This means not tilling fields with a plow, planting cover crops year-round, and rotating crops regularly. The author spends the bulk of his book providing case studies of how this method actually functions around the world from Kansas and North Dakota to Africa and Central America. Montgomery brings the reader’s attention to a third option: conservative agriculture. Farmers using these unconventional practices cultivate beneficial soil life, smother weeds, and suppress pests while relying on far less, if any, fertilizer and pesticides.Give it purpose—fill it with books, DVDs, clothes, electronics, and more. Now we risk repeating this ancient story on a global scale due to ongoing soil degradation, a changing climate, and a rising population.Cutting through standard debates about conventional and organic farming, Montgomery explores why practices based on the principles of conservation agriculture help restore soil health and fertility.
Sounds boring but it was far from it. In his real life examples, Montgomery exposes the expense of conventional agriculture that proves it is neither the most cost effective nor the most efficient method of farming.Many people choose sides between conventional and organic methods of farming, assuming that you will have to settle for lower harvests and smaller produce if you don’t want your food to be poisoned by carcinogenic pesticides. Conservative agriculture, Montgomery states, is “a combination of good stewardship and economic gain.” His book left me with a positive attitude about the future of agriculture worldwide.Be the first to ask a question about Growing a RevolutionWelcome back. Growing a Revolution was an amazing eye-opener about the state of our soil. In Growing a Revolution, David R. Montgomery leads us on a journey through history and around the world to see how innovative farmers ditch the plough, mulch cover crops and adopt complex rotations to restore the soil, finding the foundation for the next agricultural revolution: a soil health revolution. The author repeatedly points out that all three factors are required to truly practice conservative agriculture—a sustainable method of farming (that can certainly be practiced organically, which re-establishes the natural relationship between plants and mycorrhizal fungi and eliminates the need for imported fertilizers. Farmers he visited found it both possible and profitable to stop plowing up the soil and blanketing fields with chemicals. These manufactured fertilizers, used copiously across the country since after World War II, have merely propped up yields in the short term and ultimately depleted the soil.This book changed the way I think about farming and the meaning of sustainable agriculture. Many people choose sides between conventional and organic methods of farming, assuming that you will have to settle for lower harvests and smaller produce if you don’t want your food to be poisoned by carcinogenic pesticides. Montgomery finds that the combination of no-till planting, cover crops, and diverse crop rotations provides the essential recipe to rebuild soil organic matter.