A century of conventional farming has left our planet with sick soil, accelerating the interlinked crises of food security, biodiversity loss, water pollution and climate change. In ReGen, David R. Montgomery lays out a practical and productive vision for recovering soil health and safeguarding the future of food. The answer: soil-building regenerative farming. In exploring this much-needed turning point for agriculture, Montgomery marshals more than a decade of research, interviewing innovative farmers and seeing firsthand how they restored degraded farms around the world. ReGen breaks down common myths around conventional and organic farming, animal agriculture and plant-based diets to frame ten policy recommendations for sustainably nourishing the world. As Montgomery shows, reducing tillage, laying off synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, growing a diversity of crops and getting livestock back on the land can reverse centuries of soil degradation and harvest nutrient-dense food. Succinct, accessible and urgent, ReGen points the way to a healthier, more resilient world. David R. Montgomery’s Growing a Revolution (ISBN 9780393356090) was praised as: "David Montgomery... is one of our most eloquent and precise earth science communicators... [He] has a knack for opening our minds to large, critically important questions." — New Scientist

David R. Montgomery is a professor of Earth and space sciences at the University of Washington. He studies the evolution of topography and the influence of geomorphological processes on ecological systems and human societies. He received a BS from Stanford University (1984, geology) and a PhD from UC Berkeley (1991, geomorphology). His field studies have included projects in the Philippines, eastern Tibet, South America, California, and the Pacific Northwest of North America. He is an elected Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and has received many awards throughout his career, including a MacArthur Fellowship and the Vega Medal. His books Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations, King of Fish: The Thousand-Year Run of Salmon, and The Rocks Don’t Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noah’s Flood have all won the Washington State Book Award in General Nonfiction. Montgomery’s Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life was a finalist for the PEN/E. O. Wilson Award for Literary Science Writing. He also coauthored with Anne Biklé The Hidden Half of Nature and, most recently, What Your Food Ate: How to Heal Our Land and Reclaim Our Health. His books have been translated into ten languages. He is also a coauthor of the new textbook Essentials of Physical Geography with W. W. Norton.