Montgomery - Growing a Revolution

GROWING
A REVOLUTION

Bringing Our Soil Back to Life

DAVID R. MONTGOMERY

W. W. Norton & Company

Independent Publishers Since 1923

New York London

Copyright 2017 by David R. Montgomery

All rights reserved

First Edition

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Book design by Kristen Bearse

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JACKET DESIGN BY FRANCINE KASS

JACKET PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID R. MONTGOMERY

The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

Names: Montgomery, David R., 1961

Title: Growing a revolution : bringing our soil back to life / David R. Montgomery.

Description: First edition. | New York : W.W. Norton & Company, [2017] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016055810 | ISBN 9780393608328 (hardcover)

Subjects: LCSH: Soil ecology. | Soil biology. | Soil restoration.

Classification: LCC QH541.5.S6 M66 2017 | DDC 577.5/7dc23 LC record
available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016055810

ISBN 978-0-393-60833-5 (e-book)

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For the innovative farmers restoring life
to their land so the future can eat.

Upon this handful of soil our survival depends. Husband it and it will grow our food, our fuel, and our shelter and surround us with beauty. Abuse it and the soil will collapse and die, taking humanity with it.

Vedas, Sanskrit Scripture, 1500 B.C.

Foremost Id like to thank the farmers and scientists who allowed me to visit their farms and gave generously of their time and support so that I and others might learn from their experienceRay Archuleta, Mike and Anne Arnoldy, Herbert Bartz, Dwayne Beck, Alejandro Biamonte, Kofi Boa, David Brandt, Gabe and Paul Brown, Sally Brown, Howard G. Buffett, Mike Cronin, Neil and Barbara Dennis, Rolf Derpsch, Dan Eberhardt, Felicia Echeverra, Dan Forgey, Jay Fuhrer, Ralph and Betty Holzwarth, Elaine Ingham, Wes Jackson, Kent Kinkler, Peter Kring, Rattan Lal, Alex and Leilani Lamberts, Jonathan Lundgren, Joel McClure, Javier Meza, Jeff Moyer, Kristine Nichols, Emmanuel Omondi, Don Reicosky, Marv Schumacher, and Guy Swanson. Without their patience, hospitality, and knowledge I would never have been able to write this book.

Once again, my wife Anne not only put up with me taking on another book, but helped me sharpen upand shortenchapter drafts. As ever, her insights, advice, and suggestions seriously improved the final product.

Every writer knows that it takes a team to produce a book, and Im fortunate to have a great one. My agent, Elizabeth Wales, helped frame the idea for the book and set me on the right path. Ingrid Emerick and Anna Katz of Girl Friday Productions helped focus, shape, and trim the manuscript as it took shape. Maria Guarnaschelli, my editor at W. W. Norton, championed it from conception to completion and Nathaniel Dennett, her assistant, shepherded the book through the publishing process. I also thank Fred Wiemer for his excellent copy editing.

Several other folks deserve special thanks. Sally Brown helped put this whole thing in motion when she recommended me for the Dig It symposium where I met Rattan Lal. Art Donnelly introduced me to biochar-making and was an exemplary guide and traveling companion in Costa Rica. Birgit Lenderink hospitably put up two bedraggled travelers in San Jos. Heidi Fitzgerald and Klinton Caillier provided an awesome tour of the City of Tacomas wastewater treatment facility and explained the municipal alchemy they perform there everyday. At the meeting in Malm, Katarina Hedlund and Mary Scholes guided me to some key sources that were most helpful. And I greatly appreciate the help of Kwasi Boa and Kyei Baffour in getting around in, and getting to know, Ghana. Hearing economist Jeffrey Sachs speak about sustainable development greatly influenced my thinking on the subject. And lectures by Greg Kester, Kuldip Kumar, Sally Brown, Roberta King, and Ian Pepper at the Northwest Biosolids Management Association meeting were especially informative.

While I remain deeply appreciative of all those who helped me pull this book together, and acknowledge my debts to them for good ideas Ive assimilated, any errors that have crept into the final product remain mine alone.

For readers interested in digging deeper, I have listed sources in the following pages that I drew upon and consulted in writing the chapters. These include studies referred to in the book and additional research that illustrates key points made or that supports the broader generality of the experiences of farmers I visited.

Also by David R. Montgomery

The Hidden Half of Nature: The Microbial Roots
of Life and Health (with Anne Bikl)

The Rocks Dont Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noahs Flood

Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations

King of Fish: The Thousand-Year Run of Salmon

Further praise for

Growing a Revolution

Soils greatest living advocate, David Montgomery, has done it again. Growing a Revolution proposes the radical idea that by improving soil health, we can heal not only the earth but ourselves as well. A call to action that underscores a common goal: to change the world from the ground up.

Dan Barber, chef and author of The Third Plate

A wonderful read on how to make soil rich and prosperous!

Estella B. Leopold, author of Stories from
the Leopold Shack: Sand County Revisited

Montgomery has written another classic. Growing a Revolution is one of the most important books ever writtenan engaging and revealing service to human society and our planet.

Amir Kassam, professor of agriculture, policy
and development, University of Reading, UK

Growing a Revolution presents a clear-eyed examination of a solution to the challenges we face in feeding the world. A joy to read with the bounce and flow of a great biography. I couldnt recommend it more.

Jerry Harrison, keyboardist and guitarist, Talking Heads

From Plato to FDR, from George Washington to Gabe Brown, Montgomery shows how all roads lead to the soiland the potential it holds to redress some of our greatest challenges in the twenty-first century.

Woody Tasch, founder of Slow Money and author of
Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money: Investing
as if Food, Farms, and Fertility Mattered

Loved the book! Ambitious and thought provoking. A fascinating, thoughtful, and hopeful adventure.

Diana Wall, past president of the Ecological Society
of America and director of the School of Global
Environmental Sustainability at Colorado State University

An important masterpiece, Growing a Revolution is one of the most practical and prescient descriptions of the food and agriculture transformation we must now accomplish. Should be required reading for anyone interested in the future of food and farming.

Frederick Kirschenmann, author of Cultivating an
Ecological Conscience: Essays from a Farmer Philosopher

A wise and grounded bookrestored soils are the solution.