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The Future-Proof Farm

Author: Steve Groff

Publisher: Advantage Media Group

Published: 2020-09-22

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 9781642251869

A SURVIVAL GUIDE FOR FARMERS! WHAT'S GOOD FOR THE EARTH IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS Steve Groff's message to his fellow farmers is profound and prophetic: they are in danger of becoming obsolete. Major market changes are forcing them to make difficult decisions. Farmers who adjust have an opportunity to thrive. Those who do not are likely to fade away. Consumers increasingly demand that the food they eat and the clothes they wear come from producers who observe responsible farming practices such as cover crops and reduced tillage. The major corporate players are positioning themselves for a profitable future. Farmers must do likewise to ensure they will have a continuing market for their goods. To future-proof their farms, they must heal the live-giving soil that sustains their livelihood. Steve Groff knows that what is good for the earth is good for business. He has taken his message across the nation and to the corners of the world, promoting a new mindset that could save the family farm from extinction. This book is his wake-up call.

The Resilient Farm and Homestead

Author: Ben Falk

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Company

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 323

ISBN-13: 1603584447

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The Resilient Farm and Homestead is a manual for developing durable, beautiful, and highly functional human habitat systems fit to handle an age of rapid transition. Ben Falk is a land designer and site developer whose permaculture-research farm has drawn national attention. The site is a terraced paradise on a hillside in Vermont that would otherwise be overlooked by conventional farmers as unworthy farmland. Falk's wide array of fruit trees, rice paddies (relatively unheard of in the Northeast), ducks, nuts, and earth-inspired buildings is a hopeful image for the future of regenerative agriculture and modern homesteading. The book covers nearly every strategy Falk and his team have been testing at the Whole Systems Research Farm over the past decade, as well as experiments from other sites Falk has designed through his off-farm consulting business. The book includes detailed information on earthworks; gravity-fed water systems; species composition; the site-design process; site management; fuelwood hedge production and processing; human health and nutrient-dense production strategies; rapid topsoil formation and remineralization; agroforestry/silvopasture/grazing; ecosystem services, especially regarding flood mitigation; fertility management; human labor and social-systems aspects; tools/equipment/appropriate technology; and much more, complete with gorgeous photography and detailed design drawings. The Resilient Farm and Homestead is more than just a book of tricks and techniques for regenerative site development, but offers actual working results in living within complex farm-ecosystems based on research from the "great thinkers" in permaculture, and presents a viable home-scale model for an intentional food-producing ecosystem in cold climates, and beyond. Inspiring to would-be homesteaders everywhere, but especially for those who find themselves with "unlikely" farming land, Falk is an inspiration in what can be done by imitating natural systems, and making the most of what we have by re-imagining what's possible. A gorgeous case study for the homestead of the future.

One Size Fits None

Author: Stephanie Anderson

Publisher: University of Nebraska Press

Published: 2019-01-01

Total Pages: 313

ISBN-13: 1496211944

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“Sustainable” has long been the rallying cry of agricultural progressives; given that much of our nation’s farm and ranch land is already degraded, however, sustainable agriculture often means maintaining a less-than-ideal status quo. Industrial agriculture has also co-opted the term for marketing purposes without implementing better practices. Stephanie Anderson argues that in order to provide nutrient-rich food and fight climate change, we need to move beyond sustainable to regenerative agriculture, a practice that is highly tailored to local environments and renews resources. In One Size Fits None Anderson follows diverse farmers across the United States: a South Dakota bison rancher who provides an alternative to the industrial feedlot; an organic vegetable farmer in Florida who harvests microgreens; a New Mexico super-small farmer who revitalizes communities; and a North Dakota midsize farmer who combines livestock and grain farming to convert expensive farmland back to native prairie. The use of these nontraditional agricultural techniques show how varied operations can give back to the earth rather than degrade it. This book will resonate with anyone concerned about the future of food in America, providing guidance for creating a better, regenerative agricultural future. Download a discussion guide (PDF).

Futureproof

Author: Kevin Roose

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2021-03-09

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 0593133358

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A practical, deeply reported survival guide for the age of AI, written by the New York Times tech columnist who has introduced millions to the promise and pitfalls of artificial intelligence. “Artificial intelligence can be terrifying, but Kevin Roose provides a clear, compelling strategy for surviving the next wave of technology with our jobs—and souls—intact.”—Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit It’s time to get real about AI. After decades of hype and sci-fi fantasies, AI—artificial intelligence—is leaping out of research labs and into the center of our lives. Millions of people now use tools like ChatGPT and DALL-E 2 to write essays, create art and finish coding projects. AI programs are already beating humans in fields like law, medicine and entertainment, and they’re getting better every day. But AI doesn’t just threaten our jobs. It shapes our entire human experience, steering our behavior and influencing our choices about which TV shows to watch, which clothes to buy, and which politicians to vote for. And while many experts argue about whether a robot apocalypse is near, one critical question has gone unanswered: In a world where AI is ascendant, how can humans survive and thrive? In Futureproof: 9 Rules for Humans in the Age of Automation, New York Times technology columnist Kevin Roose shares the secrets of people and organizations that have successfully navigated waves of technological change, and explains what skills are necessary to stay ahead of the curve today, with lessons like • Be surprising, social, and scarce • Resist machine drift • Leave handprints • Demote your devices • Treat AI like a chimp army Roose rejects the conventional wisdom that in order to compete with AI, we have to become more like robots ourselves—hyper-efficient, data-driven workhorses. Instead, he says, we should focus on being more human, and doing the kinds of creative, inspiring, and meaningful things even the most advanced algorithms can’t do.

