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

This incredible story of failure of conventional farming to success in carbon based farming is exactly what this family has been looking for. My wife and I have been wanting to farm for a very long time. Things never did sit right with me while learning about conventional farming. As we thought of a way we could make a living on 5 acers we looked at many different ideas. My wife started looking into fungi and that started the ball rolling. Gabe Brown along with a few others mentioned in this book are on the cutting edge of tomorrows health of the planet. I am a FEIRCE defender of the American Farmer. What they have done to feed the world is nothing short of amazing. I love farmers. The work involved is never ending and unforgiving. As we start out in our farming future the work getting started is immense without question. However conventional farming has run its course. I would never had said that 1 year ago. Gabe has inspired my wife and I to fully adapt to this new way of farming and this book has given us the tools and knowledge on how to make things run like the good lord (I believe) on how it should be done. Imagine no more praying for rain or a dry spell. Imagine not having to pay a vet or by tons of chemicals to make your crops grow. Joel Saladin got us thinking and Gabe pretty much put an end to all conversations for us about how things should be going forward. Mother earth needs to be nurtured not high on Chems. The last frontier is under your feet. What we are learning about fungi, microbes, root systems will blow your mind. That dirt under your feet has trillions of unnamed animals that we are JUST NOW starting to study and trying to understand. I had know idea. Maintaining the life under our feet will soon be the norm, maybe not in my life time but my children's for sure. I think EVERY human being should read this book and dive head first into the shared resources Gabe provides. The networking that goes on between plants in a healthy soil is beyond anything I could have ever imagined. Now I find myself gorging on the references that Gabe provides. Gabe Brown and his family suffered immensely but his willingness, gumption and FAITH to want his dream to become a successful rancher has give the world a gift. A gift that he is willing to share with the world. We should be so thankful to this man and his amazing family. Gabe and his family are making a huge difference on this planet. Thinking outside of the conventional farming doesn't make Gabe popular with the chem companies or the big tractor guys but what is does do is make Gabe and his family healthy wealthy and wise. Even if you are not into farming but are curious about these new brave and cutting edge farmers this book should inspire you to help bring attention to the masses of what it can be and should be the future of farming. I now know that it is really possible for us to make a very good living off of a little piece of this planet. Gabe gave us to knowledge and the resources to turn this old conventional farm land into a lush paradise for all things nature brings to a healthy vibrant "soil". I am begging you to spread this books and its knowledge to every human being you know. Guys like Gabe are taking the arrows for the future. Change is hard especially if you get free money from the Gov to keep on doing what you are doing. But we can change that by simply supporting this man and the people who follow Gabe's way of farming and ranching. Our planet depends on us to help the staunches foes to Gabe's way and many others to correct the path they are on. We Can Do this. Gabe! Your book changed me. The inspiration you have provided us can not be measured on any scale. Sir I can not ever thank you enough. I can name a few books that have change my way of thinking. This book should be in EVERY human beings bookshelf. God Bless You Sir and your Amazing Family

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.

IMO this was a great book. Discussed how one family moved from traditional farming to regenerative farming, I would hope all farmers would read this and move away from big corporate farming to the more sustainable and planet friendly regenerating farming

