The Regenerative Agriculture Solution

“Ronnie Cummins’s work late in life at Vía Orgánica Ranch demonstrated that even in the driest of valleys in Mexico, farmers and herders can develop climate-resilient food production strategies that need not tax the soil, the aquifer, or the rural community, but enhance them. In my mind and heart, he is up there with Bill Mollison and Masanobu Fukuoka for shining a bright, warm light into our future on Planet Desert.”

—Gary Paul Nabhan, James Beard Award–winning writer; desert agroecologist

“This book is a testament to the vision of the late Ronnie Cummins. His friend André Leu memorializes Cummins’s lifelong work with this overview of the demonstrable benefits of regenerative agriculture for everything in the book’s subtitle and more. Cummins’s case study on agave illustrates these benefits perfectly, making this book a useful as well as touching tribute.”

—Marion Nestle, professor emerita at NYU; author of Slow Cooked: An Unexpected Life in Food Politics

“In the posthumously published The Regenerative Agriculture Solution, Ronnie Cummins offers a final gift: a dynamic model for using CAM (Crassulacean acid metabolism) plants to regenerate land, feed livestock, pull down carbon, and revive communities in hot, water-stressed areas. Why we hardly hear of CAM plants is a mystery; their alternate photosynthetic pathway is tailor-made to cope with the heat and aridity so many now face. Cummins tells the story of the Billion Agave Project, beginning with the enterprising brothers who devised a way to ferment the thick, spiky agave leaves for animal fodder, saving their farm in the process. Regeneration International’s André Leu situates the project within a growing wave of regional eco-restoration efforts—and shares how embracing and applying these efforts can bring us a long way toward ameliorating climate change. This is the book that Ronnie, an ‘incorrigible optimist’ and champion of farmers, would have wanted.”

—Judith Schwartz, author of The Reindeer Chronicles and Cows Save the Planet

“Read this book to understand why you should care about regenerative agriculture. Until the public is better-informed and insists on sweeping changes to current agricultural policy, which supports practices based on chemistry and technology rather than nature and biology, we will continue to degrade our planet and destabilize our climate. Leu and Cummins, through inspiring stories and solid science, show just how quickly we could turn that around.”

—Allan Savory, president, Savory Institute; chairman, Africa Centre for Holistic Management

“For decades both Ronnie Cummins and André Leu have been leading advocates for global food systems to be natural, healthy, and ecologically sustainable. The words in The Regenerative Agriculture Solution emerge from their lives of action and service. It is hard to accept that Ronnie is no longer with us, but it is a joy to learn from this new iteration of his wisdom and experience. Great appreciation, too, is owed to André’s dedication to ensuring that his friend and colleague’s legacy continues to educate and inspire.”

—John D. Liu, ecosystem ambassador, Commonland Foundation

“If you are looking for a book of answers in a world of questions, confusion, and frustration on how to support climate resilience and human and planetary health, The Regenerative Agriculture Solution is for you. Its authors, Ronnie Cummins and André Leu, have been pioneers of the organic and regenerative agriculture movement since the 1970s—before it even was a movement. They are now sharing a lifetime of experience, careful thought, and research with their readers. The answer to our questions and our problems, as the authors explain, is beneath our feet: it is the soil we walk on but too often treat like dirt.

The Regenerative Agriculture Solution is a book of hope, inspiration, and solid ideas for how we might focus on the principles of building soil health. If these principles are applied to even a small percent of the Earth, we start to heal our planet and reverse the climate chaos that surrounds us. This book is worth reading and sharing, and its ideas are worth implementing.”

—Bob Quinn, president, Quinn Farm & Ranch; founder, Kamut International; director, Quinn Institute