological research focuses heavily on conserving healthy biological communities within agroecosystems by reducing disturbance and increasing biodiversity within cropland. In this episode, Jonathan and I discuss How diversity in insect populations decreases pest problems Why the term "pesticide safety" is meaningless, and the ecological implications and risk assessment of pesticides How to develop agroecosystems that reduce the need for insect management products and other agrochemicals How to design a proactive pest management system Beekeeping, varroa mites, overwintering, and other