Treating the Farm as an Ecosystem with Gabe Brown Part 1, The 5 Tenets of Soil Health
What it is
A long talk by rancher Gabe Brown on turning his North Dakota farm into a regenerative ecosystem using no-till, cover crops and integrated livestock. It covers the five principles of soil health and how they pay off financially.
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters call it their favorite introduction to regenerative agriculture, and several say it changed how they garden or farm.
- 12 people recommended it
- 11 different months
- 4 strong recommendations
- first 2019, last 2025
What HN commenters said
“This is a long video but it has completely changed my home gardening practices.”
Long talk on living soil that changed home gardening practices.
tastyfreeze, 2019-09 · Strong recommendation · in “Estimates that mineral levels in vegetables have dropped by up to 90% since 1914”
“Gabe Brown's talk is my favorite introduction to regenerative ag”
Favorite introduction to regenerative agriculture.
akeck, 2021-07 · Strong recommendation · in “Organic and regenerative agriculture are revitalizing rural Montana economies”
“it was an eye-opener for me”
Farm without fertilizer via no-till and rotation, focused on profit.
frereubu, 2021-09 · Strong recommendation · in “Sri Lanka’s overnight flip to organic farming has led to an economic disaster”
“I found this video series about soil really interesting”
Engaging, interesting series on soil.
jakeogh, 2019-09 · Recommendation · in “Healthy soil is the real key to feeding the world”
“Gabe Brown has done some interesting stuff in farm scale low input farming.”
Gabe Brown's farm-scale low-input farming.
VBprogrammer, 2020-04 · Recommendation · in “Fruit Trenches: Cultivating Subtropical Plants in Freezing Temperatures”
“Gabe Brown has been doing regenerative agriculture for over two decades on Brown's Ranch”
Gabe Brown on integrated crops and livestock in practice.
vram22, 2020-07 · Recommendation · in “Investors say agroforestry is climate friendly and also profitable”
“He talks about fungus starting around 1:20 (80 minutes in)”
Soil as an organism; fungal discussion at 80 minutes.
carapace, 2020-10 · Recommendation · in ““Fungi Can Teach Us a New Way of Looking at the World””
“A talk presenting a realistic view on soil reconstruction, what IMO is the best argument to convince farmers”
Realistic view on soil reconstruction aimed at convincing farmers.
iorek_dev, 2021-07 · Recommendation · in “Organic and regenerative agriculture are revitalizing rural Montana economies”
Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.
Topics: soil health, no-till, cover crops, gabe brown, farming, livestock
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