A Regenerative Secret - Kiss The Ground 

Thank you!!

Thank YOU for doing your part

Restored my HOPE that the message of how to resequester carbon to rebuild the health of the earth.

Also on RU-vid are other very successful regenerative farmers/ranchers showing the way. In the US there is Gabe Brown from North Dakota with a very diverse operation, Greg Judy in Missouri with a much simplified operation, and Will Harris in Geogia with a diverse and growing meat operation that includes his own USDA approved meat packing operations on site, and he is repopulating his neighboring ghosttown with employees and their families.

Indeed. If you’ve not seen it already watch the film Kiss The Ground. It has Allen Savory as well as all the farmers in this short. They are practicing what Allen has taught.

Hi Rabbit, Do you have friends who can go along with you and film what you are doing? We would love to get your story told as a soil sampler. Let me know if we can help. Where are you located?

I've read somewhere that most of the soy that is grown, is for cattle feeding (esp. in the Amazon) Am I wrong about that?

Very well put, vegans aren’t above this. Grow more gardens, they’re easy and fun!

@@scottthompson3493 This, and the original comment imply that vegans necessarily eat monoculture crops and are all as blissfully unaware of the issues as the general consumer public. While I agree that many vegans tend towards 'junk-food vegan' diets of Beyond X, Impossible Y, and Boca Z, the inherent awareness that many vegans have about what they are eating pushes self-education more towards a diet of (hopefully) sustainable but (definitely) less planet-damaging diets. Lets not classify groups of people as being 'wrong' or 'right' but instead look at what each person is doing that is 'right' so we can all move in that direction.

Beautifully said

It can be large scale, if managed correctly...

@@happinessyogateacher it can be, but I prefer small scale and decentralised, and more people working for their food in the area they live in. That means less disconnection, because I belive disconnection from nature and not knowing what it takes to produce food is one of the biggest problems of humanity today

@@Talasbuan I agree with connection to the land! Some of our locals have school tours, day camps, festivals, etc. Locally sourced is best for most. Of course, dedesertification might mean venturing into parts of the world where small farms would best serve the project if they collected into larger herds.

Thank you!

Please share! Thank you

Thanks Colleen! More to come

So tragic to hear of the land expropriation going down in SA. It really is putting strain on the South African farmers.

Hi Colleen, irony is that this ranching technique was developed in Zimbabwe in the 60s, google Holistic Management.

@@etienne_oosthuizen Yip, Zim was way ahead in terms of innovative farming practices until... My wife's Grandfather's farm was sadly expropriated in the early 2000s and lies barren to this day. I've recently joined an Organic Fertilizer company named GuanoBoost and we are determined to change the agricultural landscape in SA! www.guanoboost.com For any farmers out there who are interested in regenerating their soils please give me a call: Brendon +27(0)842595763

@@johnnyhaigs243 My wife's Grandfather's farm in Zimbabwe was sadly expropriated in the early 2000s and lies barren to this day. I've recently joined an Organic Fertilizer company named GuanoBoost and we are determined to change the agricultural landscape in SA! www.guanoboost.com For any farmers out there who are interested in regenerating their soils please give me a call: Brendon +27(0)842595763

Thank you Ian, That means a lot. I am working on pitching this as a show called Chasing Soil. I would go around the US (and the world) highlighting and comparing farming practices like this

@@finianmakepeace772 Thank you for your reply Finian, I'm honored. I would caution you before you attempt to lie down in the devil's pit of mainstream media, it is toxic and redundant, they just don't know it yet. Why not try crowdfunding and stay alternative? I would say this though, there seems to be a massive move with people who find a very worthy cause and USE it to, in all honesty, as a mechanism supply their own lifestyle and status. People are getting wise to it, and are quickly losing respect and their once long life shelf, is now becoming rather short indeed. Please don't fall into that obvious trap. The antidote is to put a few years in of hard graft and economic toil to prove you really mean it for the right reasons, this will become crucial to career longevity and worth any time soon. I wish you all the very best in your endeavors, as I amongst many will be its beneficiary, and I'm sure you personally really mean it from the heart. GOOD LUCK Brother.

