Podcasts about revolution bringing our soil back

Oh hey, it's Mimi again. Gotcha two for the price of one today, because we're speaking with David Montgomery and Anne Biklé. I'm sure they don't need an introduction, because I know at least some of you all will have at least one of their books in your exhaustive libraries. If you haven't heard of them, David and Anne are married, live in Seattle, and are a pair of writers. To quote them, "Dave is a broad-minded geologist and Anne is a free-range biologist with a bad case of plant lust." If that doesn't make you want to hang out with them, I don't know how much better I'm going to be able to do. The reason I wanted to talk to them is not just because their book,  What Your Food Ate, just came out, but also because they have a really great way of going back through the membrane of time and looking at some of the origins of our understanding about the connections between plants, soil microbiology, and our own health. I can't recommend the books highly enough. Dave's mustache is also the mustache to end all mustaches.  A list of some of their amazing works... What Your Food Ate: How to Heal Our Land and Reclaim Our Health (2022) The Hidden Half of Nature: The Microbial Roots of Life and Health (2015) Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life (2017) Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations (2008) Folks who make the show possible... Certified Naturally Grown grassroots, peer-to-peer, holistic certification. Johnny's Selected Seeds vegetable, flower, and cover crop seeds. BCS America for two wheel tractors + implements. RIMOL Greenhouses quality greenhouses and high-tunnels. ... and, as always, our work is powered by the folks who support us every month over at patreon.com/notillgrowers, you can pick up a copy of The Living Soil Handbook if you don't have one already, as well as a No-Till Growers hat, and you can ask you questions or share your insights into ecological market gardening on our brand new forum at notillgrowers.community.chat  

To learn more about Anne & David, visit their website dig2grow.com.The Hidden Half of Nature is available on Amazon:  https://amzn.to/3SUrlmrWhat Your Food Ate: How to Heal Our Land and Reclaim Our Health is available on Amazon:  https://amzn.to/3rOadmGGrowing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life is available on Amazon:  https://amzn.to/3RLVh2QDirt: The Erosion of Civilizations is available on Amazon:  https://amzn.to/3rJMcwT

Anne Biklé and Dave Montgomery are a husband and wife team and authors of the newly released What Your Food Ate and the trilogy: Dirt: the Erosion of Civilizations, the Hidden Half of Nature, and Growing a Revolution. Together, with Anne's lens of biology, and David's lens of geology, they explore the topics of soil, land, and human health. In this episode, we explore all things soil. Starting with an exploration of how many dynamics between organisms above ground feel combative, but life beneath the soil is truly collaborative. Anne and Dave explore nutrient cycles and how nutrition in the form of minerals is liberated from rocks by microbial and fungal life and recycled through time. We also explore how plants and animals (including humans) get their nutrition. Anne and Dave touch on the state of our soils and what it means to have lost around half of our soil organic matter in a short amount of time and what we can do about it. Touched on are ideas around taking a long view, and how we can do that with our own health and land health and how the history of the treatment of soil might teach us a little bit more about looking into the future. We look at not just regenerative agriculture, but also the impacts of chemical and mechanized agriculture. Ultimately, Anne and Dave guide us towards the future and just how much hope and resiliency nature is capable of. We also talk about: Policy changes informing changes in practice Boom and bust cycles of agriculture and civilization & so much more Find Anne + Dave: Twitter: @dig2grow Website: dig2grow.com Anne + Dave's Books (in order - but can absolutely be read independently): Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations The Hidden Half of Nature: The Microbial Roots of Life and Health Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life What Your Food Ate: How to Heal Our Land and Reclaim Our Health Related Ground Work Episodes: Stephan van Vliet (for more on phytochemicals and the dark matter of nutrition) Brad Marshall (for more on omega 3:omega 6 ratios) Alicia Brown (for more on no till agriculture and growing for nutrients) Current Discounts for GW listeners: 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15 Join the Ground Work Collective: Instagram: @groundworkcollective Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com More: groundworkcollective.com Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer Episode Webpage

Today, we're speaking with geologist David Montgomery, co-author with Anne Bikle of a new book called "What Your Food Ate." Very interesting title. David is professor in the College of the Environment at the University of Washington and earlier had been awarded a MacArthur fellowship. You may already be familiar with him through his acclaimed book called "Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations." Dr. Montgomery has long argued that the root of good health begins with dirt, a factor that we ignore at our peril. Interview Summary   Well, I really admire your work, and this work in this area is so important. We've recorded a number of episodes around the issue of regenerative agriculture, and it's been impressive how much interest there is in this topic, which I think, only a few years ago, wasn't very well known to most people but now is becoming more part of the general discussion, which I see as a very positive development. Let's begin with your interest in dirt. So what is the condition of the Earth's dirt?   Well, sad to say, not very good in terms of our agricultural soils in particular. That's something as a geologist, that's what got me interested in soils is looking at the long history of human interaction with our landscapes and soils and ended up writing a history of farming about how it had degraded farmland around the world over the course of centuries. The short answer is that we have degraded something between about ¼ to 1/3, probably, of the world's potentially viable agricultural land to the point where it's not terribly useful for agriculture. The UN's 2015 Global State of the Soil report concluded we are losing about a third of a percent a year of our ability to grow food on this planet due to ongoing soil loss and degradation. So the physical erosion of the soil and the degradation of its fertility as manifests through the loss of soil organic matter. And, that 0.3% a year number doesn't sound like a big deal on a year to year basis. But think about that over the rest of this century, and it adds up to almost another 1/3 of the world's farmland taken out of production at a time when we really need all hands on deck or all acres on deck, as it may be, to feed the world as our population keeps growing. So, we face a fundamental challenge this century of how to sustain agriculture on a degrading resource base. Our other choice is to think about trying to improve, enhance and restore the soil. That is where regenerative agriculture comes in and where my interest has really grown beyond just looking at the sad experience of past civilizations that degraded their land. And to thinking about possible solutions that will allow humanity to continue intensive agriculture to feed the world well into the future.   So what are some of the factors that have driven the erosion and the degradation?   