Dirt to Soil: One Family's Journey into Regenerative Agriculture

lots of detail, informative. step by step guide on foundational techniques you can apply in almost any scenario. Exceeded my expectation in terms of capturing an effective overview of a vast array of issues along with easy actionable steps you can take.

An excellent summary of regenerative agriculture. That it is more profitable than the current high input chemical agriculture and why it is a necessary long-term solution and how it is achieved. The chemical industry will do what it can to continue to declare that "If it was possible why is not everybody doing it". I understand that the big players have many educational institutes brainwashed with intense propaganda that their way is the only way. This book is a big crack in their comfort blanket. Time to change. The book is loaded with practical aspects enabling most farmers to switch their current dirt into real soil just like that. One example in the book is water holding capacity or water infiltration rate. 16 inches per hour means that most the rain falling in autumn and spring is absorbed and held in the soil also the following summer. Water without pumps.The rate when Brown started was less than one inch per hour, meaning dustbowl after a few weeks of no rain and bare soil without daily pumping. Finally, when most farms are brought back to regenerate the soil, the runoff from soils will be CLEAR nutrient-devoid water, not the current algae forming and fish-killing brown dirt that transports billions of tons from farms ending up blocking river mouths with silt, now worldwide. But it may well take 30 years before books like this one become compulsory reading in "farm schools". Another aspect is that plants do not take up crucial trace minerals when given NPK, giving plants, animals and us a substandard immune system forcing pesticides to plants and medicines to animals and us for survival, not to thrive. We need to move much sooner to be able to get back to nutrient dense food and profitable farming. Let Gabe Brown show the way by getting the book asap!

Deservedly regarded as the definitive read on regenerative agriculture. Four key take-aways for me.1 - Soil biology is more important than soil chemistry. We have a huge industry supplying chemicals to farms that essentially destroy soil biology - degrading the soil and so adding more chemicals to address the problems. What a massive, destructive, expensive, self-serving, unsustainable, wasteful travesty this is! Soil biology will do for free what industrial/chemical farming is failing to do. Gabe's production figures speak for themselves.2 - Diversity is essential to healthy soil. Monoculture planting works against this.3 - Degraded soil makes for degraded nutrient supply to consumers.4 - Plants actively pump carbon into the soil. Good for the soil and good for the atmosphere. When climate scientists calculate the carbon drawdown from trees, they don't count this active drawdown to feed soil biology, which can be several times the amount of carbon used for making wood.I should point out this is a book where a farmer tells his story - how he got to succeed with regenerative agriculture. Therefore, if you're reading this from an environmental perspective, be aware that there are significant sections mostly about farming and farmers. I found this interesting but if you don't, the clarity with which Mr Brown explains the environmental processes of regenerative farming more than compensate. Also note that it is also almost entirely about US farming.

Anyone interested in the principles of growing starting with the soil it’s a definite book for your collection

I'm an urban dweller who has never been much interested in the soil or farming. Yet, to my surprise, I read Gabe Brown's book quick time. It is a fascinating and hugely encouraging story of how farming the right way might save the day viz climate change. Gabe is one of the stars of the Netflix documentary 'Kiss the Ground' which I also recommend and only lasts an hour which might be of interest to those who are time challenged.

I bought this book after it was recommended by Charlie Burrell on one of the Knepp Rewilding YouTube videos. It didn't let him down. What Gabe Brown has achieved by working with nature instead of against it is pretty remarkable. The oil/chemical companies would have us believe that the world will end without us pouring their products into the soil as fast as they can be made, when in fact the polar opposite is true!! Where have we heard this before? Anyone remember the suppressed Exxon report into Global Warming? If the governments of the world would make lobbying illegal, then maybe renewable agriculture would have a much higher chance of near total acceptance. However, at the moment the various politicians in the food chain stand to lose way to much "backing" if they were to ban or severely limit use of so many external inputs into farming.One of the most eye opening things to come out of this book is that a carrot is not the same as another carrot. That their nutritional content can be so vastly different depending upon how and where it is grown, even if it is the same variety. It makes sense when you think about it, but I would bet that 99% of people don't realise this and are happily pumping their children full of tainted vegetables that are quite possibly doing more harm than good.One negative that I noticed in this book is right at the end, in the conclusion section. Gabe spends the entire book giving evidence and expertise as to why his methods work, what other people can do and to achieve similar outcomes. I am completely bought into his talent as a farmer, and as someone who understands what he is doing. Then he goes and says something totally ridiculous by saying that it's god that did it and then he thanks an imaginary being. Barking mad. He's just spent most of his adult life being a very inquisitive and experimental person, then explains that his invisible best friend is responsible. When will people simply accept that they are responsible for their own greatness. Not some ancient mythical nonsense.

Gabe Brown comparte generosamente su experiencia como agricultor, lecciones sencillas y amigables para entender que en la naturaleza podemos emcontrar las soluciones.

Great book must read everybody both farmers and not; truly unique and detailed story of one of the best farmers around

In the days of climate change and Global Warming, the book discusses very pertinent methods of agriculture bringing bio diversity

This is a call to action: Regenerative agriculture leads to healthy soil which is essential for the continued existance of life on earth.

The most influential book I've read alongside Drawdown. I read this book (Dirt to Soil) after learning the very basics of better farm and ranch practices from the book Drawdown. Gabe Brown is mentioned twice due to his practices and track record of results when working with nature instead of against it like he used to.Farming just a few miles from the state capital of North Dakota, Bismarck, I knew I needed to see this for myself. I had not read Gabe's book I'm reviewing here when I toured with a group of AG students from DSU this past fall. So a huge thank you to Gabe being so willing to tell his story along with the professors who acknowledge the status quo isn't no necessarily right or good.The tour gave me dozens of things to look into in just the idea of nutrient dense food, subsidies, and health.I do not have a farm or ranch background, but I do care about the future for my self and everyone around me. And one thing we all have in common is we consume food, we become sick, and we all choose how to spend our money. This book will change nearly any person's be beliefs, thoughts, or reasons towards how they purchase groceries, view illness, and view agricultural subsidies.All of my points are over simplified, but all of it is explained in easy to read and comprehend language with all the science to back it up and the information to look into it further if you would like.Highlights/topics of the book that offered huge take aways:1. How to start farming, how not to start, and how not to continue.2. Tilling could be one of the worst human idea ever.3. How soil really works to grow plants.4. Fighting nature is a bad idea.5. How to improve any soil. (5 parts)6. How to improve cattle.7. How to teach and truly help people (especially when they don't want to change)8. How to look at profits not per acre yield(change how see the big picture)9. Less inputs is easier than slightly more output.10. Our food is a huge part of the health epidemics around the world. The nutrition is vastly lower in produce and meat. It's so bad even a good diet will not yield enough nutrition even when consuming enough the correct calories and portions.If you are on the fence (pun intended) because this book is about agriculture, read it anyway. The knowledge and changes a person can make from this knowledge can literally change the world. And it's needed. I'm not a doom and gloom kind of guy, but I can recognize there is a problem if a third of the population is in short order going to be diabetic, and the numbers only go up from there. And that's just one disease that is almost 100% related to diet and lifestyle.Farmers? Read this book, if you learn one thing it will be worth it. If you implement only one thing from this book I hope it improves your operation and life. If it does, the impacts downline from your changes could directly improve the health of every person who consumes your product.We need more people like Gabe willing to take on bad practices in the field, in government subsidies, and the health of our country. And he does it with his practices and his sharing his knowledge with producers around the world.