{"podcast":{"title":"Down to Earth: The Planet to Plate Podcast","slug":"down-to-earth-the-planet-to-plate-podcast-655855","podcast_index_feed_id":655855,"rss_url":"https://downtoearthpodcast.libsyn.com/rss","website_url":"http://downtoearthradio.com","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/d/e/a/a/deaa963313e5e97640be95ea3302a6a1/New_Logo_Down_To_Earth.jpg","author":"Quivira Coalition and Radio Cafe","episode_count":100,"summary":"Down to Earth is a podcast about regenerative agriculture, and it's for everyone who eats. We invite you to meet the people shaping a healthier food system—farmers, ranchers, scientists, land managers, writers, and many others. Designing a future that draws on both tradition and innovation, they're on a mission to change the paradigm so that the food we eat is healthy and long-term sustainable—for families and growers, for wildlife and water, for climate and planet. downtoearthradio.com","last_synced_at":"2026-06-19T04:18:37.943176+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/down-to-earth-the-planet-to-plate-podcast-655855"},"episode":{"title":"Meet Xochitl, Quivira's new Executive Director","slug":"meet-xochitl-quivira-s-new-executive-director","published_at":"2025-10-28T07:01:53+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/down-to-earth-the-planet-to-plate-podcast-655855/meet-xochitl-quivira-s-new-executive-director","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/down-to-earth-the-planet-to-plate-podcast-655855","url":"https://downtoearthpodcast.libsyn.com/meet-xochitl-quiviras-new-executive-director-1","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/downtoearthpodcast/Xochitl_Torres_Small_.mp3?dest-id=561306","summary":"Xochitl Torres Small grew up in Las Cruces, NM, and started her career as an attorney who has working in water and natural resources law. She served as U.S. Representative for New Mexico's 2nd congressional district (2019-20); she was Under Secretary for Rural Development (2021-23); and she served as United States deputy secretary of agriculture (2023-25). She brings her wide-ranging experience Executive Director of Quivira Coalition, and in our conversation she talks about her background, government service, and visions for regeneration and collaboration across the food system. TIMELINE 2'32 how Xochitl got into agriculture 4'11 the decision to go into politics 5'55 the difference between serving in Congress and in an agency 9'00 working in rural development 10'29 figuring out how to actually get money to rural communities 11'59 finding solutions that were energy efficient in rural areas 13'48 are agencies working together on common problems? 17'47 understanding the practicality of nature based solutions within government 22'46 soil health and why it's so important, and how Quivira does the work. 27'37 succession issues 30'26 vision for large scale transition of agriculture from industrial to regenerative 33'29 recognizing that solutions are all land-specific 35'06 how do you create local and regional food systems when a state like NM is exporting over 90% of its agriculture and importing over 90% of its food 36'11 systems that maximize only for efficiency tend not to be resilient in times of disaster 40'28 spectrum from regenerative to big ag but with lots of adoption all along the way 43'30 we need to stop \"othering\" 44'11 the challenges of scaling 45'59 going from government to grassroots, hopes and goals","meta_description":"Xochitl Torres Small grew up in Las Cruces, NM, and started her career as an attorney who has working in water and natural resources law. She served as U.…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3046,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/down-to-earth-the-planet-to-plate-podcast-655855/episodes/meet-xochitl-quivira-s-new-executive-director/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/down-to-earth-the-planet-to-plate-podcast-655855/meet-xochitl-quivira-s-new-executive-director.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}