One of the biggest factors that contributed to the loss of topsoil in societies around the world was tillage, the act of plowing. That seems a little odd to hear at first because isn't that something that farmers do? It helps to provide weed control. It helps to prepare a seed bed for planting, but it also leaves the ground bear and vulnerable to erosion by water and wind until the next plants come in, whether it's a crop or whether it's weeds. If you leave the ground bare and vulnerable, you get the erosional situation like we saw in the Dust Bowl where great clouds of dust blew off the American Midwest when we plowed up the plains when the next drought came in. The same kind of thing happened in slower motion in societies in the past, mostly in response to rain rather than wind, but erosion that proceeded faster than the rebuilding of the soil gradually stripped off the top soil from regions around the world that people depended on to grow their food. And in the modern world, we can actually degrade soil faster with the combination of tillage, the over application of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, which also contribute to decline in soil organic matter, and the concentration on monocultures can also reduce the release of exudates that plants produce and drip into the soils to feed microbes around their roots. That combination is all resulted in degradation of soil organic matter and the loss of topsoil, soil erosion in many parts of the world. So the very foundation, if you will, of modern conventional agriculture, intensive tillage, lots of agrichemical use, and monocultures has helped to undermine the native fertility of the farmland that future generations globally are going to depend on for their food. So one of the questions I've been wrestling with and how I got into looking at regenerative agriculture was how could that process be turned around? How could we actually sustain intensive farming and not degrade the land? Is it possible to actually engage in intensive farming that could improve the health of the world's soils? That started to turn me into an optimist when I ran into farmers, interviewed farmers, and studied their farms where they had indeed done that.   It is impressive to hear those stories. We've had a number of such farmers doing podcasts, and it's very inspiring to talk to them. So let's just take one piece of what you said, the use of tillage. You hear the term no-till farming. What does that mean? What does that look like?   - [David] Yeah, so that would be farming without plowing, and so the challenge is how do you get the seeds into the ground? How do you prepare a field for planting if you still have the remains of last year's crop on it, the so-called crop residue? Over the last century, people have invented new and different farm implements and machines, and there are no-till planters that can actually put seeds down into the soil in narrow little trenches that get good contact between the seed and the seed bed but don't require essentially inverting the soil. They don't rip it all up. They just disturb a little narrow slot to actually get seeds in the ground. What that also allows is keeping the residue from a prior crop as essentially a mulch. If you knock it down, if you kill any weeds that were there physically and knock them down, crimp their stems, you can convert them into mulch that can help keep moisture in the soil, but it also protects the soil from erosion. No-till farming is a way of farming that minimizes the physical disturbance of the soil, and you need different equipment to do it and a different mindset to do it, but it's very feasible to do, and there's lots of different ways to do it. Some farmers use a lot of herbicides to control their weeds in no till. That is the conventional way to do it, but there's others who are pioneering different techniques that don't require the use of a lot of herbicides to do no till. The basic idea of no till is to minimize the disturbance of the soil, and why is that important? Because it enhances the beneficial aspects of soil biology. It allows the natural soil ecology that really evolved in the last 450 million years since plants colonized the continents to work. Soil microbes have these partnerships that evolved between plants and life and the soil that are mutually beneficial. And if you disturb the soil physically, you disturb a lot of the fungal partners that crops are trying to invest in with some of their early growth.   I know the regenerative agriculture approach wasn't called this going back hundreds of years but been used by populations around the world, including Native Americans, but if we fast forward today, do you think that this holds promise for being done on a broad enough scale to really make a social difference?   Yes, I really do. What is different today is that in the past, these practices of crop rotations and of planting legumes in and amongst crops to get nitrogen into the soil, those are not new ideas. They have been traditional ideas in many societies around the world because they worked to help sustain the fertility of the soil. But, what I think we really have the opportunity to do now is to combine some of that ancient wisdom with the modern technology that allows us to do no till at scale. And, to minimize our use of not only physical disturbance from adopting no till but also to minimize the chemical disturbance that comes with the overuse of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers and pesticides. Combining the modern technology with ancient wisdom can allow us to basically expand the realm of regenerative practices to very large-scale farming because unless we all want to become farmers, we're not going to be able to do small-scale regenerative farming and feed the world. Even though most of the world's population is fed by small-scale farmers, those of us in the westernized world relying on very few people to feed very many of us. I've been on regenerative farms that are up to 20,000 acres in the US; big, large mechanized farms that have done an amazing job at rebuilding the fertility of their land. I've also been on very small-scale subsistence farms in equatorial West Africa that are regenerative that have done an amazing job at rebuilding the fertility of their land. Those three general principles of minimizing disturbance, growing cover crop, always keeping living roots in the ground to provide exudates to feed the microbes, and to grow a diversity of plants. That recipe is a combination of principles that different kinds of practices would need to be used on large farms or small farms or high tech farms and manual labor subsistence farms, but the general underlying philosophy of cultivating the beneficial life in the soil underpins all those. And that's how I tend to look at what I would call regenerative agriculture, are farming practices that are tailored to the size of the farm, the environment, the climate, the crops that farmers want to grow, the technology they have access to, but that prioritizes building the health of the soil as the foundation for the farm.   It's nice to hear such a positive outlook on this. You are painting the picture saying that it can be done. Do you think it can be done in a way that can compete cost wise with traditional approaches to farming?   Absolutely, and that was a big focus of what I wrote about in "Growing a Revolution." If you could tell a farmer that you could cut their fertilizer costs, cut their diesel costs, cut their pesticide costs as much as in half, they all start looking at you like going, "Yeah, tell me more. How would you do that?" That's one of the key attractions, I think, of regenerative agriculture. Once the soil is restored to a healthier state, you don't need as much fertilizer. You don't need as many pesticides, and you don't drive tractors around as much if you're doing no till. What are three of the biggest costs on modern farms in north America? Well, fertilizer, diesel, and pesticide. And so if you can teach farmers a different way of farming that starts with a different way of looking at the soil and adopting a different series of practices that allows them to harvest as much while spending less to do it, it's a recipe for a more profitable farm. And for what I've seen in the experience of the pioneering regenerative farmers that I've interviewed, once they've restored fertility to their land, their yields are comparable to, if not better than, their conventional neighbors, and their expenses are less. That's what started turning me into an optimist on this is I've seen a lot of growing interest in farming communities simply because farmers are pushed to the wall and looking for ways to cut costs.   