David Montgomery

press release: Doug Moe interviews David Montgomery about his book "Growing a Revolution - Bringing our Soil Back to Life"

A MacArthur Fellow’s impassioned call to make agriculture sustainable by ditching the plow, covering the soil, and diversifying crop rotations.

 The problem of agriculture is as old as civilization. Throughout history, great societies that abused their land withered into poverty or disappeared entirely. Now we risk repeating this ancient story on a global scale due to ongoing soil degradation, a changing climate, and a rising population.

But there is reason for hope. David R. Montgomery introduces us to farmers around the world at the heart of a brewing soil health revolution that could bring humanity’s ailing soil back to life remarkably fast. Growing a Revolution draws on visits to farms in the industrialized world and developing world to show that a new combination of farming practices can deliver innovative, cost-effective solutions to problems farmers face today.

David R. Montgomery is a professor of geomorphology at the University of Washington. He lives in Seattle with his wife, Anne Biklé, and Loki, their guide-dog dropout.