Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life

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.

David R. Montgomery is a professor of Earth and space sciences at the University of Washington. He studies the evolution of topography and the influence of geomorphological processes on ecological systems and human societies. He received a BS from Stanford University (1984, geology) and a PhD from UC Berkeley (1991, geomorphology). His field studies have included projects around the world and he is an elected Fellow of the American Geophysical Union. He has received many awards throughout his career, including a MacArthur Fellowship and the Vega Medal. His books Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations, King of Fish: The Thousand-Year Run of Salmon, and The Rocks Don’t Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noah’s Flood have all won the Washington State Book Award in General Nonfiction. Montgomery’s Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life was a finalist for the PEN/E. O. Wilson Award for Literary Science Writing. He also coauthored with Anne Biklé The Hidden Half of Nature and What Your Food Ate: How to Heal Our Land and Reclaim Our Health. Most recently, he published his case for regenerative agriculture, Regen: A New Future for Farming, Food, and Health. His books have been translated into eleven languages. He is also a coauthor of the textbook Essentials of Physical Geography with W. W. Norton.