That's so exciting to hear that, and then, of course, at some point government could subsidize these sort of approaches to make it even more cost effective because of the environmental benefits.   There are all kinds of add-ons in terms of benefits, less offsite nitrogen pollution, greater on-farm biodiversity, enhancements to rural economies, and also differences in what gets into the food that we grow that could potentially benefit human health.   I have a million questions to ask you. We've talked about the vitality and health of the soil. Let's talk about the vitality and health of what's being grown in the soil, that is the nutrient quality of the foods. In the book, you note that produces significantly less nutrient dense than in the past. How much is this true, and how less dense is it?   Yes. That's a great question. So one of the things we really delved into in "What Your Food Ate" because it is a central question to thinking about, well, does soil health mattered to human health? And the conclusion we came away with in diving into the peer reviewed literature and doing some of food testing of our own, was that there's three key areas where the nutrient density, shall we say, of food has suffered over the last half century. And that's in terms of mineral micronutrients, phytochemicals, and the fat profiles of our meat and dairy. So how does that work? Well, in terms of mineral micronutrients, a lot of plants partner with fungal communities in the soil to actually trade sugars and fats and proteins. Plants will drip those out of their roots to feed microbes in the soil in exchange for those microbes, particularly fungi, giving back things like zinc or copper or iron mined from the soil. It's literally an underground economy but where both partners benefit from the exchanges, and conventional agricultural practices disturb those relationships. We're not talking so much about the major nutrient composition of foods as much as the micronutrients. Plants have different gene pathways where if they're grown in very nitrogen-rich environments, they shut down their exudate production. So they stop feeding their microbial partners. Their microbial partners aren't on the job to give them the mineral micronutrients that they need and that turn out to be very important for our health, too, when we eat them. Plants also make what are known as phytochemicals in response greatly to environmental stimuli, some of which are microbes in the soil. And so the communities of life around their roots are actually key partners in terms of making things that we don't often consider nutrients in the nutritional sciences, but they're important for maintaining human health, things like antioxidants, anti-inflammatories. Those are examples of the functions phytochemicals can serve in our bodies, and our farming practices have disrupted them. How much they have disrupted them? There are studies that show differences on the orders of 50 to 100%, others that are more like 20%. Most of the studies and the testing that we did as well make it look like it's more like around 20%-ish. It's modest but very real differences in these compounds that the medical sciences have shown are fairly beneficial to promoting human health in our diets.   So can I assume from what you're saying that there's research now showing that if you use better soil practices a la regenerative agriculture, that the nutrient quality improves?   Yes, it's a nontrivial difference. And the other difference, even bigger, is looking at the ratio of the composition of fats in meat and dairy in terms of the omega-6 and omega-3 fats. To make a very simple generalization, omega-6 fats in our bodies are instrumental in initiating inflammation whereas omega-3 fats are instrumental in quelling or reducing inflammation. It turns out that what we get in terms of the fat composition in our meat and dairy products very much depends on what the cows ate that produce that meat and dairy. Cows that grazed leafy green plants, actually grazing out in a pasture, they eat a lot of omega-3s because that's what's in the leaves of plants because omega-3s are central to photosynthesis. Omega-6s are a very rich in seed sources. They serve different purposes in seeds. Cattle that are on a feed lot diet of seed-derived feeds are rich in omega-6s, and our diet has gone from having just a few more omega-6s than omega-3s in our diet 100 years ago. Now we're awash in omega-6s from that change in our meat and dairy and also the addition of seed oils to processed foods. That trade we write about in the book that translates through, we think, to essentially how so many of us are dealing with chronic maladies that are rooted in chronic inflammation.   Another way to really move this along might be for consumers to begin requesting products that are grown in such a way, and so I'm wondering about your opinion on whether a poll from consumers might help here. Do you think there could come a time when that would be the case?   I absolutely do, in fact. I just noticed in Anne and my own buying habits. So we started doing this research and learning what it was we did along the way, our buying habits have changed. So we're buying 100% grass fed meat and dairy when we can. We've tried to connect with farmers whose practices we really like in terms of the produce we can buy at farmer's markets here in Seattle where we live. Now the average consumer faces a challenge today in terms of what's labeled as what in a grocery store, but it's our hope that people will start thinking more about these connections, start asking questions, ask the produce manager at your store, "What are the farms doing that you're getting the produce from?" I could definitely see a world in the not too distant future where consumers may be armed with the ability to know what the analyses of different batches of produce coming in.   And I wonder if the first movement here might not be from institutions, that a school system or a hospital or the procurement part of a city or county government, if they made purchasing decisions based on nutrient quality and, of course, the practices used to grow the food could make a big difference.   I think that is a tremendous idea that I think could be very impactful, and I think you're right, that that could be where you might see some of the biggest pieces of movement. There is also been some corporations that have been interested in trying to move towards adopting and advertising that they have adopted regenerative sourcing in some of their ingredients. I really see three areas that need attention in terms of advancing regenerative agriculture. Consumer demand is one, as we have been discussing. The inherent farmers' incentives in terms of economics that we discussed earlier is another. The third is in terms of rethinking our agricultural subsidies and policies to actually reward farmers who are rebuilding the health and fertility of their land. Those who are reinvesting in the future of America, quite literally, instead of continuing to subsidize conventional practices that frankly degrade the fertility of the land and the ability of future generations to feed themselves. If we could get all three of those areas lined up working towards the same goal of making what we call regenerative agriculture today the conventional agriculture of tomorrow, that could literally change the world in the coming decades. It's not going to happen fast, but I think it's something that could be done over the course of two or three decades at a time when we really need the change.   