Dirt to Soil by Gabe Brown

Author:Gabe Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing

PART II

The Big Picture

Seven

The Five Principles of Soil Health

I began this book with the principles of soil health, and they weave through the entire story of Brown’s Ranch told in part one. Because of their fundamental importance to regenerative agriculture, I return here to explain in more detail why each principle is so important, what happens when each principle is ignored, and how to apply the principles through your farming, ranching, and gardening practices.

These five principles of soil health were developed by nature, over eons of time. They are the same anyplace in the world where the sun shines and plants grow. Gardeners, farmers, and ranchers around the world are using these principles to grow nutrient-rich, deep topsoil with healthy watersheds. I credit Jon Stika (author of A Soil Owner’s Manual), Jay Fuhrer, and Ray Archuleta for being the first, to my knowledge, to refer to these as the “five principles of soil health.”

It is imperative that all farmers and ranchers understand these principles, for to ignore them will lead us farther and farther down the path of complete degradation of all natural resources—not just soil. Without healthy soil, we cannot have healthy crops or healthy animals or healthy people. We must promote the health and functioning of the ecosystems in which we farm. Like humans, nature can handle occasional stress, but, just like humans, nature cannot function properly in the face of prolonged or acute stress.

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