The National Blog of Texas

l-r Mollie Engelhart, Taylor Henry, Rick Clark, Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, Clint Clint Brauer, Frank Glatz, Pete Oberle

Welcome Real Texas readers wherever you are.   Last Saturday, May 2, 2026 Ramona and I listened to several powerful speakers discuss regenerative farming and ranching techniques throughout the day, at Sovereignty Ranch just outside of our hometown of Bandera, Texas.  When it came time for a round table discussion with Mollie Englehart and other leaders in the regenerative ranching field, we secured front row seats for the Round Table because U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was a participant in the discussion.  

Like many of you, I have seen Secretary Kennedy on TV many times and have watched him do numerous chin-ups, push-ups, sit-ups and other physically demanding exercises on various TV news shows and interviews.  He is 72 years old and I was impressed at how physically fit he appeared to be.  

Each round table participant had a short presentation and they all, to a person had thoughtful and intelligent points they made about the immediate need to improve our nations food supply.

The continued use of glyphosate by big Ag producers was the elephant in the room and Mollie as moderator of the panel was the first to bring it up.  The point was made to Secretary Kennedy about the dangers of glyphosate in our food supply and the panel members expressed their hopefulness about it being a banned substance as soon as possible.  

We all knew Secretary Kennedy would be semi-hard to understand. He has a raspy, shaky voice due to a rare neurological condition called spasmodic dysphonia, which he developed in his early 40s. This disorder causes involuntary spasms in the muscles of the larynx (vocal cords), leading to a strained or trembling voice quality.

Ramona filmed the entire discussion — over an hour — holding her camera as steady as she could because we knew this conversation would be worth hearing in full.  It’s not often the current Secretary of HHS would be in Bandera, Texas on a panel full of experts in the field of improving our national food supply.

The Round Table brought together people working from different angles, but all toward one bigger conversation: soil health, food quality, farmer freedom, regenerative agriculture, and the health of our families.

Mollie Engelhart opened the panel discussion with heart, courage, and conviction. She spoke about regeneration not just as a farming practice, but as something we carry into our communities and our daily choices. 

One of the things that stood out to me was her willingness to talk about changing her own mind — from being a well-known vegan chef in Los Angeles to becoming a Texas cattle rancher practicing regenerative agriculture. Her message was powerful: when we are brave enough to say, “I believed this, I learned more, and I changed,” we give others permission to grow too.

Taylor Henry of Acres U.S.A. Publishing Company brought the farmer, educator, and land entrepreneur perspective. He talked about how education has always been at the center of agricultural freedom. Farmers do not just need another product sold to them — they need the knowledge, tools, and confidence to understand their own soil biology and make decisions that actually work on their land. His message reminded me that regenerative agriculture is not a trend. It is a learning process, a business model, and a pathway back to healthier farms and stronger rural communities.

Rick Clark shared from years of real, large-scale farming experience, and his presentation was incredibly practical. He talked about cover crops, roller crimping, reducing chemical and fertility inputs, and meeting farmers where they are instead of demanding an all-or-nothing change. What stood out to me was how clearly he showed that regenerative practices can support soil health, human health, and profitability at the same time. He was not speaking in theory — he was showing what is already possible when education, patience, and real-world farm experience come together.

Clint Brauer of Greenfield Robotics shared a story that connected family, farming, innovation, and health in such a personal way. He spoke about returning to Kansas after his father became ill, and how that helped shape his mission to reduce toxic chemicals in the food supply. His work with robotics is not just about futuristic technology — it is about giving farmers practical tools that can help manage weeds, plant into cover crops, and reduce dependence on chemical inputs. I found it encouraging to hear innovation talked about as a support system for farmers, not a replacement for them.

Frank Glatz from Contact Biosolutions brought the perspective of safer alternatives  to herbicides and the long road it takes to bring new agricultural products into real use. He talked about bioherbicide technology, regulatory hurdles, performance, cost, and the persistence required to get an environmentally conscious product from idea to approval to market. His message reminded us that change does not happen overnight. Behind every better option for farmers, there are years of testing, approvals, funding, and determination.