Well, especially if the right research got done at the right time. For example, I could imagine going back to school systems. Let's say that a school system changes its buying practices and ends up buying more nutrient-dense foods and then proves that there are beneficial outcomes for the kids, like better performance in school and more attention and things like that. Then you could see a lot of adopters coming pretty quickly.   Yes, I would love to see a lot more research along those lines done. We tried to connect the dots in "What Your Food Ate" from soil health to crop health to animal health to human health, but there's a lot of space between those dots and a lot of work that needs to be done, but it's a very promising area and a new way to think about those connections.   Could we talk about livestock for another minute? You mentioned this earlier, and it sounds like there's a lot of promise using these techniques for livestock production. Most people think of plant production here, but livestock are really important as context as well. Are there places where livestock and plant-based agriculture are interacting with each other in this context?   Yes, some of the farmers I visited were reintegrating animal husbandry into their cropping operations and having their cattle graze off their cover crops and then manure their fields. I came from a position where I had long thought of cattle in particular as harmful to the land through gully formation and erosion from overgrazing. The farmers that I visited who have used cattle to rebuild the fertility of their soils were really grazing in a very different manner, in a different style that enhanced the fertility of their land as a result of reintegrating them. I think one of the big inadvertent mistakes of 20th century agriculture was essentially separating animal husbandry from cropping and encouraging farmers to specialize in one or the other. Now we have the perverse situation where we grow a whole lot of corn using practices that degrade the fertility of the land to feed cattle and feed lots who then are full of omega-6s that degrade our health when we eat them. It makes no sense in terms of large-scale agricultural policy unless you are thinking with the mid-20th century mindset of maximizing efficiency and industrializing and separating those corners of agriculture. What we inadvertently did is we broke some of the biological and ecological connections that helped keep the land fertile and that were result of the integration of animal husbandry and cropping practices. That's another example, I think, of the value of potentially reintegrating some elements of ancient wisdom with modern science to think about doing things a little differently.   Let me end with this question, and I want to see if I'm reading you right. It sounds like if you look at the world's situation with dirt agriculture, it is a pretty dire picture, getting worse quickly, and it could go really badly if nothing is done, but it also sounds like you're very optimistic. There is a lot we know about what can be done, a lot of it is being done, and the signs for the future are positive. Am I reading that right?   I am optimistic about this. I struggle with how much of that optimism is a choice rather than a logical extension of what I know. But I think we know enough now about techniques that can rebuild fertility of the land and restore it that it's feasible to see a path forward where we could do that at scale with very positive results that could also put a lot of carbon back in the world's agricultural soils, which would have ancillary climate benefits. It's not going to solve the climate problem. That's a fossil fuel issue primarily, but it could help. Back when I wrote "Dirt" in 2007, I think it was, there was hardly anybody talking about soil health and the long-term importance of reinvesting in the world's agricultural soils to rebuild their fertility, and now almost every farming conference I go to or get invited to speak at, that's one of the big topics of discussion among farmers. And there's now discussion at policy level in terms of the new Farm Bill that climate activists are interested in. There's a lot of very broad, I think, public support and interest coalescing around the idea that one of the smartest things we could do for the future of our own species and for the health of the planet is to reinvest in the health and the fertility of our agricultural soils.   Bio   David R. Montgomery is a Professor of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington. He studies the evolution of topography and the influence of geomorphological processes on ecological systems and human societies. He received his B.S. in geology at Stanford University (1984) and his Ph.D. in geomorphology from UC Berkeley (1991). Current research includes field projects in the Philippines, eastern Tibet, and the Pacific Northwest of North America. In 2008 Montgomery received a MacArthur Fellowship. His books, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations, King of Fish, and The Rocks Don't Lie have all won the Washington State Book Award in General Nonfiction. Montgomery's Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life, was a finalist for the PEN/E.O. Wilson award for Literary Science Writing. His latest work with W. W. Norton, What Your Food Ate: How to Heal Our Land and Reclaim our Health, published in 2022.  

What is soil health, and how do we measure it? What is regenerative agriculture, and why is the label organic confusing and not particularly useful? In this episode of the podcast Lars talks to David Montgomery, a professor of geology at University of Washington, who has in the last fifteen years written a number of books and articles about soil health, food production and agriculture. As he tells it himself, his journey through the world of regenerative agriculture and soil health has turned him from being a pessimist into a staunch optimist, and we're pretty sure that this comes through in the episode.  David also has a new book coming out this summer, written with his wife Anne Biklé: What your food ate: How to heal our land and reclaim our health, which we talk about in this episode. The book is already available for preorder. (https://wwnorton.co.uk/books/9781324004530-what-your-food-ate)  Books and articles:  David Montgomery (2007) Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations, University of California Press David Montgomery (2007), «Soil erosion and agricultural sustainability», PNAS, August 14, 2007, vol. 104  no. 33, ss.13268 –13272, https://www.pnas.org/content/104/33/13268 David Montgomery & Anne Biklé (2016), The Hidden Half of Nature: The Microbial Roots of Life and Health, W.W. Norton David Montgomery (2017), Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life, W.W. Norton David Montgomery & Anne Biklé, (2021) «Soil Health and Nutrient Density: Beyond Organic vs. Conventional Farming», Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 04 November 2021, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2021.699147/full David R. Montgomery, Anne Biklé, Ray Archuleta, Paul Brown, Jazmin Jordan (2022), «Soil health and nutrient density: preliminary comparison of regenerative and conventional farming», PeerJ, 27.jan 2022 David's recommendations: Charles Darwin (1881), The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms, with Observations on their Habits, John Murray Gabe Brown (2018), Dirt to Soil: One Family's Journey into Regenerative Agriculture, Chelsea Green Publishing ---------------------------- Our logo is by Sveinung Sudbø, see his works on originalkopi.com The music is by Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen, see the facebook page Nygrenda Vev og Dur for more info.  ----------------------------  Thank you for listening. You can contact us on our facebook page or by email: larsogpaal[at]gmail.com There is no better way for the podcast to gain new interested listener than by you sharing it with friends, so if you find what we do interesting and useful, please consider doing just that. The podcast is still most in Norwegian, but we have a lot of episodes coming out in English.  Our blogs: https://paljabekk.com/ https://larssandaker.blogspot.com/ Alt godt, hilsen Lars og Pål

