Dirt to Soil

One Family’s Journey into Regenerative Agriculture

By: Gabe Brown

Narrated by: Gabe Brown

Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

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 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.

In Dirt to Soil, Gabe Brown tells the story of that amazing journey and offers a wealth of innovative solutions to our most pressing and complex contemporary agricultural challenge - restoring the soil. The Brown’s Ranch model, developed over 20 years of experimentation and refinement, focuses on regenerating resources by continuously enhancing the living biology in the soil.

Using regenerative agricultural principles, Brown’s 5,000-acre ranch has grown several inches of new topsoil in only 20 years! The key is how we think, Brown says. In the industrial agricultural model, all thoughts are focused on killing things. But that mind-set 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."

©2018 Gabe Brown (P)2018 Chelsea Green Publishing

A must read for anyone interested in regenerative agriculture.

Gabe it does a wonderful job telling his life story while teaching us the fundamentals of regenerative agriculture. Very engaging and entertaining while extremely educational at the same time. He uses his own as well as many others stories illustrate the importance of integrating livestock into agricultural production methods for growing food crops. Gabe’s passion comes through and his “can-do“ attitude is refreshing in today’s climate of negativity and pessimism.

Fantastic book!

This is exactly what needs to be heard around the world. I live in the country and know many farmers. I see how the damage to ecosystems. The lakes and ponds continue to be damaged from fertilizer and pesticide runoff. We always comment that something needs to change but always wonder how it is possible. Gabe Brown's story is proof that it can work and work well. I am excited to start my new garden after this book! I suffered for many years from digestive issues from the Standard American diet. I have only finally healed myself by going back to real God food and lifestyle. Please read and share this book. Do something!

MUST LISTEN!!!

Truly amazing and informative! You will learn so much about soil. Check out Advancing Eco Agriculture website.

I am now a fan of Gabe

Impressive and gives me hope to turn this farm around we just purchased.
Thank you Gabe

Excellent book.

Great follow up to David Montgomery and Anne Bikle's books. It is good to here this information delivered concisely from a farmer/rancher's point of view.

great book!

awesome books everyone should read this book and consider their methods of their WHOLE LIFE!

Exactly what I needed

I was looking for some data on regenerative farming grains and surprisingly this is exactly what I've found in this book. Thank you Gabe

This story is the framework for success in farming

If you plan on starting a small farm you need to read this book. If you plan on starting a backyard garden or orchard, you need to read this book. The message of this book is simple but many people overlook it for their entire life.

Even if you don’t farm, this is a brilliant story and education.

Thank you for telling your story, the story of your family and farm. It is the journey from conventional farming to deliberate permaculture farming over the course of 25 or so years. I live in the pacific north west, in Canada and even so I learned tons and was interested the entire time. Enough science and explanation in combination with observation that it is not difficult to keep going.

Not a professional narrator but it is the author and so I would rather have the expert explain. :)

One of the best books on regenerative agriculture

Very well written, full of insight into the authors journey from conventional to regenerative agriculture. A must read for anyone interested in the future of farming!