BOOKS
ReGen shows how transforming the way we treat the land can address critically underappreciated, yet eminently solvable problems needed to secure civilization’s agricultural foundation. Montgomery takes apart the common myths of conventional farming and unearths why restoring soil health charts a practical path to a better future for farmers, society, and the planet.
“A must read for farmers, ranchers, agricultural businesses, consumers, and especially, policy makers worldwide.”
— Gabe Brown, farmer, agricultural educator, and author of Dirt to Soil
“I was once advised to read the one book that saves you from reading many others. This is that book.”
— Paul Hawken, author of Carbon and Regeneration
“Montgomery has written another masterpiece. ReGen shows that regenerative agriculture is not just a new buzz word for greenwashing policies…”
— Dr. Theodor Friedrich, retired, Food and Agriculture Organization, and Amir Kassam, Professor, Reading University
The complete list of sources for ReGen is available here.
What Your Food Ate delivers a new truth: the roots of good health start on farms. Montgomery and Biklé marshal evidence from recent and forgotten science to share how the health of the soil ripples through to that of crops, livestock, and ultimately us.
Can we have quality and quantity? With their trademark thoroughness and knack for synthesizing information across numerous scientific fields, they chart the way forward showing why what’s good for the land is good for us, too.
"Authoritative, informative, and entertaining. What Your Food Ate is both eye-opening and a call to action for consumers, farmers, and food companies alike."
― Emeran Mayer, MD, author of The Mind-Gut Connection
"David R. Montgomery and Anne Biklé are fast becoming rock stars in the emergent fields of regenerative farming and natural health. [A] brilliant tour de force and a must-read."
― Carolyn Steel, author of Hungry City
"What Your Food Ate is stunningly good. It turns out that the organic pioneers had it right. Eat whole foods grown in healthy soil."
― Dave Chapman, cofounder of the Real Organic Project
The complete list of sources for What Your Food Ate is available here.
Growing a Revolution reveals that it's possible to bring a farm's soil back to life. Montgomery introduces us to farmers around the world at the heart of a brewing soil health revolution.
Cutting through standard debates about conventional and organic farming, the book shows why the combination of no-till planting, cover crops, and diverse crop rotations sustains the soil microbiome, and thereby a farmer's crops and livelihood. An inspiring vision in which agriculture becomes the solution to environmental problems.
“An important masterpiece...one of the most practical and prescient descriptions of the food and agriculture transformation we must now accomplish.”
— Frederick Kirschenmann, author of Cultivating an Ecological Conscience
“...describes the environmental crossroads at which we stand, and shows us not only the devastation, but the potential solution, that exists right beneath our feet.”
— Hope Jahren, author of Lab Girl
“This is a Sand County Almanac of agriculture, a Walden Pond of loam and tilth, a paradigm-bending journey into the principles that guide the life beneath our feet and thus the life that nourishes us.”
— Paul Hawken, author of The Ecology of Commerce and Natural Capitalism
A rich blend of science, history, and personal narrative, The Hidden Half of Nature reveals why good health—for people and plants—depends on microbiomes, the communities of Earth’s smallest and least loved creatures.
Montgomery and Biklé begin in their garden and move to the human body. Here, they uncover stunning similarities between the root of a plant and the human gut that could transform the practice of agriculture and medicine.
"This is a fascinating and timely book, and sure to become a game-changing guide to the future of good food and healthy landscapes.”
—Dan Barber, chef and author of The Third Plate
"I love this book! Using their personal story, historical fact and cutting edge science, Montgomery and Biklé have given us a great gift."
—Deborah Koons Garcia, Filmmaker, The Future of Food and Symphony of the Soil
"[T]ransformative read...Both the lining of our colons and the ground beneath our feet...are 'biological bazaars where plants and people trade nutritional wares and form alliances..."
—Mother Jones magazine
From ancient civilizations to Civil War plantations and the dust bowl era, Dirt tells the story of farming. Since the dawn of agriculture some 10,000 years ago, we started plowing the Earth to grow food.
As farming secured a steady supply of food another pattern emerged— society after society rose, prospered, and fell as they plowed their way through a natural endowment of fertile dirt. We have shaped soil as surely as it has shaped us. Although we can't change history, we can choose to break the age-old pattern that brought down past civilizations.
“This dirt’s-eye-view of history provides an interesting perspective on a vast range of topic...”
—Bookforum
“Tell(s) a story which we cannot afford to ignore. . . . Well and eloquently told.”
—Financial Times
"A compelling study on soil: why we need it, how we have used and abused it, how we can protect it, and what happens when we let it slip through our fingers."
—New Scientist
David R. Montgomery & Anne Biklé
DIG 2 GROW
