The Future-Proof Farm

The Future-Proof Farm

Author: Steve Groff

Publisher: Advantage Media Group

Published: 2020-09-22

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 9781642251869

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A SURVIVAL GUIDE FOR FARMERS! WHAT'S GOOD FOR THE EARTH IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS Steve Groff's message to his fellow farmers is profound and prophetic: they are in danger of becoming obsolete. Major market changes are forcing them to make difficult decisions. Farmers who adjust have an opportunity to thrive. Those who do not are likely to fade away. Consumers increasingly demand that the food they eat and the clothes they wear come from producers who observe responsible farming practices such as cover crops and reduced tillage. The major corporate players are positioning themselves for a profitable future. Farmers must do likewise to ensure they will have a continuing market for their goods. To future-proof their farms, they must heal the live-giving soil that sustains their livelihood. Steve Groff knows that what is good for the earth is good for business. He has taken his message across the nation and to the corners of the world, promoting a new mindset that could save the family farm from extinction. This book is his wake-up call.


The Resilient Farm and Homestead

The Resilient Farm and Homestead

Author: Ben Falk

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Company

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 323

ISBN-13: 1603584447

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The Resilient Farm and Homestead is a manual for developing durable, beautiful, and highly functional human habitat systems fit to handle an age of rapid transition. Ben Falk is a land designer and site developer whose permaculture-research farm has drawn national attention. The site is a terraced paradise on a hillside in Vermont that would otherwise be overlooked by conventional farmers as unworthy farmland. Falk's wide array of fruit trees, rice paddies (relatively unheard of in the Northeast), ducks, nuts, and earth-inspired buildings is a hopeful image for the future of regenerative agriculture and modern homesteading. The book covers nearly every strategy Falk and his team have been testing at the Whole Systems Research Farm over the past decade, as well as experiments from other sites Falk has designed through his off-farm consulting business. The book includes detailed information on earthworks; gravity-fed water systems; species composition; the site-design process; site management; fuelwood hedge production and processing; human health and nutrient-dense production strategies; rapid topsoil formation and remineralization; agroforestry/silvopasture/grazing; ecosystem services, especially regarding flood mitigation; fertility management; human labor and social-systems aspects; tools/equipment/appropriate technology; and much more, complete with gorgeous photography and detailed design drawings. The Resilient Farm and Homestead is more than just a book of tricks and techniques for regenerative site development, but offers actual working results in living within complex farm-ecosystems based on research from the "great thinkers" in permaculture, and presents a viable home-scale model for an intentional food-producing ecosystem in cold climates, and beyond. Inspiring to would-be homesteaders everywhere, but especially for those who find themselves with "unlikely" farming land, Falk is an inspiration in what can be done by imitating natural systems, and making the most of what we have by re-imagining what's possible. A gorgeous case study for the homestead of the future.


Farmageddon

Farmageddon

Author: Philip Lymbery

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2014-01-30

Total Pages: 608

ISBN-13: 140884642X

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Farm animals have been disappearing from our fields as the production of food has become a global industry. We no longer know for certain what is entering the food chain and what we are eating. We are reaching a tipping point as the farming revolution threatens our countryside, health and the quality of our food wherever we live in the world. From the antibiotics routinely given to industrially farmed animals to the chemicals that are killing our insect populations, Farmageddon is a fascinating and terrifying investigative journey behind the closed doors of a runaway industry across the world – from Europe to the USA, from China to Latin America. It is both a wake-up call to change our current food production and eating practices, and an attempt to find a way to a better farming future.


Restoration Agriculture

Restoration Agriculture

Author: Mark Shepard

Publisher: Acres U.S.A., Incorporated

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781601730350

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Around the globe most people get their calories from "annual" agriculture - plants that grow fast for one season, produce lots of seeds, then die. Every single human society that has relied on annual crops for staple foods has collapsed. Restoration Agriculture explains how we can have all of the benefits of natural, perennial ecosystems and create agricultural systems that imitate nature in form and function while still providing for our food, building, fuel and many other needs - in your own backyard, farm or ranch. This book, based on real-world practices, presents an alternative to the agriculture system of eradication and offers exciting hope for our future.


The New Farm

The New Farm

Author: Brent Preston

Publisher: Abrams

Published: 2018-03-27

Total Pages: 287

ISBN-13: 1683353021

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This “must-read” memoir of human-scale agriculture offers an insider’s view of today’s food system by a leading voice in sustainable farming (Daniel Boulud). After years of working at the ends of the earth in human rights and development, Brent Preston and his wife were die-hard city dwellers. But when their second child arrived, the shine came off urban living. In 2003 they bought a hundred acres and a rundown farmhouse, determined to build a farm that would sustain their family, nourish their community, heal their environment—and turn a profit. The New Farm is Preston’s memoir of a decade of toil and perseverance. Farming is a complex and precarious business, and they made plenty of mistakes along the way. But as they learned how to grow food, and to succeed at the business of farming, they also found that a small, sustainable, organic farm could be an engine for change, a path to a more just and sustainable food system. Today, The New Farm supplies top restaurants, supports community food banks, hosts events with leading chefs, and grows extraordinary produce. Told with humor and heart, The New Farm is a joy, a passionate book by an important new voice.


