Dirt to Soil: One Familys Journey Into Regenerative Agriculture by Gabe Brown

Dirt to Soil: One Familys Journey Into Regenerative Agriculture Reviews

• 
  Maggy

  Now that’s an ag book! WARNING: do not read while drinking or shortly after drinking espresso... you’ll end up with a hundred pounds of 8-way cover crop mixes, a no-till drill, and 4 piglets if you aren’t careful. 🐖 🌱
• 
  Stephen

  Having read a number of books both old and new about soil, food, agriculture and environment, I call this one stupendous. It is a short, extremely practical guidebook on how to change from typical North American farming/ranching to regenerative agriculture. Gabe Brown never tells the reader "Here's what you must do" or "The perfect cocktail of seeds for your winter cover crop is such and such [naming nine varieties]" He says learn from experience, make mistakes and learn from them, find out what works for you. His principles are no-till, cover crops, grazing animals, diversity and waste not want not.
  Not many people are set up spiritually or geographically to ranch as Brown's ranch does, with multiple types of animals, extraordinary varieties of grasses, legumes, forbs, trees. Still this Noah's ark approach appeals and instructs and the early struggles are touching.
  Note: climate activists who understand importance of carbon sequestration in ag soils by improved practices as a method of "drawdown" will find this book gives more ink to soil than to atmosphere and global heating. That's a matter of emphasis. This book is meant for ranchers and farmers. For a less granular picture of life on the ranch,
  Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life is excellent. It has a good section on Brown's Ranch, as well it should.
• 
  Lena

  
  “We are over fed and undernourished.”
  
  I had not expected to burst into tears at the end of this audiobook but Gabe Brown caught me off guard.
  
  It took four years of hail and drought to show Gabe Brown everything that was wrong with conventional farming; that mimicking, and working with, nature is the resilient, successful, and moral option.
  
  You are a Solarpunk Rock Star Gabe Brown!
• 
  Ryan

  If you want to make small changes, change the way you do things. If you want to make major changes, change the way you see things.

  Gabe Brown attributes this insight to Don Campbell, a "Canadian rancher who practices holistic management." In Dirt to Soil, Brown explains how his family changed the way they see farming and restored their soil. Much can be learned from this book, and not just by farmers.
  
  I see Brown as engaging in two broad regenerative strategies. First, he is making use of diverse cover crops. The cover crops fix nitrogen and carbon while also providing organic material. They also seem to have a fungal impact, though I don't understand fungi at all—maybe no one does, excepting, perhaps, Lieutenant Stamets. These cover crops further help the soil to retain moisture, which is a pretty big deal. Summers on the prairie where I grew up are getting hotter and rain often comes in a violent dump, so moisture either evaporates or washes away. Winters can be dry and cold, and the ground needs more insulation. Cover crops do a lot. Second, Brown uses livestock to provide healthy stress on his plants while also providing fertilizer. These strategies allowed Brown to transform a Promethean farm operation that works against nature into a managed ecosystem that works with nature.
  
  If this were all Brown were doing, it would be a lot, but he has more to offer.
  
  People mostly leave rural communities for the city. I think many farmers go into colossal debt as they buy land, equipment, and inputs. They retire when they sell their land to the next generation. It's not a wonderful cycle, and if you look at it as ecologically destructive, it's unsurprising that many leave. Brown takes a longterm view of his farm. First, he aligns his farm with natural rhythms and with his community, which I suspect people find fulfilling. Second, he puts his land into a trust that can be passed on to his son without a massive debt liability. Further, he diversifies his business and puts his son in charge of some aspects of the operation, which gives his son experience and agency. Most farms now specialize, but Brown seems to have found a way to return to the mixed farm setup of old. Brown further breaks his business into multiple companies to limit liability. Although he is not explicit, I suspect he has a public speaking company, a cattle company, a grain company, a marketing company, and a processing company. He runs an internship program, which I mostly view as a labor problem, but he suggests it's about teaching the next generation. Because he achieves all of this, he farms without subsidies, which is very unusual in the USA.
  
