1.1: Jess Baum and Joseph Brinkley

This is the series premiere of Soil to Soul: Farming, Food, Wine, and our Collective Future. This podcast is brought to you by Bonterra Organic Estates, dedicated to exploring diverse voices and perspectives as they relate to farming, food, wine, memory, and the connections we all share. Soil to Soul is hosted by Jess Baum, Bonterra’s Senior Director of Regenerative Impact.For our very first episode, we start with an interview between host Jess Baum and me, Elizabeth Archer, the producer of Soil to Soul.  Jess is the Senior Director of Regenerative Impact at Bonterra Organic Estates, where she steers the company’s overarching sustainability strategy and planning with a holistic eye. In addition to leading the winery’s efforts to reduce energy, waste, water consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions, she also works to advance the social aspects of sustainability, and engage employees and consumers in the regenerative revolution through creative storytelling and empowered connection.Under Jess’s guidance, Bonterra Organic Estates has achieved Regenerative Organic Certification, been recertified as a B Corp, and has secured Climate Neutral certification for the Bonterra brand. Jess spearheaded the company’s formal commitment to the Science-Based Targets initiative, and helped to launch an employee engagement group called the B Squad.Jess chose to join the wine industry because of its enormous potential to positively impact our environment, saying, “Wine is a beautiful and perfect vehicle to change the world.”After the segment with Jess, we interview our first-ever guest, Joseph Brinkley. Joseph is the Director of Regenerative Organic Development at Bonterra Organic Estates, where he is instrumental in shaping and driving policy positions on climate-smart farming and business practices. Joseph is also a recognized speaker and panelist, and frequently advocates for climate action and healthy soils legislation in California and Washington, D.C. He is a member of the Ceres Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy Network’s Healthy Soils Working Group, and in 2023 was awarded the Ceres BICEP Climate Smart Agriculture Groundbreaker Award. Listen in as Jess and Joseph discuss his path to biodynamic and regenerative viticulture, the interdependence of all living things and the systems we have created, and the importance of advocating for change to those systems to benefit us all. If you listen closely, you’ll hear the birds outside Joseph’s window on his homestead farm in Virginia. To learn more about us and what we do, visit bonterra.com.