The Future-Proof Workplace

The Future-Proof Workplace

Author: Linda Sharkey

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2017-02-27

Total Pages: 136

ISBN-13: 111928774X

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Face the future on the crest of the wave while the rest are pulled under The Future-Proof Workplace is a survival guide for the new realities of business. The future is no longer some far-off destination; it is here, right now, and already changing the way we work. Historically, the sea-changes have advanced humanity and inspired us to reach even further; from the Dark Ages to the Age of Enlightenment, from agrarian to industrial societies—and today is no different. But only those who are ready for the changes will come out thriving. This book highlights the changes already taking place around us: the transition from skills to knowledge, the neuroscience approach to leadership and motivation, galloping technical advances, and more. Whether you're a CEO, a leader or manager, or just trying to survive the chaos, this invaluable guide is your wake-up call—the future is now. The new forces emerging must be understood now if your organization is to succeed. This book details the transformation every business must make to turn upheaval into opportunity. Discover how emerging technologies and neuroscience research are already impacting the way we work Learn how yesterday's biases are being replaced by modern values, culture, and relationships Consider the "heart" of your organization, and whether it can stand up to the purpose-driven paradigm of the future Find new achievement in the new organizational structure, and examine models that are already emerging Everyone knows that changes are needed—and fast. The question is: which changes, and how? The Future-Proof Workplace maps the transformation, and gives you an itinerary for each step of the way.


Eat Like a Fish

Eat Like a Fish

Author: Bren Smith

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2019-05-14

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 0451494555

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JAMES BEARD AWARD WINNER IACP Cookbook Award finalist In the face of apocalyptic climate change, a former fisherman shares a bold and hopeful new vision for saving the planet: farming the ocean. Here Bren Smith—pioneer of regenerative ocean agriculture—introduces the world to a groundbreaking solution to the global climate crisis. A genre-defining “climate memoir,” Eat Like a Fish interweaves Smith’s own life—from sailing the high seas aboard commercial fishing trawlers to developing new forms of ocean farming to surfing the frontiers of the food movement—with actionable food policy and practical advice on ocean farming. Written with the humor and swagger of a fisherman telling a late-night tale, it is a powerful story of environmental renewal, and a must-read guide to saving our oceans, feeding the world, and—by creating new jobs up and down the coasts—putting working class Americans back to work.


One Size Fits None

One Size Fits None

Author: Stephanie Anderson

Publisher: University of Nebraska Press

Published: 2019-01-01

Total Pages: 313

ISBN-13: 1496211944

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“Sustainable” has long been the rallying cry of agricultural progressives; given that much of our nation’s farm and ranch land is already degraded, however, sustainable agriculture often means maintaining a less-than-ideal status quo. Industrial agriculture has also co-opted the term for marketing purposes without implementing better practices. Stephanie Anderson argues that in order to provide nutrient-rich food and fight climate change, we need to move beyond sustainable to regenerative agriculture, a practice that is highly tailored to local environments and renews resources. In One Size Fits None Anderson follows diverse farmers across the United States: a South Dakota bison rancher who provides an alternative to the industrial feedlot; an organic vegetable farmer in Florida who harvests microgreens; a New Mexico super-small farmer who revitalizes communities; and a North Dakota midsize farmer who combines livestock and grain farming to convert expensive farmland back to native prairie. The use of these nontraditional agricultural techniques show how varied operations can give back to the earth rather than degrade it. This book will resonate with anyone concerned about the future of food in America, providing guidance for creating a better, regenerative agricultural future. Download a discussion guide (PDF).


One Size Fits None

One Size Fits None

Author: Stephanie Renee Anderson

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 373

ISBN-13: 1496211928

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2019 Midwest Book Award for Nature 2020 High Plains Book Award Finalist 2020 Silver Nautilus Book Award Winner in Green Living and Sustainability "Sustainable" has long been the rallying cry of agricultural progressives; given that much of our nation's farm and ranch land is already degraded, however, sustainable agriculture often means maintaining a less-than-ideal status quo. Industrial agriculture has also co-opted the term for marketing purposes without implementing better practices. Stephanie Anderson argues that in order to provide nutrient-rich food and fight climate change, we need to move beyond sustainable to regenerative agriculture, a practice that is highly tailored to local environments and renews resources. In One Size Fits None Anderson follows diverse farmers across the United States: a South Dakota bison rancher who provides an alternative to the industrial feedlot; an organic vegetable farmer in Florida who harvests microgreens; a New Mexico super-small farmer who revitalizes communities; and a North Dakota midsize farmer who combines livestock and grain farming to convert expensive farmland back to native prairie. The use of these nontraditional agricultural techniques show how varied operations can give back to the earth rather than degrade it. This book will resonate with anyone concerned about the future of food in America, providing guidance for creating a better, regenerative agricultural future.