  Although Dirt to Soil is written in a folksy and often Christian way that I tend to dislike (too many exclamation points for my taste), it is clearly a thoughtful work. He has a strong why (Sinek) for his business. He reads Michael Pollan, Wendell Berry, Joel Salatin—I'd bet against even the wonkiest agro-hipster having read more than Brown. He understands soil in a way that demonstrates that I don't. And because he does so much public speaking and outreach (I get the sense that if you write him he'll reply), he not only knows how to explain his ideas but also knows how to explain them to skeptics. We would all do well to learn from his example.
  
  When I began Dirt to Soil, I wondered how "boutique" his ideas are. I'd say they remain pretty far from mainstream. When I drive through the prairies today, they still seem increasingly bare and barren. Trees are increasingly cut down. Monocultures persist. "Environmentalists" are either a joke or an insult. But when I reached out to people I grew up with who are "more ag than ever," they were all familiar with Brown's ideas and were trying them at some margin. Right now, people seem interested in making small changes, though I remain skeptical that many are prepared to change the way they see things. Still, little things add up.
• 
  Hayley Hall

  SO GOOD! “We are overfed and under nourished” I already wanted to start a farm/commune and now I know how 😱🤩🥳🎉❤️
• 
  Carolien

  Whenever the term regenerative agriculture is used, the name Gabe Brown is soon mentioned. A farmer in North Dakota, Gabe joined the regenerative agriculture movement at the end of the 1990s after four consecutive years of crop failure due to weather disasters. Part of his motivation stemmed purely from economics as he had to turn profitable with the lowest possible input costs. In the first part of Dirt to Soil, Gabe describes his journey from new farmer to a world-renowned expert of regenerative agriculture with a profitable mixed farming enterprise. Gabe then unpacks the principles of regenerative farming and describes how he has implemented each one. The principles that he covers include the need for limited soil disturbance, keeping the soil covered at all times, cultivating diversity, maintaining living root systems and integrating animals in the operation. He is not scared to acknowledge failures and never prescriptive, telling farmers to experiment and test what works in their own environment. The principles can be applied at any scale and even my garden will be an experiment this summer! Highly, highly recommend this for any farmer who needs to improve profitability and manage extreme weather risk.
• 
  Jessica

  When Gabe Brown and his wife first started farming they took over her family's farm. In the beginning Gabe did everything the "traditional/industrial" way his father-in-law taught him. But, the first four years after taking over were a series of disasters. On the brink of financial ruin, Gabe started thinking outside the box - initially just to save money. But, once he started to see how no-till and cover cropping helped not just his bottom line financially, but in the output of the crops he was hooked. He started researching regenerative agriculture and trying to incorporate ways to make his farm healthier - both financially and the health of his crops and animals. In Dirt to Soil Gabe shares his story, both the good decisions and the failures they learned from. Often failure is what helps the most if you're willing to be open-minded and learn from it. While this book is pretty detailed in the soil health aspect, there are things that are applicable even if you're just trying to grow your own food in a backyard garden and not farming for profit/career. Gabe reminds me a lot of Joel Salatin - another lunatic farmer who is embracing the counter-culture, unorthodox lifestyle.
  
