Homesteader AJ Richards Shares Insights from Ag Secretary Meeting
By Homesteaders of America
PermaNews Brief
Key Takeaways
AJ Richards shares insights from his discussions with the Secretary of Agriculture on crucial food system issues.
- Importance of grassroots voices in agricultural policy
- New memorandum affects public land grazing
- Revisiting country of origin labeling complexities
- Impacts of the regenerative agriculture executive order
- Connecting consumers and producers directly
Why It Matters
Richards illuminates the challenges facing modern agriculture and the need for effective communication between farmers and policymakers.
What to Do Next
Listen to the podcast for in-depth perspectives on agricultural policies.
Permaculture Context
For those of us practicing permaculture and regenerative living outside the commodity agriculture mainstream, AJ Richards' presence in that room represents something genuinely significant: a crack in the wall between grassroots land stewards and the policy decisions that have long shaped what's possible on the ground. The memorandum of understanding between USDA and Interior is particularly worth watching, because public land grazing policy doesn't just affect ranchers — it shapes the ecological health of watersheds, wildlife corridors, and carbon cycles that ripple through entire bioregions, including small homesteads and market gardens nowhere near federal land. The regenerative agriculture executive order, whatever its ultimate teeth, signals that the language we've been speaking in garden beds and food forests is now being spoken in federal buildings. That matters for grant access, certification pathways, and how local food infrastructure gets funded. The practical takeaway is this: if you've been treating policy as someone else's problem, Richards' story is a reminder that the people shaping these decisions are often just ordinary practitioners who decided to show up.
Recommended for: Farmers, homesteaders, and policy enthusiasts looking for real-world implications.
AJ Richards is back, and this time he's taking us inside the room with the Secretary of Agriculture. He's not a lobbyist. Nobody's paying him to be there. He's a homesteader from Cody, Wyoming who got invited because he was loud about our failing food system, and he's telling us what's really going on with public land grazing, the regenerative agriculture executive order, and why country of origin labeling isn't as simple as everyone thinks.AJ lives on seven and a half acres in Cody, Wyoming, but his family's roots go back to 1916, when they homesteaded the Arizona Strip as part of the Bundy Ranchers. He's also the founder of From The Farm, a platform built to connect consumers directly with producers. Since last fall, he's been part of a small group the Secretary of Agriculture personally invited to Washington to represent Western ranchers who felt unheard. In this episode, he and I get into what's actually moving in DC right now, why some of the loudest online criticism misses the point entirely, and why he believes prayer and discernment matter as much as policy.What You'll LearnWhy yelling at the Secretary of Agriculture over country of origin labeling might be aimed at the wrong person entirelyWhat a new memorandum of understanding between USDA and the Department of Interior means for ranchers grazing on public land, after decades of losing groundThe real story of how the regenerative agriculture executive order came togetherWhy AJ says “two things can be true at once” about the wins and the compromises coming out of this administrationWhat the Direct Act could mean for buying meat straight from a farmer online, even across state linesWhy taking a government grant, like NRCS fencing money, almost always comes with strings you didn't expectHow AJ's family history homesteading the Arizona Strip shapes the way he sees today's food fightWhy “empathy up” matters as much as empathy for the people below youWhat AJ wishes Christians would post instead of tearing down l
Source: podcasters.spotify.com
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