Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life

Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life

Author: David R. Montgomery

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2017-05-09

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0393608336

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Finalist for the PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award "A call to action that underscores a common goal: to change the world from the ground up." —Dan Barber, author of The Third Plate For centuries, agricultural practices have eroded the soil that farming depends on, stripping it of the organic matter vital to its productivity. Now conventional agriculture is threatening disaster for the world’s growing population. In Growing a Revolution, geologist David R. Montgomery travels the world, meeting farmers at the forefront of an agricultural movement to restore soil health. From Kansas to Ghana, he sees why adopting the three tenets of conservation agriculture—ditching the plow, planting cover crops, and growing a diversity of crops—is the solution. When farmers restore fertility to the land, this helps feed the world, cool the planet, reduce pollution, and return profitability to family farms.


Soil and Water Quality

Soil and Water Quality

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1993-02-01

Total Pages: 541

ISBN-13: 0309049334

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How can the United States meet demands for agricultural production while solving the broader range of environmental problems attributed to farming practices? National policymakers who try to answer this question confront difficult trade-offs. This book offers four specific strategies that can serve as the basis for a national policy to protect soil and water quality while maintaining U.S. agricultural productivity and competitiveness. Timely and comprehensive, the volume has important implications for the Clean Air Act and the 1995 farm bill. Advocating a systems approach, the committee recommends specific farm practices and new approaches to prevention of soil degradation and water pollution for environmental agencies. The volume details methods of evaluating soil management systems and offers a wealth of information on improved management of nitrogen, phosphorus, manure, pesticides, sediments, salt, and trace elements. Landscape analysis of nonpoint source pollution is also detailed. Drawing together research findings, survey results, and case examples, the volume will be of interest to federal, state, and local policymakers; state and local environmental and agricultural officials and other environmental and agricultural specialists; scientists involved in soil and water issues; researchers; and agricultural producers.


Advances in Dryland Farming in the Inland Pacific Northwest

Advances in Dryland Farming in the Inland Pacific Northwest

Author: Georgine Yorgey

Publisher:

Published: 2017-06-15

Total Pages: 628

ISBN-13: 9780972199445

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The Pacific Northwest is an important wheat production region. In 2015, the National Agricultural Statistics Service indicated that Washington, Idaho, and Oregon harvested more than 240 million bushels of wheat, worth an estimated $1.3 billion. The major areas of production in the inland Pacific Northwest include three major land resource areas with distinctive geologic features and soils as defined by the US Department of Agriculture: the Columbia Basin, the Columbia Plateau, and the Palouse and Nez Perce Prairies, all of which are within the Northwestern Wheat and Range Region. It also includes a small portion of dryland cropping in the North Rocky Mountains major land resource area, adjacent to the eastern edge of the Palouse and Nez Perce Prairies. In the dryland areas, which are the focus of this book, wheat is grown in rotation with crop fallow and much smaller acreages of other small grains, legumes, and alternative crops. In light of ongoing and new challenges being faced by farmers in the region it is an opportune time to synthesize research-based advances in knowledge to support farmer decision-making and improve the long-term productive capacity of farmland in the region. This book should be viewed as a resource that launches further inquiry rather than an end point.


Small Farm Handbook

Small Farm Handbook

Author: Shirley Humphrey

Publisher: UCANR Publications

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13: 9781879906235

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A guide to starting and operating a successful small farm.