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Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life
Escrito por David R. Montgomery
Narrado por Eric Michael Summerer
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The problem of agriculture is as old as civilization. Throughout history, great societies that abused their land withered into poverty or disappeared entirely. Now we risk repeating this ancient story on a global scale due to ongoing soil degradation, a changing climate, and a rising population.
But there is reason for hope. David R. Montgomery introduces us to farmers around the world at the heart of a brewing soil health revolution that could bring humanity's ailing soil back to life remarkably fast. Growing a Revolution draws on visits to farms in the industrialized world and developing world to show that a new combination of farming practices can deliver innovative, cost-effective solutions to problems farmers face today.
Montgomery explores why practices based on the principles of conservation agriculture help restore soil health and fertility. In addition, he discusses how these practices translate into farms that use less water, generate less pollution, and lower carbon emissions. Combining ancient wisdom with modern science, Growing a Revolution lays out a solid case for an inspiring vision where agriculture becomes the solution to environmental problems.
But there is reason for hope. David R. Montgomery introduces us to farmers around the world at the heart of a brewing soil health revolution that could bring humanity's ailing soil back to life remarkably fast. Growing a Revolution draws on visits to farms in the industrialized world and developing world to show that a new combination of farming practices can deliver innovative, cost-effective solutions to problems farmers face today.
Montgomery explores why practices based on the principles of conservation agriculture help restore soil health and fertility. In addition, he discusses how these practices translate into farms that use less water, generate less pollution, and lower carbon emissions. Combining ancient wisdom with modern science, Growing a Revolution lays out a solid case for an inspiring vision where agriculture becomes the solution to environmental problems.
Ações de livro
Comece a ouvirDados do livro
Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life
Escrito por David R. Montgomery
Narrado por Eric Michael Summerer
Descrição
The problem of agriculture is as old as civilization. Throughout history, great societies that abused their land withered into poverty or disappeared entirely. Now we risk repeating this ancient story on a global scale due to ongoing soil degradation, a changing climate, and a rising population.
But there is reason for hope. David R. Montgomery introduces us to farmers around the world at the heart of a brewing soil health revolution that could bring humanity's ailing soil back to life remarkably fast. Growing a Revolution draws on visits to farms in the industrialized world and developing world to show that a new combination of farming practices can deliver innovative, cost-effective solutions to problems farmers face today.
Montgomery explores why practices based on the principles of conservation agriculture help restore soil health and fertility. In addition, he discusses how these practices translate into farms that use less water, generate less pollution, and lower carbon emissions. Combining ancient wisdom with modern science, Growing a Revolution lays out a solid case for an inspiring vision where agriculture becomes the solution to environmental problems.
But there is reason for hope. David R. Montgomery introduces us to farmers around the world at the heart of a brewing soil health revolution that could bring humanity's ailing soil back to life remarkably fast. Growing a Revolution draws on visits to farms in the industrialized world and developing world to show that a new combination of farming practices can deliver innovative, cost-effective solutions to problems farmers face today.
Montgomery explores why practices based on the principles of conservation agriculture help restore soil health and fertility. In addition, he discusses how these practices translate into farms that use less water, generate less pollution, and lower carbon emissions. Combining ancient wisdom with modern science, Growing a Revolution lays out a solid case for an inspiring vision where agriculture becomes the solution to environmental problems.
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Avaliações
We can only hope, little by little, thing will change to a more sustainable model.
Rating: 4Really informative book about the potential for stemming the tide in a number of ecological, economic, and societal problems. The book’s premise of creating “food forests” by promoting soil-building practices is very simple and very thoroughly explained:
1: don’t till soil (it destroys important soil microbial communities)
2: grow cover crops for mulch (to balance soil temperature, improve water retention, and provide nutrition for microbial communities)
3: grow a wide variety of crops in rotation (better balances soil chemistry, crowds out weeds, makes the whole plot more insect and blight resistant, creates economic diversification for farmers).
This creates the rich, crumbly black stuff even the most urban of humanity instinctively know as good soil (high in carbon and thriving nutrient-producing microbiome community). The implications are cross- cutting for both traditional and organic, small and large, temperate and tropical, arid and humid, urban and rural farming. The result is similar or higher yields, reduced input costs, less chemical pollution, and more economically stable farms, and more sustainable production over the long-term.
Really liked the depth of examples and the personal stories about individual farmers the author uses to make and illustrate his points.
If I had a complaint, it would be that the writing style is super repetitive, especially in the first chapter (felt like I was hearing whole passages on loop), but I can understand the need to re-explain and emphasize certain points. The fact that this same core idea has ”cropped up” independently in so many parts of the world is one of the book’s most important points.
Overall, everyone needs to learn about this stuff either from this book or from somewhere. Soil may not be sexy, but this stuff really does affect absolutely everything of consequence on the planet (food, energy, political stability, environmental health, greenhouse gases, global economics, societal health, etc) on a scale that very, very few other things do. This stuff is not complicated, but it will require agricultural creativity in a way that agro-business has all but starved out of modern agriculture.
Overall this presents a powerfully hopeful story of how farmers (together with the rest of us) can save the world from the most pressing issues of our time.
Rating: 51: don’t till soil (it destroys important soil microbial communities)
2: grow cover crops for mulch (to balance soil temperature, improve water retention, and provide nutrition for microbial communities)
3: grow a wide variety of crops in rotation (better balances soil chemistry, crowds out weeds, makes the whole plot more insect and blight resistant, creates economic diversification for farmers).
This creates the rich, crumbly black stuff even the most urban of humanity instinctively know as good soil (high in carbon and thriving nutrient-producing microbiome community). The implications are cross- cutting for both traditional and organic, small and large, temperate and tropical, arid and humid, urban and rural farming. The result is similar or higher yields, reduced input costs, less chemical pollution, and more economically stable farms, and more sustainable production over the long-term.
Really liked the depth of examples and the personal stories about individual farmers the author uses to make and illustrate his points.
If I had a complaint, it would be that the writing style is super repetitive, especially in the first chapter (felt like I was hearing whole passages on loop), but I can understand the need to re-explain and emphasize certain points. The fact that this same core idea has ”cropped up” independently in so many parts of the world is one of the book’s most important points.
Overall, everyone needs to learn about this stuff either from this book or from somewhere. Soil may not be sexy, but this stuff really does affect absolutely everything of consequence on the planet (food, energy, political stability, environmental health, greenhouse gases, global economics, societal health, etc) on a scale that very, very few other things do. This stuff is not complicated, but it will require agricultural creativity in a way that agro-business has all but starved out of modern agriculture.
Overall this presents a powerfully hopeful story of how farmers (together with the rest of us) can save the world from the most pressing issues of our time.
Listened to this twice, could listen to it again. A revolution in farming!
Rating: 5Was hoping to learn a bit about regeneration agriculture. Instead I was overwhelmed by the doomsday climate activist approach the author took. Try DIRT TO SOIL by Gabe Brown or THE ONE STRAW REVOLUTION by Masanobu Fukuoka. Shawn and Beth Dougherty, authors of THE INDEPENDENT FARMSTEAD also have a pretty informative series on YouTube.
Rating: 1
Superb book, a must read for all interested in farming
Rating: 5