Developing sustainable agricultural practices in Uganda with Atugumye Davis Pascal

What if farming could actually heal the land instead of depleting it? In this episode, we travel to Uganda to speak with David Pascal Atugumye from Green Earth, who's working on the ground with smallholder farmers to transform how they grow cacao, coffee, and other crops through regenerative agriculture and agroforestry. Pascal shares the real challenges of helping farmers—many working just half an acre to two acres with no formal agricultural training—to embrace a radically different approach: planting trees alongside cash crops, ditching expensive fertilizers and pesticides, and trusting that nature can regulate itself. The results are remarkable: farmers seeing their first fruit in 18 months instead of two and a half years, higher profits, and by year seven, a nearly self-sustaining system that requires minimal labor.

We explore why regenerative practices haven't gone mainstream, how one farmer's wisdom about planting trees for future generations can change everything, and the unexpected connection between sustainable farming and protecting Uganda's wild chimpanzees.