This is an easy-to-read story and guide for anyone wanting to know more about organic gardening, both for consumers wanting to understand the benefit of buying organic fruits and vegetables at the grocer’s, and for farmers interested in learning how to make a profit. Author Gabe Brown willingly shares his knowledge and tells the story of how he and his family weathered hard times before starting down the path to both healthy and sustainable crops, i.e., regenerative agriculture. But, as he likes to point out, his initial four years of financial disaster were what ultimately helped him to see the overall picture and start learning what would and would not work on a farm for him, his family, and his son who inherited his dad’s love of farming. Brown learned from other farmers who were also experimenting and, like him, had ‘learned the hard way’. He consulted scientists and specialists. He read voraciously. He didn’t have any trouble raising cattle, but the dirt on his farm was unhealthy, had few worms, and there were plenty of other indicators that he needed to make a change from traditional farming methods. He ultimately learned to plant cover crops, saw that tilling dried out the soil, became adept at pasture management, realized the value of planting multiple species of forage crops similar to the varied plants living in harmony on the plains, and that fertilizing naturally instead of using synthetic was the way to go. Over time he stopped using herbicides and insecticides and found his fields were producing more and healthier foods. With his son, they expanded to additional animals, such as chickens and pigs, and to more diverse cultivation, such as fruit trees and bees. He explains, in layman’s terms, holistic management, bale grazing, and the value and roles of carbon and mycorrhizae. The color pictures in the center of the book tell the story as well. Ironically, when Brown’s son attended college, he was surprised to see that his professors were still espousing traditional methods. Brown has realized he can play an active role in educating farmers interested in learning about a healthy ecosystem for a farm. He travels and gives presentations and his farm hosts internships yearly.

Very good ideas that should be at least tried on some kind of scale on every farm. It all might not work for your operation but very interesting regardless

Wonderful & well written book

When the book began (I combined listening with the audible and reading using sometimes just the audible and other times both audible and marking up while reading.) I thought I’m not a livestock farmer, is this book for me? However, as I progressed through the book my interest grew as I realized this was about a way we can save our health by saving our soil. I do a little organic gardening and picked up some very useful ideas from this book such as the no till, cover crop cocktails and no bare soil principle, use of plant variety and more. More exciting however was the idea of how Gabe’s ideas and experiences could dramatically reduce and eliminate chemical fertilizers and not only improve the soil but also the crops and animals grown and grazed on that soil. The author read the book and was an easy listen too. A mind opener that I found both useful and inspiring. Farmers should read this one and discover some new ideas for getting out of the cycle of dependence on big agriculture which has them stuck in a never ending cycle of chemical based agriculture which is killing both their soils and their profits. And most don’t seem to even know it. Too bad. It would make farming more fun, improve their bottom line as Gabe did and help save our soils, planet and health. Sure hope they catch on soon.

This was an incredible, easy to understand book. I am a newish (5th year) gardener and hope to be a full-time homesteader (and maybe farmer) in the future. I started implementing some of the methods laid out in this book, with our home garden. This method of growing is less work, more fun and better for the earth. These methods have cut my garden "work" down substantially, and has made gardening far more enjoyable. Preparing my garden boxes takes me a fraction of the time that it used to, and I spend much less money adding new compost. I don't have animals to help me, so I utilize the chop and drop method, and that has been working great. Thank you for writing this book :)

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

its unusual for me to read a book to the end. but Dirt to Soil was very informative and inspiring. First time I've heard about the real damage conventional farming is doing to the soil. Soil is really our life blood... I was surprised at how much conventional farmers rely solely on chemicals to increase yield. And that not many of them think about nutrient density. I was inspired to know that many farmers are transitioning to regenerative agriculture. Everywhere I look these days people are spraying chemicals even on their grass and gardens let alone their vege patches. Its a no brainer really, spray toxic chemicals on our food would have to then impact negatively people's health. And we must question why so many are getting sicker and sicker. A great book about one farmers journey from conventional to regenerative farming. Love it!

Excelente libro, muy inspirador. Te lleva en una historia de cómo llevo su rancho hasta donde lo tiene hoy con las prácticas de manejo holístico. Es excelente también que haga referencia a otros autores/libros y personas que también se encuentran en el medio realizando las mismas prácticas. Recomiendo este libro, sin duda.

Som jordbruksekolog ser jag denna bok som mycket tungt vägande. Det enda som jag saknar är klargörande att ettåriga grödor har liten förnybar andel räknat I alla led. Annars är genomlysningen utmärkt och är en bra inspiration vad jag slutligen kan göra på min egen gård. Bästa Hälsningar Bo Falk

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