#027:  How many civilizations have collapsed due to extractive agricultural practices and soil degradation and how close is ours to reaching the same fate? Author and geologist David Montgomery talks us through the ultimate costs of taking our soils for granted and the difficulty of reversing course with modern technology. Author and geologist David Montgomery is a professor of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington. He has written the books Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations and Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life, and along with his partner, Anne Biklé, he co-authored the book The Hidden Half of Nature and is currently working on You Are What Your Food Ate. David and Anne also run the website Dig2Grow and are both members of the Real Organic Project Advisory Board.To watch a video version of this podcast please visit:https://www.realorganicproject.org/david-montgomery-clever-modern-technology-vs-ancient-soil-wisdom-episode-twenty-sevenThe Real Organic Podcast is hosted by Dave Chapman and Linley Dixon, engineered by Brandon StCyr, and edited and produced by Jenny Prince.The Real Organic Project is a farmer-led movement working towards certifying 1,000 farms across the United States this year. Our add-on food label distinguishes soil-grown fruits and vegetables from hydroponically-raised produce. It also identifies pasture-raised meat, milk, and eggs as compared to products harvested from animals in horrific confinement (CAFOs - confined animal feeding operations).To find a Real Organic farm near you, please visit:https://www.realorganicproject.org/farmsWe believe that the organic standards, with their focus on soil health, biodiversity, and animal welfare were written as they should be. But the current lack of enforcement of those standards is jeopardizing small farms that follow the law. The lack of enforcement is also jeopardizing the overall health of the customers who support the organic movement; customers who are not getting what they pay for at market but are still paying a premium price. The lack of enforcement is jeopardizing the very cycles (water, air, nutrients) that Earth relies upon to provide us all with a place to live, by pushing extractive, chemical agriculture to the forefront.If you like what you hear and are feeling inspired, we would love for you to join our movement by becoming one of our 1,000  Real Fans!https://www.realorganicproject.org/1000-real-fans/To read our weekly newsletter (which might just be the most forwarded newsletter on the internet!) and get firsthand news about what's happening with organic food, farming and policy, please subscribe here:https://www.realorganicproject.org/email/

Hi. Welcome to the Fourth Episode. I'm your host Noel Woodward and this is For The Love Of. For The Love Of Policy | Impact Investments & Climate Smart Agriculture with Ashna Rustagi Ashna joins us to discuss her work at seed and early-stage venture fund that invests to improve access to sustainable energy and resource productivity solutions for the underserved in India that can lead to inclusive development and creation of communities that are resilient to climate change with a keen focus on Climate Smart Agriculture. Links Paris Agreement 4 per 1000 | Soils for Food Security & Climate Root of the Matter Agriculture Development | Gates Foundations The Race of Our Lives | Talk Regenerative Organic Agriculture and the Soil Carbon Solution World Resources Institute Documentary Kiss The Ground | Netflix Podcast Drilled Books Silent Spring by Rachel Carson The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert Climate Crisis & The Green New Deal by Noam Chomsky & Robert Pollin Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life by David R. Montgomery Music Sound Discoveries Don't forget to Subscribe to us on Anchor, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts and wherever else you listen to your favourite Podcasts. Follow us on Instagram at @fortheloveof.podcast or write to us with your thoughts/ideas/comments at connect@fortheloveofpodcast.in

Part 2 in a deep dive on soil health through no-till systems, cover cropping, the loss of the manure cycling of historical farming, and new old research on intensive grazing practices to mimic nature.  Sources: Cornell Extension School's Soil 101 course Jim Gerrish, "Management-intensive Grazing: The Grassroots of Grass Farming" David R. Montgomery, "Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life"

The Chemex Coffee MakerJoseph’s book recommendation – Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to LifeThe Biggest Little FarmKen Burns: The Dust Bowl

In Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life (W. W. Norton & Co., 2018), Dr. David R. Montgomery portrays hope amidst the backdrop that for centuries, agricultural practices have eroded the soil that farming depends on, stripping it of the organic matter vital to its productivity. Once a self-proclaimed dark green eco-pessimist, Dr. Montgomery finds this new hope as he travels the world, meeting farmers at the forefront of an agricultural movement to restore soil health. Readers join him driving passed no-till, precision agriculture fields in Kansas to walking around The Centre for No-Till Agriculture in Kumasi, Ghana. Each step of the way we are reminded that adopting the three tenets of conservation agriculture—ditching the plow, planting cover crops, and growing a diversity of crops—is the solution to align agricultural production and environmental outcomes. Throughout the book, evidence mounts -- maybe farmers and ranchers can feed the world, cool the planet, reduce pollution, and return profitability to the farm. What’s unique and refreshing, Dr. Montgomery cuts through the typical debates about conventional versus organic farming. Instead, Montgomery explores why practices based on the principles of conservation agriculture help restore soil health and fertility – naturally reducing the reliance on herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers. Chris Gambino works at the intersection of science and policy in hopes of creating more informed decision-making. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life (W. W. Norton & Co., 2018), Dr. David R. Montgomery portrays hope amidst the backdrop that for centuries, agricultural practices have eroded the soil that farming depends on, stripping it of the organic matter vital to its productivity. Once a self-proclaimed dark green eco-pessimist, Dr. Montgomery finds this new hope as he travels the world, meeting farmers at the forefront of an agricultural movement to restore soil health. Readers join him driving passed no-till, precision agriculture fields in Kansas to walking around The Centre for No-Till Agriculture in Kumasi, Ghana. Each step of the way we are reminded that adopting the three tenets of conservation agriculture—ditching the plow, planting cover crops, and growing a diversity of crops—is the solution to align agricultural production and environmental outcomes. Throughout the book, evidence mounts -- maybe farmers and ranchers can feed the world, cool the planet, reduce pollution, and return profitability to the farm. What’s unique and refreshing, Dr. Montgomery cuts through the typical debates about conventional versus organic farming. Instead, Montgomery explores why practices based on the principles of conservation agriculture help restore soil health and fertility – naturally reducing the reliance on herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers. Chris Gambino works at the intersection of science and policy in hopes of creating more informed decision-making. