In this season of the podcast, we’re asking: How Could We? Transform our food systems so they nourish people and regenerate our planetary systems.

Host Anne-Sophie Garrigou is joined this week by Michelle Donnelly, a farmer from the Mulroy Meadow Farm in Donegal, Ireland. Michelle and her husband Cathal moved to Donegal in 2020 to pursue their dream of running a regenerative farm, which currently produces pasture-raised eggs, forest-raised traditional breed pork, and grass-fed beef. Mulroy Meadow Farm also offers farm tours and educational programmes.

Anne-Sophie is also joined on this episode by Stewart Gee, who works on Climate KIC’s Irish Deep Demonstration, a project that aims to help Ireland achieve a climate-neutral food system by 2050.

In this episode, Michelle talks about her journey from being a pharmacist to becoming a farmer, why regenerative agriculture is so important to her - especially from a health and community perspective - as well as the barriers and opportunities provided by regenerative agriculture.

Stewart discusses the enabling conditions and policies needed to scale up regenerative agriculture at the regional and national level in Ireland and what lessons learned in Ireland could inspire regenerative agriculture practices elsewhere.

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This episode was presented and produced by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Anne-Sophie Garrigou⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and co-produced by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Bárbara Mendes-Jorge⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Climate KIC is Europe’s leading climate innovation agency and community. We are here to help create climate-resilient societies and fight the climate breakdown, building better futures for local communities, globally. Check out our website and follow us on LinkedIn.

You can also see how we are supporting farmers’ food futures, find out how to attend the 3rd European Carbon Farming Summit - taking place in Padua, Italy from 17-19 March 2026 - and check out our Green Horizons network dedicated to sustainable agriculture and knowledge exchange.

Welcome to a new season of the podcast, where we’re asking: How Could We? Transform our food systems so they nourish people and regenerate our planetary systems.

In this food-focused season, we’re looking at a range of topics, including soil health, regenerative agriculture practices, integrated landscape management, the importance of justice and equity in this transition, enabling policies and the cultural dimension of food transformation. We’re meeing farmers, researchers, and innovators who are pioneering regenerative approaches, transforming how we eat and how we relate to our planet.

This week, host Anne-Sophie Garrigou interviews Saskia Keesstra, a soil expert from Climate KIC, who has spent years working at the intersection of soil science, farming practices, and climate policy.

Saskia discusses how healthy soil does much more than grow our food, why it is one of our most powerful allies in the fight against climate change and hear about how farmers in our network are pioneering soil regeneration practices that could transform farming and our food system.

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This episode was presented and produced by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Anne-Sophie Garrigou⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and co-produced by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Bárbara Mendes-Jorge⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Climate KIC is Europe’s leading climate innovation agency and community. We are here to help create climate-resilient societies and fight the climate breakdown, building better futures for local communities, globally. Check out our website and follow us on LinkedIn.

You can also see how we are supporting farmers’ food futures, find out how to attend the 3rd European Carbon Farming Summit - taking place in Padua, Italy from 17-19 March 2026 - and check out our Green Horizons network dedicated to sustainable agriculture and knowledge exchange.

Recorded live at the SB62 June Climate meeting in Bonn - a key conference in the lead up to the upcoming United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP30 in Brazil - this week’s episode sees host Anne-Sophie Garrigou interview more experts at the heart of negotiations to hear what we can expect from Brazil's COP30 presidency and the challenges that lie ahead.

Firstly, climate policy researcher Lina Yassin from the International Institute for Environmental Development outlines the Global Goal on Adaptation and explains why tripling adaptation finance by 2030 is literally a matter of life and death for communities facing climate disasters.

Anne-Sophie talks to Glindys Virginia Luciano, International & Strategic Relations Project Manager at EIT Food, about how food systems are gaining traction as a cross-cutting solution and how she hopes that ​​spaces for multiple stakeholders to have discussions will be created at COP30.

Finally, Dr. Sanjay Vashist, Director at Climate Action Network South Asia raises important questions about climate finance commitments and the true meaning of "just transition" – particularly the difference between asking rich nations to scale back their emissions versus expecting developing countries to abandon their development aspirations.

If you're interested in hearing about COP30 from us in the next months, subscribe to Climate KIC's COP30 mailing list.

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This episode was presented and produced by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Anne-Sophie Garrigou⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and co-produced by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Bárbara Mendes-Jorge⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Climate KIC is Europe’s leading climate innovation agency and community. We are here to help create climate-resilient societies and fight the climate breakdown, building better futures for local communities, globally.

Check out our website, register to Climate KIC’s COP30 mailing list, follow us on LinkedIn and subscribe to our newsletter.