Wheres the land for this? Its clearly unsustainavle And what if it doesnt rain or you dont find much river or ground water for the grass?

@@SilentSherlock666 if it does not rain as usual, the better soil will be able to retain much more water. They have such projects in Australia, they renature the small rivers and build small dams. That way the water flows slowly and the surrounding land can take it up. Before it was a straight running current and not much grew around. It started to green again. Such soil soaks up water like a sponge and releases it slowly. They had a major draught in Australia, in a drone shot one could easily identify the farms that work with that method (turning the streams to their natural state). They still were green.

@@SilentSherlock666 In Colombia farmers grow bushes and some plants. The cows forage in that open forest and they really like to eat those plants or leaves from bushes. I think the flowers are ones that can bind the nitrogen of the air (large stems, yellow petals), I did not recognize them. anyway they are high in proteine and the cows like them. On such land one can have MORE cattle (they are also moved around after a short time, I think they use electric fences. That way they do not trample everything down / destroy the surface, they just break it down enough for new growth, they fertilize it - and they move quicker than pests and bugs and diseases can grow / spread. In Colombia the farms were in an area with many hills, and on traditional grassland the cows had ruined the underground and it was obviously much drier. Rainfalls then wash it out to make things worse. (It looked like they had enough rain, it was cloudy. But once the good "spongy" soil is washed out and there is only a felt of old grass eaten down to the ground, rain cannot trigger much growth anymore. If you plant bushes and trees of course they hold the earth better in place during a downpour. Moreover the cattle finds enough food so they do not have to let them graze down all of it before they move them to the next lot. That farm was part of a test run, and they were obviously doing much better than their neighbours.

Crop and stock rotation has been practiced in the UK and other countries for centuries as a way to improve the quality of the soil. I was taught this in primary school.

Yes, we worked with Allen Savory on the messaging of this piece

Thank you!!

Contact the Savory Institute with its growing network of regenerative hubs worldwide!

Yes. They partnered with us to create this film. Thanks for your comments!

Watch Alan Savory's TED talk on this topic that got him a standing ovation like I've never seen before.

This farmer’s daughter saw that TRD TALK and it got me out of hopelessness about the fate of our EARTH.

@@happinessyogateacher HOWEVER....trust the greedy ones to find other ways to speed up the ecological doom clock. They have never failed so far.

Allan Savory was responsible for the shooting of 40,000 elephants. He should be in prison.

Thank you!!

The solution puts the “political problem solvers out of power “ there is money at stake for fear mongers to keep offering their false solutions. The @doctors” go out of business when the patient is healthy.

People are busy watching Cardi B BS

Our mission is to raise awareness around these practices. We invite you to watch our upcoming documentary coming to Netflix next Tuesday, September 22. Learn more at kissthegroundmovie.com & kisstheground.com.

exactly!

These diverse pastures that have 60-90 days of rest host the local wildlife before and after the cows graze through. Local insect and wild animal populations recover and thrive with this kind of management.

daily moves using portable fences, depending on the season and local climate the cattle can come back a few weeks later or up to 2-3 months

It usually depends on the season, amount of biomass, etc. in the case of this video and time of year and growth. Moved once or twice a day to paddocks about one acre in size.

If you watch again, you might spot that he had watering tanks situated in the corner of those paddocks. Some farmers will run a water line through the pasture and have multiple connection points to connect a tank that has an automatic float valve that stops before the tank would overflow. He's in AL so maybe not much concern in winter, much tougher in say ND though!

Also, Ranchers & Farmers pick land near rivers, lakes and areas with seasonal regular water supply. Then they create water ditches/canals to siphon a portion off of said cycling bodies of water. Connecting to these created water ways is hence available to the animals or farmers with crops.

Hi Garrett! Thank you! Here's a link: kisstheground.com/become-a-member/

It's dry there probably because of all the years of abuse to the land. Regenerative agriculture as oposed to conventional farming would hold more water in the ground as you build your topsoil up and your grass roots go deeper. Conventional farming has no regard to nature and working with nature.