  Some quotes I liked:
  
  "First, I realized that I had come to accept the degraded condition of our ranch as normal. Instead of reversing the degraded conditions, I had been trying to hang on not let things become worse. I was trying to sustain the operation in a poor state of health, not help it recover and improve. I know sustainable is a popular buzzword today. Everybody wants to be sustainable. But my question is: Why in the world would we want to sustain a degraded resource? We instead need to work on regenerating our ecosystems." (p. 24)
  
  "The fusion of life transforms dirt into soil. Dirt becomes soil not simply because there is enough organic matter in the soil but because there's life if the soil - and not just any life but the full spectrum of soil biology. As Ray likes to say, without life we might as well be farming on the moon." (p. 50)
  
  "The best thing about raising hogs, other than the bacon and pork chops, is the economic return. Our hogs finish in seven months and provide superior meat quality. Per dollar invested, on our operation, hogs are second only to honey." (p. 90)
  
  "The owner of the apiary [who provides the honeybees for Gabe] told us that the hives placed on our property yield 19 percent more honey as compared to the hives placed on other properties. I see this high yield as proof of the diversity and health of our ecosystem. We pay them a fair price, thus helping support a local business. Then we sell the honey to our customers at a small profit. It's a win-win situation for all involved, including the bees!" (p. 103)
  
  "He [Jack Stahl] considers the use of GMOs to be an act of arrogance, as well. 'Over the long run, you can't manipulate nature and win. It will always have the final word.'" (p. 157)
  
  "The US government has propagated this mindset with its cheap food policy. It wants to ensure that citizens have an abundant supply of cheap food. Notice I did not say nutrient-dense food. The United States spends more on health care than any other country in the world, and yet, its citizens are not healthy. Are farmers and ranchers to blame for all this? No, not entirely, but we need to take our fair share of the blame. The American public needs to take their part of the blame, as well, for allowing this to happen. Through their buying dollars, consumers have made the choice that they want this system, even as they choose to ignore the environmental degradation, the mistreatment of animals, and the overall decline in human health. And think of what else this production model has caused. It has led to tighter and tighter margins for producers. Lower margins mean producers must farm more and more land to make ends meet. Farm sizes increase, leaving fewer farms overall and fewer people operating the land. In other words, this production model has also lead to the decline of many of our small towns." (p. 177)
  
  "In 2002, the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that diet alone, sourced from the conventional production model, could no longer supply adequate amounts of nutrients and advised all adults to take one multivitamin per day, reversing a long-standing position. The sales of supplements have since grown into a $30 billion-a-year industry." (p. 185)
  
  "Once, when I was speaking to a large crowd of corn and soybean producers in Nebraska, I asked how many of them made a profit on their corn the previous year. One person raised his hand. Yes only one. I asked how many planned on planting corn the following year. Every hand went up. This is an example of how entrenched people are in today's production model." (p. 190)
• 
  Kinnell

  I went into this hoping to learn something more on a sub-surface / biological level.  I did not. I did learn some things around raising livestock but mostly the book seemed like it was someone wrangling the author's ramblings, which I guess it was.  It repeated itself a lot and seemed like it was high on itself. Honestly, I think it's a good book for someone that doesn't know anything about no-till agriculture or about the importance of native grasses in an ecosystem, but if you fall out of that population I would skip this.  
  
  
  I really appreciate what the author is doing from an environmental education front for whatever talks he gives, but this book was not for me.  I id not get out of it what I went into it to find
• 
  Liz

  I was hooked into reading this book after watching a Netflix video, Kiss the Ground. The movie is about the potential of regenerative agriculture to reverse the buildup of CO2 in the atmosphere through carbon sequestration in the soil. Gabe Brown was featured prominently in the movie so I decided to read his book.
  
  The book goes into the nitty-gritty of how Brown came to embrace regenerative techniques on his North Dakota ranch. After four years of devastating losses owing to hail, drought, and flood, he was forced to look for a different way of managing his land – simply because he could not afford the inputs needed to continue the old way, and the bank would no longer lend him money. Gradually, he came to understand the importance of soil health, and over a number of years developed the kind of deep topsoil, teeming with life, that the prairies once comprised. He shows how he did this step by step, first by abandoning tillage, and then adding cover crops and livestock to his operation. He no longer needed to rely on crop insurance, since diversification made him able to handle failure of any individual crop. His production per acre may have declined, but his profitability went up.
  
