The Soils for Life podcast brings you the voices of farmers around Australia who are regenerating our precious soils and landscapes.
In each episode we share the stories of farmers who are discovering ways to farm with nature, and explore how we can all help more farmers to head in this direction, for healthier food, humans and planet.
These stories show how resilient, regenerated soils and landscapes can support profitable food-producing businesses, thriving and resilient people and regional communities, and abundant and nutritious food.
Produced by Grow Love Project and Soils for Life.
The World Beneath our Feet, with macrophotographer and soil ecologist Frank Ashwood
Today’s guest Frank Ashwood is a soil ecologist with a side passion for macrophotography - photographing the incredible creatures and organisms living in the soil.
He has an academic background in biology and land restoration to woodland.
He mostly studies the biological diversity and associated functions of forest soils, but three years ago Soils for Life brought Frank Ashwood to Australia to turn his camera to the life in the soil on farms across six regions. The photographs were astounding, and a number of them have now been included in his new book: The World Beneath our Feet: The Hidden Life of Soil and Why It Matters to Us All.
In today’s chat, we discuss some of the incredible creatures that live in the soil, diving into how each layer of soil differs, and some of the experiences and observations on farms around Australia.
Links and resources:
The World Beneath our Feet: The Hidden Life of Soil and Why It Matters to Us All, by Frank Ashwood https://www.frankashwood.com/twbof (https://www.frankashwood.com/twbof)
Frank Ashwood book launch at Fat Pig Farm on 10 October: https://zfszi4-wi.myshopify.com/products/frank-ashwood-book-launch?variant=50520122654964 (https://zfszi4-wi.myshopify.com/products/frank-ashwood-book-launch?variant=50520122654964)
A recap of Frank’s work with Soils for Life, visiting and photographing Australian farms: https://soilsforlife.org.au/frank-ashwood-soil-life-up-close/ (https://soilsforlife.org.au/frank-ashwood-soil-life-up-close/)
We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did. If you have feedback, questions, or suggestions for future episodes or guests, we'd love to hear from you - reach out on social media or at info@soilsforlife.org.au.
22 Sept 2026
Figuring out regenerative grain in the paddock and beyond, with Courtney Young
Courtney Young farms organic grain with her husband Ian in Rutherglen, Victoria, and is also Soils for Life's Farmer Learning Manager. In this episode, she talks with Eli about building a farming life from scratch, growing healthy soil and grain, and turning wheat into a value-added business.
In this episode
How Courtney's path into farming began, from her dad's oyster farming on the NSW South Coast, through a disillusioning stint in conservation, to discovering regenerative agriculture
The economics of getting into farming today, and how Courtney and Ian navigated the challenge of accessing land
Building soil and crop health on their 100-acre property and the family's 2,000-acre organic farm at Berrigan, including intercropping wheat with clover and improving grazing management
The decision to start milling their own flour, turning a commodity crop into a paddock-to-plate product with a loyal following among Melbourne bakers
How Courtney and Ian test new ideas cheaply and quickly, and "fail fast" rather than risk the whole business
Soils for Life's new Cropping Communities program, an eight-location, on-farm and online initiative helping grain growers and mixed farmers interpret soil and plant health data and turn it into action plans
Find out more
If you're interested in the upcoming Cropping Communities training program for growers and cropping advisors, head to soilsforlife.org.au/cropping-communities/
Get in touch
If you have any feedback or questions about this podcast, or suggestions of topics or people you’d like us to include in future episodes, please reach out (https://soilsforlife.org.au/contact/) on social media or via info@soilsforlife.org.au.
8 Sept 2026
The network underpinning it all: Fungi with Dr Sapphire McMullan-Fisher and Julie Fielder
World Fungus Day is in October and to mark the occasion we spoke with two mycologists - fungi experts - Dr Sapphire McMullan-Fisher and Julie Fielder about this amazing and mostly hidden lifeform.
Sapphire is a lecturer in plant and fungal Ecology at the University of New England and Julie runs consultancy Phytos Environmental in WA, and both are involved with Fungimap, one of Australia’s longest running citizen science organisations. They’ve both also been involved in the recently published book Fungi for Land: A practical guide for land managers, which draws on the work of more than 25 Australian scientists to explain what fungi do in the landscape and how to manage land in ways that support them.
In this conversation we delve into the weird and wonderful world of fungi, from their ancient beginnings almost 400 million years ago as partners to plants, to their incredible and bizarre present day forms. And we discuss how healthy and diverse fungal ecosystems are so deeply interconnected with, and essential for, healthy and resilient soils, plants and people.
Correction: In the intro we say World Fungus Day is on October 2nd. The date actually varies by country, it's marked across the first week or so of October rather than on one fixed day.Mentioned in this episode:
Fungi for Land: A practical guide for land managers - https://fungi4land.com/ (https://fungi4land.com/)
Fun Fungi Ecology - https://www.funfungiecology.com/ (https://www.funfungiecology.com/)
Fungimap - https://fungimap.org.au/ (https://fungimap.org.au/)
iNaturalist - https://www.inaturalist.org/ (https://www.inaturalist.org/)
PhD on metarhizium - https://eprints.qut.edu.au/117674/ (https://eprints.qut.edu.au/117674/)
Who has been a guest on Soils For Life
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Mick Gooden
Phil Lavers
Martin Royds
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
238,333
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Spotify
5.0 / 5
18 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 42 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
