Gabe Brown: from Dirt to Soil to practice
In Dirt to Soil, Gabe Brown describes his North Dakota family farm’s transition towards soil regeneration, combining crops, cover and livestock to improve agroecosystem functions.
Difficulties driving change
Repeated hailstorms and drought caused major losses in the 1990s. Financial pressure encouraged new production methods. Brown had begun reducing tillage, then diversified rotations, added cover mixtures and integrated grazing. In his account, soil and plant observations guided subsequent steps.
Five soil principles
- Limit disturbance affecting structure and life.
- Maintain surface cover through vegetation and residues.
- Increase plant and functional diversity.
- Keep living roots for more of the year.
- Integrate livestock, linking grazing with vegetation management and organic returns.
Diversity as food
Brown’s Ranch uses different plant groups and growing seasons to maintain active roots and varied microbial food. Cover and residues also protect against erosion and temperature extremes. The family treats practices as parts of a connected biological system.
Crops and grazing in one cycle
Moving livestock through crops and covers links plant and animal production and returns organic materials. Brown’s experience emphasises combinations: no-till evolved alongside diversity, cover and livestock management.
Our field work
We apply these principles to olive grove management, emphasising cover, living roots and reduced disturbance, connected with compost, liquid applications and microscopy following our Soil Food Web School training.