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life (W. W. Norton & Co., 2018), Dr. David R. Montgomery portrays hope amidst the backdrop that for centuries, agricultural practices have eroded the soil that farming depends on, stripping it of the organic matter vital to its productivity. Once a self-proclaimed dark green eco-pessimist, Dr. Montgomery finds this new hope as he travels the world, meeting farmers at the forefront of an agricultural movement to restore soil health. Readers join him driving passed no-till, precision agriculture fields in Kansas to walking around The Centre for No-Till Agriculture in Kumasi, Ghana. Each step of the way we are reminded that adopting the three tenets of conservation agriculture—ditching the plow, planting cover crops, and growing a diversity of crops—is the solution to align agricultural production and environmental outcomes. Throughout the book, evidence mounts -- maybe farmers and ranchers can feed the world, cool the planet, reduce pollution, and return profitability to the farm. What’s unique and refreshing, Dr. Montgomery cuts through the typical debates about conventional versus organic farming. Instead, Montgomery explores why practices based on the principles of conservation agriculture help restore soil health and fertility – naturally reducing the reliance on herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers. Chris Gambino works at the intersection of science and policy in hopes of creating more informed decision-making. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life (W. W. Norton & Co., 2018), Dr. David R. Montgomery portrays hope amidst the backdrop that for centuries, agricultural practices have eroded the soil that farming depends on, stripping it of the organic matter vital to its productivity. Once a self-proclaimed dark green eco-pessimist, Dr. Montgomery finds this new hope as he travels the world, meeting farmers at the forefront of an agricultural movement to restore soil health. Readers join him driving passed no-till, precision agriculture fields in Kansas to walking around The Centre for No-Till Agriculture in Kumasi, Ghana. Each step of the way we are reminded that adopting the three tenets of conservation agriculture—ditching the plow, planting cover crops, and growing a diversity of crops—is the solution to align agricultural production and environmental outcomes. Throughout the book, evidence mounts -- maybe farmers and ranchers can feed the world, cool the planet, reduce pollution, and return profitability to the farm. What’s unique and refreshing, Dr. Montgomery cuts through the typical debates about conventional versus organic farming. Instead, Montgomery explores why practices based on the principles of conservation agriculture help restore soil health and fertility – naturally reducing the reliance on herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers. Chris Gambino works at the intersection of science and policy in hopes of creating more informed decision-making. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life (W. W. Norton & Co., 2018), Dr. David R. Montgomery portrays hope amidst the backdrop that for centuries, agricultural practices have eroded the soil that farming depends on, stripping it of the organic matter vital to its productivity. Once a self-proclaimed dark green eco-pessimist, Dr. Montgomery finds this new hope as he travels the world, meeting farmers at the forefront of an agricultural movement to restore soil health. Readers join him driving passed no-till, precision agriculture fields in Kansas to walking around The Centre for No-Till Agriculture in Kumasi, Ghana. Each step of the way we are reminded that adopting the three tenets of conservation agriculture—ditching the plow, planting cover crops, and growing a diversity of crops—is the solution to align agricultural production and environmental outcomes. Throughout the book, evidence mounts -- maybe farmers and ranchers can feed the world, cool the planet, reduce pollution, and return profitability to the farm. What’s unique and refreshing, Dr. Montgomery cuts through the typical debates about conventional versus organic farming. Instead, Montgomery explores why practices based on the principles of conservation agriculture help restore soil health and fertility – naturally reducing the reliance on herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers. Chris Gambino works at the intersection of science and policy in hopes of creating more informed decision-making. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, John interviews David Montgomery, Professor of Geomorphology at the University of Washington. John and David discuss soil regeneration at length, pulling from David’s experience developing new topsoil in dead, stony ground and his deep dive into the science behind it. David came to the field of regenerative agriculture from a unique position. As a geologist studying erosion, he became curious about agricultural impacts on soils.   When David set out to write his first book, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations, he imagined it would tie the subject of landscape formation over millennia to how soil erosion affected ancient civilizations. He ended up writing about the history of farming, because that's where soil erosion and degradation connects back to human societies. Spending more than a decade looking at how agriculture has influenced soil loss resulted in an epiphany that led him to see regenerative agriculture as the solution to historically degenerative agricultural problems. In this thought-provoking interview, John and David discuss: How conventional farming practices have contributed to mining the soil, and how this impacts the future of global societies. David’s observations of rebuilding soil at scale and the science behind it The 3 principles of successful soil regeneration: Minimal ground disturbance Keep the surface covered Grow diverse crop rotations How the key to rapid restoration of soil fertility is about kick-starting the biology Why David is an unrepentant optimist on the issue of reversing soil degradation, something he didn’t think would happen when he wrote the book on erosion. John and David explore the soil-life effects of glyphosate as an antibiotic and mineral chelator, and conjecture as to it’s human health impacts. There is a fascinating glimpse of a South African farm that doubles as a cheetah rehabilitation area, that may spur new ideas on meshing agriculture with wildlife conservation. David shares about his two musical projects as well. https://www.bandmix.com/bigdirt/   David is the author of two books: Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations  2007 Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life  2017.   David’s recommended reading list from the episode: Dirt to Soil by Gabe Brown Organic No-Till Farming by Jeff Moyer The Third Plate by Dan Barber   The Community Impact Partner for this episode is Jerry Hatfield, director of the National Lab for Agriculture and the Environment at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service. The ARS seeks partners to participate in on-farm research to further our collective knowledge about best farming practices. Please consider getting involved with this important work as a citizen-scientist, and look forward to a future podcast interview with Jerry soon! Website: www.ars.usda.gov/nlae Email: jerry.hatfield@ars.usda.gov Phone: (5l5) 294-5723   Support For This Show This show is brought to you by AEA, helping professional growers make more money using regenerative agriculture since 2006. If you grow on a large scale and are looking to increase crop revenue and quality, email hello@advancingecoag.com or call 800-495-6603 extension 344 to be connected with a dedicated AEA crop consultant.   Sign Up For Email Updates To be alerted via email when new episodes are released, and get special updates about John speaking, teaching, and podcast LIVE recordings, be sure to sign up for The Regenerative Agriculture Podcast email list.   Feedback & Booking Please send your feedback, requests for topics or guests, or booking request have a Podcast episode recorded LIVE at your event to production@regenerativeagriculturepodcast.com Email John directly at John@regenerativeagriculturepodcast.com   Credits This episode was recorded by John Kempf and David Montgomery,  and produced by Nathan Harman, Robin Kitowski, and Anna Kempf.