@@hamishbuttner3263 ​ @Hamish Buttner no- its native /virgin soil...we just dont get any rain here....like this summer we have only gotten 1-2 inches of rain total... we have to irrigate with aquifer ground source water to farm here... since cattle eat so much grass daily, it is not a good system for cattle grazing here... they require massive amounts of land to scavenge or major supplementing with feed

@@hamishbuttner3263 really its a economic system failure- we over produce food- too much waste to keep a faulty economic system in place (capitalism)- we need a new system, but human nature is greedy and manipulative in general...

I live in a harsh, dry area. We have been managing our farm in this manner for the last 15 yrs', the results are amazing, whilst our neighbors are swirling in dust & destocking during summer our property is an absolute oasis, didn't happen overnight & we don't ever overstock, but practise management of the land & livestock. It's old school to blame lack of rain, it's all down to management

@@VK-qo1gm what techniques is you incorporate to make this effective in a dry area? Trying to get tips- because most of these tutorials are for high rain fall areas...

Yes, Allan Savory was the mastermind behind this before anyone else

Totally know :)

Valerie K even before Polyface Farm’s Joel Salatin?

We definitely need that too! And, there are innovative, low-energy ways to grow citrus in cold climates too. See what this retired postal worker from Nebraska has done: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ZD_3_gsgsnk.html

feed is grown in one region and then milled with various other ingredients. The CAFO cattle operations import this feed from elsewhere. With regenerative agriculture, the cattle live on pasture, no feed is imported, it is under their hoofs.

Ilan Goldman we delivered corn to the mill today & they brought out a load the same day. It’s 10 miles away. I invite you to come out to a farm. Again, I’m not fighting regenerative Ag but I encourage both sides to be in the middle not set behind a screen to increase emotional thoughts of negativity that is for the clicks not the facts.

@@reginaminary959 Ruminants, such as cattle have evolved to eat and survive on pasture. They also browse on trees and shrubs. Putting them in a feedlot is good for narrowly measured economic efficiencies, but creates problems (i.e."externalities") that are paid for by everyone else, in terms of pollution of the soil, air and water. Erosion of fields to grow grain, fuel consumed to produce, harvest, transport and mill the grains. The question posed by the documentary is why go to the trouble of spending all that time and energy to produce feed for cattle? Why bother raising grains/legumes for cattle and instead just have them sustainably graze on the farmland which was already being used for them (indirectly) anyway?

Ilan Goldman our cattle actually run on 4000 acres of grass. Many shrubs can kill cattle as they are poisonous in their digestive system. Again, I invite you to come to our farm rather then believe what is big screen. Again, I’m for Regenerative Ag. However, I do ask your profession as I would more want to inquire knowledge from someone who is in the field. I want people to pay 50%+ of their paycheck for food rather than wasteful amazon junk. But then I remember the children who as of right now if even school is the only meal they get. We need a happy medium for the planet, the economy, human kind. We are making ever effort we can on wages I assume are much less than yours. Again I encourage you to come to a ranch. 48 hours with no sleep helping a baby calf born in this world to a mother who wanted to beat it into the mud. Along of the worry of will I even break even this year or will I take a loss? We are doing our all out here. I’m sure we can find some opinionated negativity in your job as well.

I apologize for any insult but I’m looking for help not hinder.

He has! Him and his team Understanding ag actually help transition over 32 million acres in the US alone

Hi Andrei! Thank you for your question. Luckily our advisor Rodger Savory is right here with us and got excited about answering this question in a really succinct form: "Quadrupling the number of cattle and moving them hourly to fresh grazing." We're actually producing another video soon about this subject, so stay tuned! In the meantime, if you'd like to learn more you can check this video out: www.ted.com/talks/allan_savory_how_to_green_the_world_s_deserts_and_reverse_climate_change?language=en

@@KissTheGround thank you for your reply, it seems quite confusing for me that increasing the amount of animals help reduce methane emissions, i have taken several courses (and actually i´m enrolled in your course on next April) could Rodger be more specific?