  I gave the book 5 stars although it doesn’t apply to me, a suburban dweller with not enough sun to grow a tomato. But I am a passionate environmentalist and I see the importance of Brown’s message to the thousands of farmers and ranchers who manage our vast agricultural acreage. Interestingly, Brown focuses not only on restoring the land, but restoring communities. Farmers and ranchers, year-by-year, find that their sons and daughters do not want to stay on the land. When the older generation dies, the land is sold and becomes increasingly consolidated into enormous operations. Rural communities are experiencing death by a thousand cuts. The author links the health of the soil to the health of the crops, the health of consumers, and the health of farmers and their communities. It is the ultimate holistic message. I wish Gabe Godspeed in spreading this important message to those who need to hear it.
• 
  Connor FitzGerald

  A clean, simple & practical take on soil health and regenerative agricultural practices. For Gabe Brown, the "proof" is well and truly "in the pudding" when it comes to the huge turnaround in productivity and profitability he has experienced by focusing on the soil, as well as being prepared to divert from traditional industrial agricultural practices. Worth a read if you're interested on what's happening on the frontier of regenerating soil health or you're a city-dweller who likes to stay informed about te future of food production.
• 
  D. Orion

  This book is so powerful, because its one of the only books on the topic of regenerative agriculture written by a farmer who lives and breaths it.
• 
  Braydon Phillips

  My first read on the topic of regenerative Ag. An honest account of Gabe Brown managing his land in the conventional way, how it almost lead to his failure and how he found regenerative principles. I didn't realize how important soil quality is and how much conventional farming damages the land.
  
  If we care about fixing our environment, we not only need a sustainable food system but one that actually regenerates the land back to health and puts carbon back into the soil. That requires we stop cheating with petrochemical fertilizers, put grazing animals back on the land and stop tillage which destroys the homes for the vast microbiology in the soil. We need to create ecosystems with massive diversity of plant and animal life.
  
  If you care about human health at all its interesting to note most conventional food products are grown on nutrient-depleted soil from planting the same crop continuously and not caring for the health of the soil. Whereas Gabe's farm and others like it has much higher nutrient density in their products.
• 
  Ruth

  I borrowed this book from my fiance's grandma- a matriarch of North Dakotan farming who said this book has changed her perspective on the industry. I wasn't sure what to expect, but absolutely loved this read. Brown writes simply and clearly as he tells his family's journey to regenerative ag practices. This book is part narrative, part practical information, and Brown does it all with heart.
  
  
  "The prevailing system of agriculture does not provide the means to intensify food and fiber production without degrading the soil resource."
  
  "If you want to make small changes, change how you do things; if you want to make major changes, change how you see things." -Don Campbell
• 
  Erin

  My heritage is very rooted in agriculture, but I'm pretty out of my depth in this area... much to the amusement of certain family members. Reading this was a good chance for me to learn and to reinforce the idea that there is a lot of science and a lot of business that goes into running a family farm these days. I was pleased to see all the focus on sustainability - more from an ecological standpoint for me, but I agree with the author that efforts in ecological sustainability need to be economically sustainable as well, particularly for smaller farms that don't have vast resources we see in Big Ag.
  
• 
  Pat Loughery

  This book was not what I expected and not what I thought I was getting into, but super exciting. Gabe Brown describes his journey into regenerative agriculture, based upon building healthy soil that follows the natural ecosystem of his land. As a backyard gardener, I’m not working at a scale but learned a ton of things. Not much about chaos gardening, which is why I thought I was reading the book :-), but a ton of things.
• 
  Mikaela C.

  After a seemingly endless and difficult semester, this informative, beautiful book reminded me of why I do what I do, and what a worthwhile pursuit it is during our short time on Earth. Thank you Gabe Brown!
  