Pete Oberle from Trailhead Capital spoke about something we may not always want to talk about, but absolutely have to: money.

Regenerative agriculture needs farmers, education, technology, and consumer demand — but it also needs capital, financing, infrastructure, and market support. He talked about the investment side of food, agriculture, supply chains, biologicals, automation, and health. His message helped connect the dots between what happens on the farm and what has to happen in the larger economy for regenerative agriculture to truly scale.

Documentary film producer Ryland Engelhart helped frame the whole moment with gratitude and vision. The packed meeting room could feel how meaningful it was to bring these leaders, farmers, innovators, and policy conversations together at Sovereignty Ranch. Events like this do not happen by accident. They take belief, work, persistence, and a willingness to gather people who may come from different places but are asking many of the same big questions.

And then Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. spoke.

This was the part that stayed with those attending most deeply.

He connected public health directly to food, and food directly to soil. He talked about the microbiome — not only in our bodies, but in the soil — and how the health of one depends on the health of the other. That really struck many of us who read and know and realize the absolute importance of our personal microbiome. We often talk about healthcare as something that starts in a doctor’s office, but his message was that health begins much earlier: in the soil, in the food, and in the systems that grow and deliver that food to our families.

Secretary Kennedy spoke about how farmers are often trapped in a system many of them did not choose — a system built around chemical inputs, subsidies, distorted incentives, and policies that make it hard to step away, even when farmers want to. 

He said (and emphasized) the fact that many farmers want markets, not handouts. They want a realistic “off ramp” from the chemical treadmill, not just more pressure and more debt.

One of the most powerful parts of his message was that this is not just an agricultural issue. It is a health issue. It is an economic issue. It is a family issue. And, as he described it, it is also a spiritual issue. He spoke about his experiences in nature on a family farm as a child and now the loss of butterflies, frogs, bugs, biodiversity, and the richness of the natural world — not only as an environmental loss, but as something that changes the human experience itself.

He also talked about the importance of real markets, decentralization, farmer independence, and giving farmers pathways to grow nutrient-dense food while still making a living. He acknowledged that the current system is deeply locked in and that change will not be simple. But he also said he believes we may be at an inflection point — a moment where years of work by farmers, ranchers, consumers, innovators, and advocates may finally be starting to move the ship.

What I appreciated most was that he did not speak as if one person, one product, or one policy can fix everything. The message was bigger than that. Soil health, food quality, chronic disease, farmer survival, rural economies, technology, education, and public policy are all connected. If we want healthier people, we have to look at the whole system.

Sitting there in that room, listening to farmers, ranchers, entrepreneurs, innovators, investors, and Secretary Kennedy all talk about soil, food, health, and the future of our country — I truly felt like I was witnessing something important.

If you are reading this, I wish you could’ve been there.  It’s one thing to see a very knowledgable person such as Secretary Kennedy on TV and in some canned interview…..it’s another to see him in person and hear his sincerity in working for change.   As one old cowboy said “it must be hard to herd and get elephants moving in the same direction.”   

But it has to start somewhere.  I witnessed a very big roomful of people who are directly involved in our food production stand and applaud Secretary Kennedy.  It will take those people in that room, people who work for us such as Secretary Kennedy who has the name, family name, the reputation as a fighter for what is right and just, and us as consumers to stop buying and using glyphosate and similar poisons that end up in soils and then in our kids’ cereals and plastics in our bloodstreams.  

I learned that today is a good day to start. 

Many thanks to Mollie Englehart, Ryland Englehart, the panelists, Sponsors, and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

He now knows where Bandera, Texas – “Cowboy Capital of the World” is located.  He has been here.   He listened to us.  

You can watch the entire Round Table Discussion with Secretary Robert F. Kennedy here on YouTube.  Ryland Englehart was the first speaker introducing the panel.

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