When Anne Biklé started rehabilitating her Seattle backyard to plant a garden, she didn’t anticipate the return of carbon to the soil. But after a few years, she got curious and invited a soil scientist from the University of Washington to compare samples from the original dirt behind the garage with samples from the Eco-Lawn, perennial beds, and vegetable bed. The results were astonishing. The Eco-Lawn had 5% more carbon than the baseline sample, the perennial beds came in at 8% more carbon, and the heavily amended vegetable bed had a full 12% more carbon. Imagine the impact if every gardener applied the same processes and principles. And what if farmers applied the ideas at scale? Anne is a biologist and environmental planner with what she calls "a bad case of plant lust," and her career spans the fields of environmental stewardship, habitat restoration, and public health. She is also the co-author of The Hidden Half of Nature, a thought-provoking book about leveraging the cultivation of microbiomes to transform agriculture and medicine. Anne and her husband, professor of geomorphology David Montgomery, speak regularly on the topics of soil health, conservation and sustainable development.  Today, Anne joins Ross, Christophe and Paul to share the origin of her interest in the soil and appreciation of the natural world. She walks us through the process of rehabilitating the soil in her backyard garden, describing how she collected the necessary mulch and organic matter as well as the stunning experience of watching life return to the yard. Listen in to understand the concepts of biodynamic agriculture and learn how Anne came to recognize the significance of microbial life in the health of the soil AND the human body!   Resources Nori’s Crowdfunding Campaign Dig2Grow Dig2Grow on Twitter The Hidden Half of Nature: The Microbial Roots of Life and Healthby David R. Montgomery and Anne Biklé Mary Oliver Poetry Foundation Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver by Mary Oliver Dream Work by Mary Oliver Rudolf Steiner 2018 Biodynamic Conference Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations by David R. Montgomery Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life by David R. Montgomery Kiss the Ground   Key Takeaways [0:49] Anne’s interest in the soil Plant lust in college at Santa Cruz Garden with house in Seattle [5:00] Anne’s insight on dirt vs. soil Soil includes living organisms Dirt = dead parts (rock fragments) Plants interact with both [7:47] The magic of the natural world Soil one of most biodiverse places Humans can’t see most life forms Watch insects ‘better than birding’ [12:03] The emergence of life in Anne’s backyard Demolished lawn for blank slate Life returned (i.e.: evolution of life on Earth) [15:56] How Anne rehabilitated the soil in her garden Collect mulch and organic matter Coffee grounds, wood chips and leaves Conserve water, feed life of soil Buffet for trillions of species of soil life Flow of carbon from plant into soil [22:37] Our recent understanding around soil 25-50% of carbon in atmosphere from topsoil Depletion of nutrients from change in land use [24:00] Anne’s advice on starting your own garden Visit native vegetation communities Mimic processes, materials  [30:13] How the garden impacts Anne’s consumption Garden and farmers market for food Source own organic matter [33:34] The concept of biodynamic agriculture Respect for, understanding of cycles Farmers work with metabolism of soil Soil seen as grand engine  [37:31] The parallels between plant root systems and the human gut Microbiome in colon = grazing pasture Soil as digestive tract of Earth

This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Steve Groff, a farmer and cover crop pioneer who has also worked with the University of Maryland on extensive cover crop research. Steve founded Cover Crop Coaching in 2016 and has spoken to audiences across North America, Europe, Australia, Japan, and many other parts of the world on the use of cover crops across the full range of agricultural applications. In this episode, we talk about important management tools to incorporate with cover crops, the causes of erosion in a soil system, and how farmers can supply consumer demand for nutritional value. We also discuss farm economics, the books Steve read that started him in cover cropping and a step by step guide for growers who want to start developing healthy soil.     Support For This Show & Helping You Grow This show is brought to you by AEA, leaders in regenerative agriculture since 2006. If you are a large-scale grower looking to increase crop revenue and quality, email hello@advancingecoag.com or call 800-495-6603 extension 344 to be connected with a dedicated AEA crop consultant.       Resources recommended by Steve Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life by David R. Montgomery The Biological Farmer: A Complete Guide to the Sustainable & Profitable Biological System of Farming by Gary F. Zimmer Stubble Over the Soil: The Vital Role of Plant Residue in Soil Management to Improve Soil Quality by Carlos Corvetto Lamarca The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming by Masanobu Fukuoka     Episode 7 - Steve Groff - Highlights 3:00 - What are some of the memorable moments that have lead Steve to where he is today? Steve started no till in the early 80’s - Solely to stop soil erosion A key moment for Steve was 3 years into doing no till - He noticed his soil was beginning to “mellow out” Today we can transfer to no till much faster than ever before In 1995 Steve started researching cover crops - he noticed after a drought year that he had 28 bushels more of corn preceding the previous 3 years Steve is all-in on cover crops!   8:20 - Erosion is a symptom of a bigger problem Healthier soil isn’t going to blow or wash away We don’t have a runoff problem, we have a water infiltration problem Steve is encouraged by seeing mainstream agriculture start to clue in   10:00 - Can we completely resolve erosion with the use of cover crops? We can greatly reduce it Not just cover crops - there are many other practices however they are a key component. Cover crops are a tool - you need to manage them properly Having a living root in the soil as long as possible is important Having diversity of species is important - we can enhance this with cover crops! Less/zero soil disturbance is important   12:30 - What are some of the other important tools farmers should incorporate? Fertility management - (Ex: Avoid anhydrous ammonia, high salt fertilizers) Once you get your soil functioning, you can start unlocking things that were locked before, such as allowing more access to certain minerals Steve isn’t saying everyone needs to be no till - but does advocate it. Tillage is a destructive event   15:10 - How important is it to have a diversity of cover crops? There is a time and a place for single species cover crops Steve always plants mixed species You have to play around and see what works on your farm! How many species do you need? Going beyond 6-8; advantages start to level off. Mixed species doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive Cover crop mixes can be thought of as a “one plus one equals three” solution   20:30 - What is something that Steve has puzzled over? The link to human health from how we grow plants and nutrient density Steve noticed that the USDA doesn’t say how they establish the averages for nutritional value Steve is looking into creating branding for nutritional basis   26:00 - Does Steve believe it is possible that farmers will be compensated for growing quality Generally, Steve thinks yes. Majority of plant genetics are made for yield - so it may take awhile to get right There are some plant breeders that are now breeding for quality over yield   30:50 - Buyers care about flavor and aroma - These are the same markers of nutrient density Flavor and aroma is what makes repeat customers These can also be traced back to plant genetics and breeding - it’s important to build from the ground up Big similarities between microbiome of our gut and the microbiome of soil   35:50 - What is something that has surprised Steve in his work? The importance of soil health - What tools like cover crops and no tillage are capable of Once you get the system working, you don’t need as much input! Steve expects to continue being surprised as he tries to discover more   38:00 - What does Steve believe to be true about agriculture that many others do not? Reducing input is not going to lead to “mining out” the soil That the use of insecticides and fungicides can be reduced “Would you take chemo to prevent cancer?”   