@@andreimalvaes5960 Thank you so much for taking the course! I'm sure you will love it, as I see you are super interested in this. Would you mind sending me an email to guido@kisstheground.com ? I'd love to set you in the right direction :)

@@KissTheGround Can I have that information also, please? As a previously committed vegan (now not) this will be the one question that will be continuously asked by friends and acquaintances and I have no factual way of answering them. Sending email to you today. Thnx

I’m no expert in this (am just a consumer looking in from the sidelines with wonder and joy) but I have heard that if cattle can eat a diverse race of grasses and forage it can reduce methane. Apparently, if they are able to do so, cattle will seek out certain leaves to self medicate when their stomachs aren’t feeling great and doing so changes their ‘emissions’.

yes, and with the model of making more biomass and good feed on the land so that cows don't need to be fattened up at the CAFO can have a huge part in making the CAFO obsolete.

Hi Christian, I am the creator of this film. Part of the reason of reorienting this was to give people as sense of this emerging idea. I am friends with Allen Savory and respect the hell out of him. As you see, the Savory institute actually sponsored the making of this short film (meaning, paid money to have it made). We need more messaging to get out to all people and have it coming from different areas so it has broader reach. Thanks for looking out for Savory and all he stands for. Just wanted to let you know that we worked with their team and this and Allen didn't have any problem with it. Its all the same movement. Would love to get to know you more and work with you to keep spreading the word. Thanks for leaving the comment though because it is important that we address this things.

Where's cruelty to be seen here?

Yeah I suppose we shouldn't kill cockroaches, since they're sentient beings.

@@Zakthextremest Sitting under a tree reading a book one day, I saw a tiny bug hardly bigger than 2mm, and it had a beautiful pattern on it. It walked around checking things out and reacted to my finger, it was obviously sentient. Vegans think the only sentient beings are warm and furry with big brown eyes.

@@quakerlyster >_> Cockroach lover. You should get a reality check. Some animals are pests that need to be killed. Bedbugs are a prime example. Who the fuck is arguing sentience?

@@Zakthextremest You the fuck are arguing sentience since you said cockroaches are sentient beings. That's the point of the original comment. You are also making a strange jump in logic since you assume that I think that all sentient beings should not be removed or killed if necessary, I keep a gun at home and won't hesitate to use it against a sentient intruder. As for cockroaches, try to let go of your emotion over them and see the bigger picture, that they may be an important part of the food chain.

nope its not

Hi there, Allen doesn't require cover crops. All the new plants on his piece actually came back from native seed bank when the soil conditions got better.

It was the cows that regenerated that land btw.

why if you don't like don't watch it don't force your belief on us...

Hi Davey, great question. So, the wonderful thing about building soil is that the biology is the big leader. First, most of the mass of the plants comes through the process of photosynthesis (carbon from the air and water from the ground). Next the average of 5% left of minerals etc comes from the soil. The good news, biology that is built by the plants sharing their carbon sugars out of their roots is what is making the minerals that we once locked away in sand silt or clay (or other forms of rock material), available. So, while you can get some losses in soil mineral content from taking things off the land, the biology that is increasing as you regenerate the soil and bring more life to it, is making nutrients far more available in the soil. As Gabe brown points to in the film Kiss the Ground, his planting of diversity of cover crops is helping to make more nutrients available to his plants therefore he doesn't need to add fertilizer or mineral supplements.

Exactly

Without animal organic matter soils lose richness. The urine provides nitrogen and other minerals and the dung provides nutrient rich organic matter. Gardeners have known to use organic manure on poor soil since forever. The stomped grass cover provides the mulch to build biomass, hold water and draw atmospheric carbon. It's nature.

There are regions where there is too much rain and it is too cool for a lot of crops / produce (think Vermont). This is where the dairy and meatfarms are. You could not grow wheat in a lot of areas of Texas (not without irrigantion), but there is still enough grass to feed livestock if they move around enough.

