Farming for Health Podcast #18: Eric Perner

As a young kid growing up on a small cattle farm, Eric Perner already possessed a passion for conservation, appreciating nature and its inhabitants in his eco-region: quail, butterflies, and much more.

As a young man, he saw how humans devastated the ecology when not managed properly. This ranged from agricultural plowing to damage from cattle. This observation affected him in negative ways, and so he wanted to go in a different direction. Becoming a mechanical engineer, he worked in the gas and oil industry for several years—causing him to recognize how our energy management systems are also damaging the land. 

Tying all of this together, he recognized that how we managed the land was highly problematic. As a final piece to this puzzle, he listened to a TED Talk by the Zimbabwean grassland ecosystem pioneer Allan Savory. Allan and his wife, Jody Butterfield, created the 

Africa Centre for Holistic Management in Zimbabwe—an award-winning center for its work in reversing desertification.

Through all of these life experiences, Eric recognized the importance of properly moving ranch animals for grazing to mimic how Mother Nature once handled the situation. The goal: to give grass enough time to recover before animals grazed upon it once again. Using the methodologies he formulated now allows Eric to produce food for people without damaging the ecosystem at his Double P Ranch in Mounds, Oklahoma where he raises grass-fed beef cattle. 

To further leave the world a better place, he founded Rep Provision to create unique environmental solutions for agricultural problems and those in related industries. If enough farmers and ranchers get on board, Eric believes, we can truly work with nature.

Here’s where you can find the rest of Eric Perner’s story: in episode #18 of our Farming for Health podcast: Regenerative Grazing, Monarchs and Voting with Your Dollar. 

Past Episodes of our Farming for Health Podcast

If you’ve missed any of our previous episodes, you can find them here:

• Episode One: Keto, Cruciferous Vegetables, Salt and Your Mindset
• Episode Two: Cooking, Conviviality, and Preserving the Harvest
• Episode Three: Ferments, Food Insecurity, and Wasted Food
• Episode Four: Anti-Cancer Diet, Food as Medicine, and Vegetables
• Episode Five: Plants, Happiness and Mindful Neglect.
• Episode Six: Whole 30, Sustainable Habits, and Loving Vegetables
• Episode Seven: Iodine, Egg Yolk Enzymes, and Miso
• Episode Eight: Fungi, Bitter Foods, and Food Extinction
• Episode Nine: Understanding Food, Nutritional Healing and Farming
• Episode Ten: Enjoying the Process, Connection and Soup
• Episode Eleven: Monica Geller, Community and Limiting Salads 
• Episode Twelve: Nourishment, Creativity, and Full-Spectrum Health
• Episode Thirteen: The Joy of Cooking, Fermentation, and Seasonality 
• Episode Fourteen: Cauliflower, Potlucks, and the Joy of Food
• Episode Fifteen: Time Savers, Pickled Raisins and Cooking With Creativity
• Episode Sixteen: Romanticizing Food, Seasonal Eating, and Shamed Spinach
• Episode Seventeen: Being Present, The Eat In Method and Food as Fuel