Gabe Brown – författare

'Dirt to Soil is the [regenerative farming] movements’s holy text' The ObserverAuthor and farmer Gabe Brown, featured in the Netflix documentary Kiss the Ground‘A regenerative no-till pioneer’ NBC News‘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 TranslationSoil health pioneer Gabe Brown did not set out to write a book on no-till, regenerative agriculture but that was the end product of his research into a new method of farming that would bring back life to his farm, rather than taking away from it. As a series of weather-related crop disasters put the Brown family farm on the brink of financial ruin, Brown took the bold decision to cut costs by omitting the use of most pesticides, insecticides and synthetic fertilizers. This was the catalyst that led to Brown experimenting with regenerative agriculture, a method of farming that undid the damage of conventional agricultural practices. He switched to no-till planting, started planting diverse cover crops mixes and changed his grazing practices. In doing so, 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. 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 these 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 and pastured pork, all marketed directly to consumers.The future is regenerative, no-till, organic farming and Dirt to Soil is the perennial bestseller to start you on that journey, for the betterment of the food we consume and the state of our shared planet.

"A regenerative no-till pioneer."—NBC News

"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

"Dirt to Soil is the [regenerative farming] movements’s holy text."—The Observer

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 DisturbanceArmorDiversityLiving RootsIntegrated 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.”

See Gabe Brown―author and farmer―in the award-winning documentaries Kiss the Ground and Common Ground!

The inspiring story of one trailblazing California farmer that has proven—with over fifty years of hard-won experience—that large-scale farming of high-value crops can be done in a way that’s positive for the planet and the community—while still making a profit.From a first-generation farmer with no agricultural background to a steward of over 1,700 acres growing 20 different crops across 27 fields in the Sacramento Valley of California, award-winning conservationist Scott Park shares his spectacular story in Growing Rogue.When Scott broke ground on his farm in 1974, the use of harsh agricultural chemicals was rampant. After years of witnessing large-scale farms degrade and pollute their land, Scott decided on a different path: Through trial and error, tragedy and triumph, he would develop a holistic farm system—one that benefited the environment while still turning a profit.After more than fifty years of honing his craft, Scott shares his methods for growing organic, high-value crops in this accessible, inspiring, and wryly humorous book. Far from shying away from the current farming crisis, Growing Rogue confronts it head on, arguing for a better world and offering a practical roadmap for how to get there.Growing Rogue reminds us that farmers are environmental stewards with ethical and ecological responsibilities—and when the land is thriving, so, too, is the farm.