Join host Vinny Tafuro for a conversation with Holly McCann, co-founder and Core Steward of Blue Ridge Foodshed Commons, a public benefit company catalyzing a self-sustaining local food economy in Western North Carolina. Holly traces her path from Silicon Valley corporate attorney to regenerative systems designer, and explains why food is where you have to start when rebuilding an economy rooted in life rather than extraction. From the paradox of a region with 5,000 family farms that sources only 4% of its food locally, to a Perpetual Purpose Trust in development to protect the mission for generations, this episode explores what it looks like to design a regional food economy from the ground up.

Guest Links

• Blue Ridge Foodshed Commons
• Holly McCann on LinkedIn

Related DEP Episode

• EP 12 John Feldman: Documenting Revolution, Scientific Paradigm Shifts

Books Mentioned

• Regenerative Economics: Revolutionary Thinking for a World in Crisis — John Fullerton (2025)
• Bioregional Financing Facilities: Reimagining Finance to Regenerate Our Planet — Samantha Power & Leon Seefeld, The BioFi Project (2024) — also available free at biofi.earth
• The Local Food Revolution: How Humanity Will Feed Itself in Uncertain Times — Michael Brownlee (2016)

Organizations & Resources Mentioned

• The BioFi Project
• Capital Institute (John Fullerton)
• Foodshed Cultivator venture studio — launching June 17, 2026

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