Gabe Brown: From Dirt To Soil
“Regenerative agriculture is not a set of practices. It is a way of thinking. A way of seeing. It is how you live on the land.”
— Gabe Brown
Photo: Justin Lubke
In the late twentieth century, American agriculture has faced mounting challenges: soil erosion, chemical dependency, and economic pressure on family farms. Amid these conditions, North Dakota farmer Gabe Brown turned crisis into opportunity by transforming his land through regenerative practices. His work, documented in Dirt to Soil (2018), has become a case study in how degraded farmland can be restored to resilience through ecological principles.
Gabe Brown operates Brown’s Ranch, a 5,000-acre diversified farm and ranch near Bismarck, North Dakota. After repeated crop failures in the 1990s, he abandoned conventional input-heavy methods and embraced practices designed to restore soil health. Over decades, he transformed eroded, nutrient-poor land into a thriving ecosystem with flourishing crops and livestock.
Brown is a co-founder of Understanding Ag LLC and a lead educator with the Soil Health Academy, initiatives that train farmers and ranchers worldwide in regenerative principles. His story was also featured in the documentary Kiss the Ground (2020), which helped bring regenerative agriculture into the public spotlight.
Brown’s work is grounded in six principles of soil health that guide regenerative practice.
Context: every farm is unique, shaped by climate, history, and community
Soil cover: keeping soil protected with plants or mulch to conserve water and prevent erosion
Living roots: maintaining plants year-round to feed soil biology
Diversity: integrating multiple species of plants and animals to strengthen resilience
Minimal disturbance: reducing tillage and chemical disruption to protect soil structure and life
Animal integration: using livestock to cycle nutrients and build fertility
These principles, drawn from ecological observation, shift agriculture from extraction to restoration.
Brown’s farm is both demonstration and classroom. By applying regenerative principles, he increased soil organic matter, improved water retention, and restored biodiversity across thousands of acres. His experience showed that ecological restoration is compatible with economic viability, offering farmers resilience in the face of drought, market shifts, and climate change.
The philosophical dimension of Brown’s work lies in its reorientation of agriculture. Soil is not inert matter but a living system whose health underpins ecological and human well-being. Farming becomes an act of partnership with biological processes rather than a struggle for control. This vision challenges conventional agriculture and offers a practical pathway toward ecological and cultural renewal.
Gabe Brown’s story demonstrates that degraded land can be restored through ecological care and patient observation. His teaching affirms soil as the foundation of resilience and invites farmers, gardeners, and communities to see regeneration as both possibility and responsibility.
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