About this episode

This episode explores the connections between soil health, plant genetics, and human health through the lens of the documentary Groundswell.

What if the future of human health doesn’t just begin in the clinic, but in the soil? In this episode of DNA Today, we explore the new documentary Groundswell, the final chapter in the regenerative agriculture documentary trilogy that began with Kiss the Ground and continued with Common Ground. Narrated by Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson, Groundswell follows regenerative agriculture solutions across five continents, showing how restoring soil health can support biodiversity, food systems, local economies, climate resilience, and human health. This episode takes DNA Today into a different but deeply relevant corner of genetics and genomics. While we often focus on human genetics, Groundswell broadens the lens to show how genetics is embedded in entire ecosystems. Soil is alive with microbial diversity. Plants depend on complex relationships with bacteria, fungi, insects, and the environment around them. Crop diversity and seed diversity can influence resilience to drought, pests, disease, and changing climate conditions. Human health is also shaped not only by our DNA, but by the environments we live in, the food we eat, the water we drink, the chemicals we are exposed to, and the…

People in this episode

Host: Kira Dineen

Guests: Nikki Reed, Rebecca Harrell Tickell

Topics covered

• soil microbiomes
• plant genetics
• regenerative agriculture
• human health
• ecosystems
• biodiversity

Keywords

• microbial diversity
• crop diversity
• seed diversity
• climate resilience
• food systems
• local economies

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Groundswell, Kiss the Ground, Common Ground

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