Dirt to Soil: One Family's Journey into Regenerative Agriculture (Paperback) - Gabe Brown

At the turn of the 1990s, Gabe Brown and his wife, Shelly, bought a farm near Bismarck, North Dakota and began growing grains and raising cattle using heavy tillage, herbicides, insecticides, and artificial fertilizer. Brown demonstrates in Dirt to Soil his tried-and-true solutions to our most pressing and complex contemporary agricultural challenge, which lies right beneath our feet.

'Dirt to Soil is the [regenerative farming] movements's holy text' The Observer

Author 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 Translation

Soil 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.

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.