"A regenerative no-till pioneer."--NBC News
"Dirt to Soil is the [regenerative farming] movements' holy text."--The Observer
Gabe Brown (from the award-winning docs "Kiss the Ground" and "Common Ground") shares 20 years of experience on regenerative agriculture principles from his North Dakota family farm.
Gabe Brown began working on his family farm in North Dakota without intending to revolutionize agriculture. However, after a series of weather-related crop failures left him in financial trouble, he and his family adopted innovative farming practices to survive.
Brown experimented with regenerative agriculture, reducing the use of herbicides, insecticides, and synthetic fertilizers, and implementing no-till planting, diverse cover crops, and new grazing methods. This transformation revitalized their farm's ecosystem, starting with the soil.
The Brown's Ranch model focuses on regenerating resources by continuously enhancing the living biology in the soil.
Brown's 5 Principles of Soil Health:
- Limited Disturbance
- Armor
- Diversity
- Living Roots
- Integrated Animals
Brown's Ranch has regenerated resources, growing several inches of new topsoil and producing various crops and livestock. Brown emphasizes a shift in mindset from killing to fostering life on the land, highlighting that the greatest obstacle to solving problems is the human mind.
" Dirt to Soil confirms my belief that animals are part of the natural land. We need to reintegrate livestock and crops on our farms and ranches, and Gabe Brown shows us how to do it well." --Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation
"Gabe Brown's Dirt to Soil could not be more timely, as farmers are beginning to see an increase in costs of the fertilizers and many other inputs they rely on. Gabe provides us with his complete story of how he transitioned to a largely self-renewing and self-regulating (regenerative) farming system. Even though I have been an organic farmer for 40 years, I was amazed at how much I learned from reading Dirt to Soil. I highly recommend it to all farmers and food entrepreneurs, especially anyone interested in anticipating future changes and preparing for them in advance." --Frederick Kirschenmann, distinguished fellow, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture; author of Cultivating an Ecological Conscience
"Restoring the productivity of agricultural land is one of the most urgent imperatives of our time. In this landmark book, Gabe Brown explains, step by step, how farmers and ranchers can transform lifeless dirt to healthy topsoil, offering a profound yet elegantly simple blueprint for reversing land degradation across the globe." --Dr. Christine Jones, soil ecologist; founder of amazingcarbon.com
"Civilization was made possible by agriculture developed over the centuries by ordinary people domesticating plants and animals using the emerging biological sciences. Today mainstream agriculture--dominated by monoculture cropping and confined animal feeding--is the most destructive industry ever to evolve. Based on chemistry and marketing of technology, current agricultural practices produce twenty times more dead, eroding soil than food, year after year. In this dangerous time, Gabe Brown's book comes as a breath of fresh air, showing by example what any farmer who cares enough about the future can do by following sound ecological principles and using common sense and imagination." --Allan Savory, president, Savory Institute
"This book is a must read for anybody who thinks that the 'Green Revolution' has been a success. Gabe Brown provides a heartfelt personal account of his journey and awakening to a new perspective on the importance of soil biology and the urgent need for a return to regenerative integrated organic farming methods, not just to feed the world but also to save the ecosystem from imminent disaster." --Stephanie Seneff, senior research scientist, MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
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.