We look at this influential and important book by Gabe Brown, a leading advocate of the Regenerative Farming movement. To buy the book and learn more about it, see here.

Dirt to Soil One Family’s Journey into Regenerative Agriculture by Gabe Brown, reviewed

More and more there is a growing awareness that many modern, and also not so new farming techniques have been detrimental to soil fertility and the productivity of the land. In Jared Diamond’s 2005 book ‘Collapse’ he pulls together a series of previously great civilisations that, he argues, convincingly, then collapsed to a large degree because of the exhaustion of their farming resources. Gabe Brown’s book is very much a logical extension of this line of thought, with his own personal experience showing him that repeated, intensive farming of the land brings diminishing returns.

In Ireland of course farming is very much a sacred cow in terms of any analysis or criticism about farming practices. However this does not mean we are currently seeing a lot of pushback against the values of regenerative farming and more sustainable practices, not because these critiques are not valid, but rather due to the problems of a shifting baseline perspective. Namely that because ‘this is how it has been done for perhaps one to three generations’ this actually means it is a sustainable or effective way of working with the land.

This book offers a much more holistic, ecologically less damaging, and effective way to work the land. As a farmer also seeking to ensure that farming is still a viable business for both his generation and the following ones, Brown aims to counter the knee jerk comment that more environmentally positive methods are also profitable. It is an important book, rightly influential, and hopefully it will continue to inspire more farmers to work more in harmony with the land, both for their own benefit and also the wider planet that they share, rather than ‘own’.

More about the book ->

Gabe Brown didn’t set out to change the world when he first started working alongside his father-in-law on the family farm in North Dakota. But as a series of weather-related crop disasters put Brown and his wife, Shelly, in desperate financial straits, they started making bold changes to their farm. Brown—in an effort to simply survive—began experimenting with new practices he’d learned about from reading and talking with innovative researchers and ranchers. As he and his family struggled to keep the farm viable, they found themselves on an amazing journey into a new type of farming: regenerative agriculture.

Brown dropped the use of most of the herbicides, insecticides, and synthetic fertilizers that are a standard part of conventional agriculture. He switched to no-till planting, started planting diverse cover crops mixes, and changed his grazing practices. In so doing Brown transformed a degraded farm ecosystem into one full of life—starting with the soil and working his way up, one plant and one animal at a time.

In Dirt to Soil Gabe Brown tells the story of that amazing journey and offers a wealth of innovative solutions to restoring the soil by laying out and explaining his “five principles of soil health,” which are:

—  Limited Disturbance

—  Armor

—  Diversity

—  Living Roots

—  Integrated Animals

The Brown’s Ranch model, developed over twenty years of experimentation and refinement, focuses on regenerating resources by continuously enhancing the living biology in the soil. Using regenerative agricultural principles, Brown’s Ranch has grown several inches of new topsoil in only twenty years! The 5,000-acre ranch profitably produces a wide variety of cash crops and cover crops as well as grass-finished beef and lamb, pastured laying hens, broilers, and pastured pork, all marketed directly to consumers.

The key is how we think, Brown says. In the industrial agricultural model, all thoughts are focused on killing things. But that mindset was also killing diversity, soil, and profit, Brown realized. Now he channels his creative thinking toward how he can get more life on the land—more plants, animals, and beneficial insects. “The greatest roadblock to solving a problem,” Brown says, “is the human mind.”

More about the author ->

Gabe Brown is a pioneer of the soil-health movement and has been named one of the twenty-five most influential agricultural leaders in the United States. Brown, his wife, Shelly, and son, Paul, own Brown’s Ranch, a holistic, diversified 5,000-acre farm and ranch near Bismarck, North Dakota.

The Browns integrate their grazing and no-till cropping systems, which include cash crops and multi-species cover crops along with all-natural, grass-finished beef and lamb, pastured pork, and laying hens. The Brown family has received a Growing Green Award from the Natural Resources Defense Council, an Environmental Stewardship Award from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and the USA Zero-Till Farmer of the Year Award.

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