Bulletproof Your Farm

Author: Andy Junkin

Publisher:

Published: 2019-11

Total Pages: 130

ISBN-13: 9781700393159

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Bulletproof your farm by setting tough goals, making tougher decisions together, and using your biggest strategic advantage at its full potential. It's time to stop being tough on one another and transform working with family from a weakness into your core strength.

The New Farm

Author: Brent Preston

Publisher: Abrams

Published: 2018-03-27

Total Pages: 287

ISBN-13: 1683353021

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This “must-read” memoir of human-scale agriculture offers an insider’s view of today’s food system by a leading voice in sustainable farming (Daniel Boulud). After years of working at the ends of the earth in human rights and development, Brent Preston and his wife were die-hard city dwellers. But when their second child arrived, the shine came off urban living. In 2003 they bought a hundred acres and a rundown farmhouse, determined to build a farm that would sustain their family, nourish their community, heal their environment—and turn a profit. The New Farm is Preston’s memoir of a decade of toil and perseverance. Farming is a complex and precarious business, and they made plenty of mistakes along the way. But as they learned how to grow food, and to succeed at the business of farming, they also found that a small, sustainable, organic farm could be an engine for change, a path to a more just and sustainable food system. Today, The New Farm supplies top restaurants, supports community food banks, hosts events with leading chefs, and grows extraordinary produce. Told with humor and heart, The New Farm is a joy, a passionate book by an important new voice.

Restoration Agriculture

Author: Mark Shepard

Publisher: Acres U.S.A., Incorporated

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781601730350

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Around the globe most people get their calories from "annual" agriculture - plants that grow fast for one season, produce lots of seeds, then die. Every single human society that has relied on annual crops for staple foods has collapsed. Restoration Agriculture explains how we can have all of the benefits of natural, perennial ecosystems and create agricultural systems that imitate nature in form and function while still providing for our food, building, fuel and many other needs - in your own backyard, farm or ranch. This book, based on real-world practices, presents an alternative to the agriculture system of eradication and offers exciting hope for our future.

A Small Farm Future

Author: Chris Smaje

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing

Published: 2020-10-21

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 1603589023

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A modern classic of the new agrarianism "Chris Smaje...shows that the choice is clear. Either we have a small farm future, or we face collapse and extinction."—Vandana Shiva "Every young person should read this book."—Richard Heinberg In a groundbreaking debut, farmer and social scientist Chris Smaje argues that organizing society around small-scale farming offers the soundest, sanest and most reasonable response to climate change and other crises of civilisation—and will yield humanity’s best chance at survival. Drawing on a vast range of sources from across a multitude of disciplines, A Small Farm Future analyses the complex forces that make societal change inevitable; explains how low-carbon, locally self-reliant agrarian communities can empower us to successfully confront these changes head on; and explores the pathways for delivering this vision politically. Challenging both conventional wisdom and utopian blueprints, A Small Farm Future offers rigorous original analysis of wicked problems and hidden opportunities in a way that illuminates the path toward functional local economies, effective self-provisioning, agricultural diversity and a shared earth. Perfect for readers of both Wendell Berry and Thomas Piketty, A Small Farm Future is a refreshing, new outlook on a way forward for society—and a vital resource for activists, students, policy makers, and anyone looking to enact change.

Eat Like a Fish

Author: Bren Smith

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2019-05-14

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 0451494555

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JAMES BEARD AWARD WINNER IACP Cookbook Award finalist In the face of apocalyptic climate change, a former fisherman shares a bold and hopeful new vision for saving the planet: farming the ocean. Here Bren Smith—pioneer of regenerative ocean agriculture—introduces the world to a groundbreaking solution to the global climate crisis. A genre-defining “climate memoir,” Eat Like a Fish interweaves Smith’s own life—from sailing the high seas aboard commercial fishing trawlers to developing new forms of ocean farming to surfing the frontiers of the food movement—with actionable food policy and practical advice on ocean farming. Written with the humor and swagger of a fisherman telling a late-night tale, it is a powerful story of environmental renewal, and a must-read guide to saving our oceans, feeding the world, and—by creating new jobs up and down the coasts—putting working class Americans back to work.