  “But ask the beasts and they will teach you, the birds of the heavens and they will tell you, or speak to the earth and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you.” Job 12:7-8
• 
  The

  I'm a city kid trying to learn more about farming and ag practices. This book was a fascinating eye opener. Gabe talks about transitioning from plow/till to no till to full on regenerative farming using animals, cover crops and cash crops. Also discussed, why farming has died down as an occupation. Banks and big ag and their influence on ag including destructive techniques, and so many other ag concerns and topics. It was really eye opening for me. Whether you're a farmer it a city kid interested in the topic, no doubt you'll find this an interesting read.
• 
  Kolumbina

  An interesting book.
  Regenerative agriculture but also many other life messages.
  A bit repetitive, still useful.
• 
  Valdis Reķis

  Mazliet cits skats uz lauksaimniecību. Viela pārdomām par tradicionāli lietoto metožu efektivitāti
• 
  William Schrecengost

  Really good. The second half is more detailed than I could follow very well on audio, but still excellent. Care for the earth as a true steward of God caring for his creation.
• 
  John Harris

  Excellent book that is really designed for people who have commerical farms but too good not to read
• 
  Patina Malinalli

  Do you feel like you're a failure at gardening? It actually may be easier to fix than you think. The topsoil has been removed from much of the dirt in America, but it can be resolved with little actual effort (although some work is required). Gale Brown shares his experiences about regenerative agriculture (turning useless dirt into productive living soil) and gives excellent advice on how to become a productive gardener or farmer. Five stars!
• 
  Ella

  A positive and informative read making it clear how farmers can make change happen to support the environment, their land and their own profitability. Told from a personal perspective with a huge amount of heart this book makes regenerative agriculture accessible to anyone.
• 
  Deb

  I ended up with this book by accident since it was an item at a silent auction fundraiser I was attending, and, since no one had placed a bid on it, I penciled in a starter bid to get things rolling. Yes, well .....
  So now I own a book about regenerative agriculture, something I know very little about (being a city girl and all). But, when you own a book, what you do is read it. And I did. It's written like a "how-to" manual, which, I guess, is really what it is. The author gets a little preachy at times but I found the book to be both instructive and intriguing. And now I know a little bit more about regenerative agriculture.
• 
  Dale

  Wow. I learned so much from this! You don’t need to be a farmer to take a lot from this book. I live in a highly agricultural area of Australia and I drive past bare fields and plough working daily. I can’t stand to see it knowing what Gabe has taught me! Regenerative agriculture makes me hopeful for a better future planet, healthier and happier humans and animals. No matter the question, the answer is soil.
• 
  Sofiya

  Great book dealing with commercial (large scale) agriculture. Emphasis on growing traditional crops and cattle. Focus is more on principles of regenerative agriculture than a “how to” guide to regenerative agriculture. Easy read and very straightforward.
  
  I like how the book illuminates current commercial farming practices. And their story of moving away from these traditional practices.
  
  Things that stand out (in no particular order)
  1) The principles work for large scale agriculture (1000s of acres not small farms (ex: farms less than 100 acres) —> Like Restoration Agriculture )
  2) The use of cover crops to feed the soil
  3) The use of cattle to improve soil (grazing herbivores —> like Wilding )
  4) They don’t apply any fertilizer and (rarely) spray pesticides
  5) Regenerative agriculture is financially profitable. Also, in some case their yields exceed the yields of conventional agriculture.
  6) The emphasis on supporting the life in the soil and agricultural practices that improve the soil
  7) The internship for helping young people get into farming (A problem also identified in The Unsettling of America )
  8) Emphasis on plant diversity (even if it seeding 12 plant varieties in the cover crop)
  9) It uses a no till to build soil and is strongly against disturbing the soil (Contrasted with Restoration Agriculture which does disturb the soil to build soil)
  
  
  Also the story with the loss of 8 inches of topsoil is insane.
  
  Also Gabe Brown is from the city which is interesting to note.
  
  I found this book through Wilding by Isabella Tree
  
  Note: There is nothing about permaculture