Episode Details

We Can’t Fix A River with Water Alone. Welcome to part 2 of a special series with the President of the just launched Farmers Helping Farmers, Michael Gooden. Last week’s episode, A Farmer-Led Movement Goes National, focused on that launch, along with of course some of Michael’s story, in what was a powerful and emotional conversation about a significant moment here in this country. 

I’ve still got Mick’s words in mind from the opening of that episode, on whether we can feed the world with regenerative practices? ‘We’ll do it on our ear’, he said, if we focus on solving the real problems. 

So with that in mind, this week, a really special episode sitting on the banks of the Murray River, Australia’s longest, and arguably most mythologised and politicised river. We grabbed this half hour at the end of a day’s paddle back in March, on the first group river journey my friend Katie Ross and I organised, that we called Confluence. 

Goodo and I start with how it feels on the river, including why he’s even there. Then we explore the key question arising for him – what would it take to be able to drink from the river again?

That’s no abstract question for this irrigator farmer approximate to a region becoming known as ‘MND Alley’ in the Murray Darling Basin. He’s got runs on the board, in terms of successful land and business management, and bringing people together, and has a very clear vision and strategy for how a drinkable river could become a reality once again. 

With thanks to Henry Smith for filming this conversation. 

More shout outs and listener mail feature at the end too.

If you’d like to go straight to a particular part of our conversation, essentially viewing a table of contents, you can navigate via the chapter markers & transcript.

Recorded 26 March 2026.

Title image by Henry Smith.

See more photos on the episode web page, and for more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener below.

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Music: 

Down the River, by Ran Raiten (from Artlist).

Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.

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