41:40 - What does Steve believe to be the biggest opportunity in agriculture today? Cycles always come and go Regenerative agriculture and growing with reduced input Steve believes there is a bright future ahead   45:00 - What is a book or resource that Steve would recommend? Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life by David R. Montgomery The Biological Farmer: A Complete Guide to the Sustainable & Profitable Biological System of Farming by Gary F. Zimmer Stubble Over the Soil: The Vital Role of Plant Residue in Soil Management to Improve Soil Quality by Carlos Corvetto Lamarca The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming by Masanobu Fukuoka   46:50 - What ideas or technology is Steve excited about for the future of agriculture? Advancement on cover crop equipment   50:10 - Is Steve having fun? YES! Steve finds it fulfilling to help farmers and being a steward of God’s earth   51:10 - What would Steve recommend to a farmer starting down this path today? Ask: What do you want to accomplish? Good to prioritise when you’re new Time of year will determine species to plant Only apply a new practice to the amount of plants you can afford to lose Learn all you can - Talk to and follow those who are achieving what you want to do   54:40 - What does Steve wish John had asked? How the economics work out - “How can I do this, and flourish?”   56:20 - What has been the economic impact of cover crops on Steve’s operations? Looking at 5 years - Fertilizer went down 50%, and chemicals went down 37%   58:20 - What was the cost of these results? Growing your own cover crops cuts down on cost 60-80 lbs of nitrogen instead of 175-200 lbs Average corn yield is between 185-200 For pumpkins: Can cut nitrogen rate to 45-50 lbs      Feedback & Booking Please send your feedback, requests for topics or guests, or booking request have a Podcast episode recorded LIVE at your event -- to production@regenerativeagriculturepodcast.com. You can email John directly at John@regenerativeagriculturepodcast.com.     Sign Up For Special Updates To be alerted via email when new episodes are released, and get special updates about John speaking, teaching, and podcast LIVE recordings, be sure to sign up for our email list.  

Modern conventional agriculture is destroying our soil. At the rate we’re going, we will lose one-third of our agricultural production capacity in the next century, even as the population is expected to increase by at least 50%. Worse yet, our current system actually pays farmers to destroy the land through subsidies and crop insurance, perpetuating a model that keeps farmers reliant on oil and chemical inputs. But there is a solution, and today’s guest has written two books about it. David Montgomery is a professor at the University of Washington and the author of Dirt: Erosion of Civilizations and Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life. David studied geology at Stanford University before earning his PhD in geomorphology at UC Berkeley. He was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2008. Today David joins Ross and Christophe to explain why civilizations that degrade their soil don’t last. We discuss the troubling numbers around soil degradation and loss and the three simple farming practices that would restore our soil. David walks us through the residual benefits of regenerative farming and the factors that inhibit widespread adoption. Listen in for David’s insight into the challenges Nori might face in paying farmers to capture carbon in the soil and learn how quickly we might restore the soil pending the adoption of regenerative practices.   Resources David’s Website Big Dirt music Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life by David R. Montgomery Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations by David R. Montgomery UN Report: Status of the World’s Soil Resources   Key Takeaways   [2:08] The relationship between civilizations and soil Civilizations that degrade soil don’t last Carbon in soil serves as fuel, recycles dead stuff   [4:45] The troubling statistics of soil degradation, loss 1/3 of agricultural land taken out of production due to degradation 50% loss of carbon from agricultural soil Lose 1/3 of agricultural production capacity in next century   [6:38] How simple changes in farming practices could restore the soil Plow degrades natural production capacity of land Tilling soil accelerates breakdown of organic matter Monocultures promote pests, pathogens Adopt no-till agriculture, cover cops and crop rotation Save on diesel, fertilizer, pesticides = increase profit Practices would return carbon to soil as well   [13:42] How diverse crop rotation defeats pests without chemicals Pests adapt to predictable patterns Grow three to four crops in unpredictable pattern Reduce need for agrochemicals, spend less to grow more    [18:36] What is preventing widespread adoption of restorative practices Requires shift in how think about soil Takes time for knowledge to diffuse Need policy incentives, education (i.e.: demo farms)   [23:12] How regenerative farming provides a better business model Farmers control what, how they grow Reduces expenses up front and maintains yield Current industrial model undervalues farmers’ ingenuity   [29:21] The role of subsidies and crop insurance in slowing adoption On level playing field, regenerative practices would win out  Farmers see damage of conventional practices, want to take care of land   [31:40] The challenge in Nori’s intent to pay farmers who remove carbon  Difficult to quantify, technical challenge to measure carbon in soil Could incentivize to adopt regenerative practices Helping farmers make transition is good investment   [36:52] The residual environmental benefits of regenerative farming Fewer emissions from production of fertilizer Less diesel burned for tractors   [37:40] How regenerative farming translates to variability in soil, crops  Several hundred thousand soil types Principles apply, farmers must adapt practices   [42:44] David’s insight on the future of our soil Embrace science of soil ecology Could restore soil by 2100/2200      

This event celebrates the book launch for Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life by David R. Montgomery, a former Town Hall Scholar in Residence and a beloved local geologist. Montgomery tracks the fates of once-great civilizations that sank into poverty after destroying the fertility of their land. Today, despite this correlation, soil degradation remains the least recognized, yet most solvable, crisis humanity faces. Montgomery takes us on a journey around the world to visit farmers who are building fertile soil and turning the tide on this problem. Montgomery shows why the regenerative practices of this new breed of entrepreneurial farmers can heal damaged environments and improve their bottom line. Their focus on soil health merges ancient wisdom with modern science into simple, cost-effective practices to help feed the world and pull carbon from the atmosphere. Sharing their stories he lays the foundation for a soil health revolution. Recorded live at Town Hall Seattle Tuesday, May 9, 2017