Book Review for "Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life"

By: Xavier Roberts

The Need for Regenerative Agriculture and What It Means

In Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life, David Montgomery argues for the revolutionary potential of regenerative agriculture. The modern agricultural system is unsustainable. It contributes roughly one third of global greenhouse gas emissions, pollutes natural environments, and fosters dependency on government subsidies. In contrast, regenerative agriculture can help feed a growing global population in a simple, cost-effect way while reducing pollution, pulling carbon from the atmosphere, protecting biodiversity, and making farmers more profitable. Montgomery notes that regenerative agriculture goes by other names: agroecology, conservation agriculture, and the Brown Revolution. Regardless of the label, he emphasizes that they each hold soil health at the heart of their practices.

The book highlights three core tenets of regenerative agriculture that combine to restore soil ecosystems: 1) no-till, 2) cover crops, and 3) diverse crop rotation. Montgomery claims that this three-pronged system is a ready-to-go, scalable, and “revolutionary approach” to rebuilding soil health (pg. 266). The book uses detailed scientific explanations and case studies from across the globe to demonstrate that regenerative agriculture is the sustainable future of farming that has already begun.

Regenerative Agriculture is Adaptable, Scalable, and More Efficient

Montgomery describes how his background as a geologist and his experiences visiting farmers in Africa, North America, and South America convinced him of the merits of regenerative agriculture. The beginning chapters of the book explain Montgomery’s conviction around regenerative agriculture as a viable solution to environmental and social problems. He is surprised at his own optimism that, by combining ancient wisdom with modern agrotechnology and agroecology, humanity could ignite a “fifth agricultural revolution” to rebuild soil fertility (pg. 20). Montgomery debunks the myth that conventional, large-scale agriculture is the only way to feed the world’s growing population. He explicates the detriments of conventional farming practices such as tillage, monocropping, and heavy agrochemical use. In contrast, he showcases farmers who have replaced conventional farming practices with regenerative ones only to realize greater yields with fewer input costs and less human labor.

The book chronicles how farmers adapt the three principles of regenerative agriculture to their unique environments. From prairies to tropical forests, farmers use complimentary practices such as intensive rotational cattle grazing, biochar, and mulching. Montgomery demonstrates how farmers from all walks of life – from poor economies to wealthy economies, small scale to large scale, organic to conventional – can achieve outstanding outcomes by maintaining regenerative agriculture’s core principles.

Barriers to Regenerative Agriculture: Existing Policies

With less work and more profits for farmers, Montgomery questions why anyone would not adopt regenerative practices. The answer, he suggests, lies with perverse agricultural policy incentives and corporate interests. Since large agricultural companies are unlikely to lead the way on regenerative practices because they are not easily commodified, the book suggests there is a market failure at play. This justifies government intervention to help facilitate farmers in transitioning to regenerative practices.

One strength of this book is that it clearly outlines two major and interconnected barriers to widespread adoption of regenerative agriculture: 1) existing agricultural policies, and 2) transition costs. The book shows how policies such as subsidy programs based on crop yields and crop insurance can undermine or indirectly discourage practices that promote and restore soil health. At the same time, it demonstrates how farmers who want to transition to regenerative farming often cannot afford it. Rebuilding soil health takes time. During those interim years, crop yields and profits usually suffer. This temporary slow-down in productivity can present an “intractable problem” for highly capitalized farmers. Without government assistance to backstop farmers during transition years, existing farm subsidies and crop insurance policies will maintain the status quo.

Responding to Skepticism about Reduced Crop Yields

Another strength of the book is an acknowledgement and response to a common skepticism surrounding regenerative agriculture: reduced crop yields. In chapter 5, Montgomery admits that the academic literature on regenerative farming is mixed, with some providing evidence of reduced yields. However, he contends that such studies fail to measure the performance of conventional farms against those that adopted all three core principles of regenerative agriculture. The book consistently reiterates that regenerative agriculture is a “three-legged stool”, and that only partial adoption leads to highly variable results (pg. 60). Throughout the book, there are vivid examples of how the three principles work together to form a system that outperforms conventional agriculture in almost every metric imaginable.

Areas for Improvement: Clarifying the Audience and Giving Guidance

Despite its cogent claims and evidence, this book has several areas for improvement. One weakness is the lack of a clear audience. Even though the book could be helpful to researchers, policymakers, and practitioners alike, Montgomery never specifies who his argument is meant to convince. This ambiguity around audience connects to another weakness in the book: ambiguity around implementing solutions. Montgomery calls out USDA policies for their negative effects, but he does not detail alternative policy solutions. Similarly, Montgomery claims that regenerative agriculture can be adapted to work for farmers from all backgrounds. Yet he never provides a clear blueprint or step-by-step guide for farmers who want to transition to regenerative practices. While the case studies are informative, they do not provide a comprehensive picture of the challenges that farmers face in implementing regenerative practices.

In its totality, this book accomplishes the goal of demystifying regenerative agriculture by clarifying its core principles and showcasing how they can work in any environment. This book is an excellent tool for skeptics or neophytes to regenerative agriculture. However, it is only a starting point. Anyone interested in practicing regenerative agriculture or designing policies for it would need to go beyond this book to do so. Montgomery raises a lot of questions about the sustainability of modern conventional agriculture, and he paints an optimistic picture for the potential of regenerative agriculture to help solve many of the world’s most pressing issues. Yet, he leaves readers thirsty for actionable solutions. However, if readers finish this book with a desire for clear policies and roadmaps for regenerative agriculture, then perhaps Montgomery has done his job.

Full Book Citation

Montgomery, David. Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life. First edition. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2017, 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110. 320 pages. Includes bibliographical references and index. $17.95. ISBN 978-0-393-60833-5 (e-book). https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393356090

Xavier Roberts is a graduating MPP student at Duke with a background in education and food policy. At Duke, he has honed his expertise in food policy while growing his knowledge of social policy and fiscal policy.