Six Inches of Soil: How to Heal Our Soils, Ourselves and Our Communities Through Regenerative Farming

Author:   Sarah Langford ,  Molly Foster ,  Priya Kalia ,  Jeremy Toynbee
Publisher:   5M Books Ltd
ISBN:  

9781917159005


Pages:   360
Publication Date:   30 April 2024
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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Six Inches of Soil: How to Heal Our Soils, Ourselves and Our Communities Through Regenerative Farming


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Overview

How has it come to this point in our history that we hardly value the food we eat and the soil that it’s grown in? How is it that we care so little how food production impacts animals and the environment? Industrial farming has transformed Britain’s rural landscapes, increasing crop yields and reducing hunger. Yet this has all come at a terrible ecological cost. It is ‘both a miracle and a disaster’. Six Inches of Soil, the film and this companion book, is the inspiring story of three British farmers standing up to the industrial food system and transforming the way they produce food – to heal the soil, benefit our health and provide for local communities.  Six Inches of Soil is a story of courage, vision and hope. This book is not just for farmers. Reconnecting with our food, and regenerating our soils, ourselves and our communities benefits everyone and needs everyone to be involved. We want to inspire farmers with the confidence and practical know-how to adopt regenerative farming approaches. We want to give consumers the impetus and information to rethink their food choices. This book and the film are closely related but stand on their own. In these pages you will find detailed chapters on each of the three farmers that provide replicable case studies and inspiration. Additionally, there are chapters examining the problems with the current agri-food system and proposing solutions and a vision for the future. Recognised experts: explain agroecological farming systems and soil science; consider the issues of land use, greenwashing, subsidies, food security; and provide examples of agroforestry applications, and farm enterprise stacking and diversification. Their three stories are inspiring, guiding and frustrating. Allow yourself to be inspired, to be guided and to turn your frustration in to action.  

Full Product Details

Author:   Sarah Langford ,  Molly Foster ,  Priya Kalia ,  Jeremy Toynbee
Publisher:   5M Books Ltd
Imprint:   5M Books Ltd
Weight:   0.774kg
ISBN:  

9781917159005


ISBN 10:   1917159005
Pages:   360
Publication Date:   30 April 2024
Audience:   General/trade ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Adult education ,  General ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Foreword Introduction CHAPTER 1 It's a miracle, but that miracle has created a disaster CHAPTER 2 Regenerative farming, what is it? INTERLUDE I Are we using our farmed land wisely?  CHAPTER 3 The science of soil INTERLUDE II Regulation, greenwashing and co-option  CHAPTER 4 Regenerative mixed farm: Pig Pink Farm, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire INTERLUDE III Subsidies, Brexit and trade CHAPTER 5 Organic market garden: Sweetpea, Caxton, Cambridgeshire INTERLUDE IV Food security and UK self-sufficiency CHAPTER 6 Pasture-fed beef: Treveddoe, Bodmin, Cornwall INTERLUDE V Applying agroforestry in mixed regenerative farming CHAPTER 7 Soil as soul INTERLUDE VI Enterprise stacking CHAPTER 8 How do we build a sustainable future for food and farming? Epilogue – Act now Appendix I: Partners in change   Appendix II: Advising farmer profiles    Contributors Acknowledgements Glossary Notes  Further reading Index

Reviews

‘Six Inches of Soil tells the story of how and why agriculture went down the path of soil degradation which has led to losses in biodiversity, carbon, water quality and nutrient density in our foods BUT it then takes you on a captivating journey of regeneration. Highlighting farms on their regenerative journey. Showing us the way and giving us hope. A must read for all society.’ – Gabe Brown, Rancher, Educator, Author (Dirt to Soil) and Student of the Soil  ‘Readable, poetic and illustrative in its production; charming, evocative and educational in its content, Six Inches of Soil: How to Heal Our Soils, Ourselves, and Our Communities Through Regenerative Farming is above all helpful and honest. It’s not just for farmers, but for anyone and everyone.’ – Jenny Jefferies, author of Islands In A Common Sea: Stories of Farming, Fishing and Food Around The World ‘The team behind Six Inches of Soil have pulled off something remarkable. This book has succeeded in capturing the passion and wonder from the film, supplementing that content with scientific, farming and policy depth to produce a work that stands strongly on its own feet. If you are lucky enough to have already watched the film, you will be delighted by the extra detail and discourse within these pages. If you are reading it fresh, the combination of interviews, discussion and reflection will probably change the way you look at soil forever.’ – Ben Raskin, Head of Horticulture and Agroforestry, Soil Association & author of The Woodchip Handbook ‘To feed a growing global population, we will need to produce more food than ever before – but we must do so more sustainably than has been the case in the past seventy years. Six Inches of Soil provides a hopeful vision for sustainable farming, based on careful stewardship of our most precious resource, alongside farming with – rather than in opposition to – our natural environment. A timely work which points the way to a more sustainable approach to food, farming and the environment.’ – Joe Stanely, Head of Sustainable Farming, The Allerton Project & author of Farm to Fork : The Challenge of Sustainable Farming in 21st Century Britain ‘A fantastic assembly of the trials, tribulations, successes and failures of all those connected to the land that are looking at replacing death with life in the food production system.’ – Ben Taylor-Davies/RegenBen  


Author Information

Jeremy Toynbee had his hands in the soil studying archaeology at Trinity College, University of Wales. He then followed a love of books and reading into publishing. As an editor, he has been polishing the words of others and shaping them into books for over 25 years. Following stints in newsstand magazines and with the academic publishers Routledge and SAGE, Jeremy formed his own publishing services company in 2007. He was consulting for 5m Books when the opportunity arose to buy it in 2020. Priya Kalia is a biologist with over 12 years' experience in regenerative medicine research, where she studied how to repair the body when it's ill, injured or ageing. During her time in research, she learned about how food and its micronutrients can positively affect our bodies. Priya studied Molecular Biology and Genetics at the University of Toronto, Canada, has a PhD from University College London, and carried out postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge and Kings College London. She runs a strategic communications and content advisory firm, Scitribe. Molly Foster is an interdisciplinary researcher whose interests relate to food and farming sustainability. She studied human sciences at Oxford University and is currently pursuing an anthropology PhD at the Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich. She has previously carried out research into corporate venturing into alternative proteins, with the University of Oxford's Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, and taught undergraduate human ecology.

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