It's not nice to fool Mother Nature, remember? Plants and animals evolved together. They feed each other. Plants and animals both feed the soil, which then feeds the plants, which then feed the animals, and it's a continuous balance, as it was when millions of bison roamed our plains. If animals are involved, the soil, much of which has been blown away all over the world, will regenerate much faster and produce much more abundant vegetable crops that taste better and provide more nutrition. I've never seen a vegetarian escape illness. To think being a vegetarian or a vegan will solve every problem is unrealistic. People also evolved along with the animals and plants and have a digestive system that can accommodate both. I realize a lot of people don't believe this, yet if you look back in history, if it weren't for animals back when edible plants were unavailable during the last ice age, we wouldn't be here to talk about whether or not to eat animals. Nature always has predators and prey. Sorry, that's just how it is, so we might as well honor how life has evolved and participate with gratitude for such abundance. Besides, have you had grass-fed beef? SO tasty!

Except that 70% of the agricultural land on the planet is not suited for row-cropping but for grazing. There is no way for everyone on the planet to be on a plant-based diet without forcing entire countries in some areas of the globe to give up their food sovereignty and become dependent upon imports.

Can you not see how much better the animals are rather than in factory farms :/

Being vegan is your personal choices, but soils need animal organic matter to best build their biomass carbon sucking infrastructure. Animals are part of nature, guys. You can't remove them without messing with nature. Being vegan to save the planet sounds great on paper, but soils will dwindle without animals.

@@savedfaves There is no contradiction. Lots of veggies and starches, plus dairy, eggs. And meat as a treat. In short how most people ate in the past in the last few thousand years. FDR promised a chicken in every pot on Sunday. Mao Tse Tung promised a bowl of rice every day (that sales pitch makes you realize how desperately poor the Chinese population was then). Mao did not talk about rice with meat. And indeed: in many areas of Africa and India people still eat little to no meat, it is too expensive and they have no fridges. Eggs if they are lucky and a chicken on holidays if they are really lucky. (I saw a video about a charity in Africa and they met a young man. When they were in the city they bought him some fast food (a burger). He said he had not eaten meat in 2 years. In India the castes have different rules what they are allowed to eat, the highest caste, the Brahmans are not allowed to eat any meat. One theory is that India went through a terrible draught a few thousand years ago. So the richest that could have bought the meat did monopolize the land for their luxury product. If the area is not cool / rainy than it is much more efficient to produce plants that humans can eat instead of producing meat. During war meat has always been rationed. Under adverse circumstances the limited capacities to produce food were not used to produce meat for the richest and most influental group of society. enough land was used to grow food for those who ate little meat anyway. It IS possible to have sustainable agriculture (think centuriers even millenia) feeding a society mostly with starches (and eggs, and vegetables, sometimes milk). See India, see China. In China they cultivated rice under water (that prevented soil erosion, and I think allowed for more crops).

Animals on farms operated this way are very happy and healthy. I've heard many of these farmers say their animals have no diseases and need no antibiotics or other medicine. They are eating fresh grass all the time, not standing around in their own manure, and they like being in a "mob" since this is how they instinctually behave to protect themselves from predators. Regenerative farms also have pigs that spend most of their time out in the fields eating grass, chickens that follow the cows and pick through and spread their droppings to get the seeds and bug larvae, keeping down the flies, and they have sheep, turkeys, and goats doing different things to keep the plants healthy and the animals fed. It's a very nice life for them. I would buy meat from one of these farms in a second. In fact, I'm going to be visiting one nearby soon to check it out since I just heard about this system a few weeks ago and finally found a farm here that grows their produce and animals this way using no chemicals. It's really pretty fantastic when you think about the good it all does for everyone involved.

Please let me know which. The very start that says 50% of GHG from animal agriculture was a sound nite trying to communicate what is being said which could be moss heard as something we were stating as fact. Aside from that, what else was off?

I mean you talking about fac farmed animal ag I get it, I appreciate that because lots of family farms and grass-fed farmers are struggling with many farms like this being destroyed due to giant fac farmed animal ag. So I appreciate you destroying the fac farm, but don't destroy small family Grassfed Farmers. Thanks