Voices From The Soil

Subtitle: Timeless interviews with visionaries who fought for a scientific, soil-health-based system of farming

Long overdue, this collection of timeless Acres U.S.A. interviews includes 25 diverse voices who sparked a movement still rapidly growing today around the world: organic, eco-agriculture. In 1976, when the first interview in this book was recorded, only a few lone voices in the agriculture industry could be heard teaching about soil health, holistic land and animal management, and this wild idea of organic farming. More than 45 years later, when the last interview in this book was recorded, the organic food industry had rocketed into the billions of dollars and a new progression of regenerative agriculture was starting to sweep the world. These pages include 25 free thinkers whose ideas and actions were fundamental in this continued evolution in favor of soil health and human health.

You’ll read interviews that include:

• William A. Albrecht explaining eco-agriculture in 1976;
• Charles Walters’ timeless talk on change in farming;
• Wendell Berry’s warning about fear after 9/11;
• Elaine Ingham’s groundbreaking interview on soil biology;
• Gabe Brown’s launch of the regenerative ag movement;
• And more, including Dr. Vandana Shiva, Eliot Coleman, Jerry Brunetti, Bill Mollison, Leah Penniman, and Gary Zimmer!

384 pages • Softcover • Copyright 2023

“Don’t worry too much if you don’t always understand. Keep on studying and it will all come clear.” – William A. Albrecht

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Foreword by Fred Walters

“I’ve Had to Stand Alone”
An Interview with Dr. William Albrecht

“We Live on This Earth and It Is Marvelously Made”
An Interview with Dr. Carey Reams

“You are Now Elevated to the Title of Plant Manager”
An Interview with Don Schriefer

“No Magic Bullet”
An Interview with C.J. Fenzau

“That Was the End of the Roman Empire”
An Interview with Dr. Phil Callahan

“I’ve Had to Stand Alone”
An Interview with Christopher Bird

“I Started Looking at the Soil”
An Interview with Dan Skow

“When I Met Bill Albrecht”
An Interview with Neal Kinsey

“Compost is the Staple”
An Interview with Malcolm Beck

“Philosophy Doesn’t Pay the Bills”
An Interview with Arden Andersen

“To be Economical, Agriculture Must be Ecological”
An Interview with Charles Walters

“We’re the Model Makers”
An Interview with Bill Mollison

“Get the Soil-Food-Web Back into the System”
An Interview with Dr. Elaine Ingham

“We’ve Come a Long Way”
An Interview with Fletcher Sims

“The Virtue of Elegance”
An Interview with Jerry Brunetti

“That’s the Ultimate Form of Sustainable”
An Interview with Alan Nation

“We Have to Start with Education”
An Interview with Gary Zimmer

“It is Really Fundamentally a Different Philosophy of Life”
An Interview with John Ikerd, PhD

“We Wouldn’t Go Back to the Way We Were Farming”
An Interview with Klaas & Mary Howell Martens

“The Moral Imperative is to Waste Nothing”
An Essay & Interview with Wendell Berry

“They are All Nutritional Diseases”
An Interview with Pat Coleby

“They Ain’t Been Paying Attention”
An Interview with Eliot Coleman

“They’re Seeds of Freedom”
An Interview with Dr. Vandana Shiva

“Impact is Always More Important Than Intention”
An Interview with Leah Penniman

“We Have to Change the Whole Mindset”
An Interview with Gabe Brown