Healthier Dirt, Healthier People: Digging into Sustainable Agriculture with Gabe Brown

Summary

If farmers update the way they grow food and raise livestock, can we all eat better and also fight climate change? Yes we can! There’s a sustainable farming approach called regenerative agriculture, which argues that by improving soil health, our food would be more nutritious and we’d improve biodiversity, limit air pollution, and literally heal the Earth.

Gabe Brown is a regenerative agriculture advocate who lives in Bismarck, North Dakota, where he and his family operate Brown's Ranch. He found his way to regenerative agriculture after the family farm he took over from his in-laws began failing. He turned things around by leaving age-old agricultural methods behind, and regenerated the farm using holistic management practices.

Since then, Gabe's become a huge advocate for soil health. He's written a book, he's featured in documentaries, and he travels far and wide to teach people about regenerative agriculture. In this episode we’ll explore soil health, sustainable farming, weather and air pollution’s impact on farming, the need for more eco education and awareness, and how the food choices we make as consumers affect the environment we share on Earth.

Listen along with your friends, parents, and teachers as we share discussion questions and helpful definitions...there’s even a quiz at the end of the episode to practice what you learned. So, join Zach as We the Children digs into soil health and sustainable farming with Gabe Brown!

Highlights:

• How financial disaster led Gabe to more productive and sustainable farming (02:37)
• Six principles of soil health (03:56)
• Why old ways of farming lead to “desertification” (9:38)
• What happens when synthetic fertilizers and pesticides enter the food chain? (12:29)
• Are more farmers embracing regenerative agriculture? (15:40)
• Is eating sustainably more expensive? (23:43)

Links:

Brown’s Ranch

Book: Dirt to Soil: One Family’s Journey into Regenerative Agriculture

Film: Common Ground

Video: Gabe Brown - Bismarck, ND

Video: Gabe Brown: Keys To Building a Healthy Soil

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