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.…
"You could not get a more typical Midwestern farmer than Gabe Brown. He loves his family, he loves his country and he loves his God. But as a conventional farmer he was struggling. Year after year, his crops were failing and he was struggling to keep the farm afloat. He took the very brave and—to his neighbours—crazy decision to switch to regenerative agriculture. It was not an easy decision, he came close to bankruptcy many times, but gradually as his soils recovered, he noticed his crops were able to survive the changing climate. Brown became an advocate for regenerative agriculture, appearing in the Netflix documentary Kiss the Ground , which is narrated by Hollywood A-lister Woody Harrelson. His farm Brown’s Ranch now has its own brand, Nourished by Nature, selling pasture-fed meat and eggs. “Regenerative agriculture argues that the first principle is to not just to look after the soil, but ‘regenerate’ the soil after every crop” The power of this book is it rings true for ordinary farmers who would be put off by a ‘hippy environmentalist’ telling them what to do. Brown is an ordinary farmer, he’s one of them. He does not pull his punches in telling how hard it is to make the transition, but ultimately argues it is a necessary one."
