🌻 Gabe Brown’s Most Profitable Crop & Understanding Regenerative Agriculture

Join us to hear about Gabe's most profitable crop including a live interview! 🌾
- Learn about which crop has netted Gabe over $900/per acre per year on average over the past 10 year span (starts at 6:00). 🌽🍀
We also share several ideas about getting started in Regenerative Agriculture and the lessons learned by well know Soil Health Guru, Gabe Brown. Gabe is the author of Dirt to Soil and operates Nourished by Nature with his son Paul. They believe that having healthy soil will provide for clean air, clean water, healthy plants, healthy animals, and healthy people. Lastly Gabe is one of the founders of Understanding Ag.
So take a few minutes & join us as Luke Bergler and Lance Klessig as they chat with Gabe about some practical steps about how to get started into regenerative farming.
- Live from Brown’s Ranch in Bismarck, North Dakota. 👨‍🌾
👨‍🌾🍀🌻🌱🌽
➡️ To continue the soil health & regenerative farming discussion, please feel free to reach out to me directly at [e-mail].
➡️ Technical assistance in designing cover crop mixes, implementing the soil health principles on your farm or ranch, direct marketing, incorporating livestock, and hosting educational field days & workshops is available if interested.
Thanks & Choose to make it a Great Day!!
👨‍🌾 Lance Klessig - Regenerative Ag Advocate 🌻
For more of our videos on cover crops, the soil health principles, healthy nutrient dense foods, grazing, profitability, healthy people, and regenerative agriculture check out..... kzbin.info/door/hVV...
🥩 🌻 🐷 🚜 🐓 🌾 🥓 🐟🦋
More information on Gabe and Paul, Browns Ranch, Nourished by Nature, and Understanding Ag can be found here:
nourishedbynature.us/
brownsranch.us/
understandingag.com/
#SoilHealth
#RegenerativeAgriculture
#covercrops
#RyeNot

[@ravenpiece]

"people laugh at me for being different, I laugh at them for all being the same" PREACH

[@keithfullmer1058]

Thank you.

[@iainsp1858]

Gabe Brown must surely be one of the nicest fellas on the planet. I could listen to him all day.

[@user-wv5fq8di2m]

Gabe Brown is such an inspiration - I can't thank him, and also Lance's great YT channel here, enough. Both of them are freely giving out information that sets so many people free - and it's also the best thing for the health of the planet - and its people. Thanks!

[@flyinlow7190]

This is how farming should be. Can’t believe I’m just now seeing this. It makes me feel not so crazy.

[@matthewsaxe6383]

Love this movement! Regenerate America.

[@lanceklessigregenerativeag7901]

100% agree! 👌✅💪 Healthy soil = Healthy plants = Healthy animals = Healthy Humans!!

[@revhankreid5843]

Keep it up. Regenerative is the path! #naturalGramma Papa Hank & Laura Reid

[@tadficuscactus]

I call him Saint Gabe.

[@richards5110]

Always love seeing a Gabe Brown video. Great talker and always informative. Hope we start getting a "snowball" effect on these methods ASAP, from both farmers and from the average person in their yard and garden!

[@lanceklessigregenerativeag7901]

Right on Richard! These methods and the associated thinking is definitely growing....Awesome to see. Best! - Lance

[@adrianhamoen8715]

Take the time to read Gabe's book Dirt to Soil, it'll answer most of the questions asked here. Awesome reading

[@lanceklessigregenerativeag7901]

Absolutely! Very informative and helpful. Let’s all agree to be life long learners and keep pushing the envelope. Best! - Lance

[@dequavisjones4869]

Im slowly doing this. We have forgotten what soil health is, and became wayyyy to dependent on herbicides and synthetic fertilizer

[@georgewalker6883]

Always love listening to what Gabe has to say, lots of wisdom. Thanks for sharing Lance.

[@lanceklessigregenerativeag7901]

Sure thing George....lots of experience and wisdom to learn from guys like him, Ray Archuleta, Allen Williams, and the list goes on.

[@SasquatchBioacoustic]

Now would be a good time to return to Gabe's ranch and see how things are performing during this drought. I wonder how his pasture is looking and what he's doing with his cattle.

[@lanceklessigregenerativeag7901]

Thanks for the comment. Yes its quite dry aka droughty, and I know many cow herds in the area are being sold or relocated. It's been a bit since I've talked with Gabe or Paul directly but I imagine they are looking at the above options and quite possibly have already done some proactive moves knowing them. Best! - Lance

[@phillipbampton911]

Cor blimey! I'd like to see Joel Salatin find his chook tractors in that grass! He'd need a flagpole on every tractor. LoL

[@leafyorganicfarm]

Funny yet encouraging how he says he loves taking ideas from others.

[@liammurphy2725]

Gabe Brown stands proud of his achievements and rightly so. An engaging and articulate rundown on caring for the soil. Liked/subbed

[@lanceklessigregenerativeag7901]

Thanks Liam for the feedback! It was a great visit on Browns Ranch.

[@amyjones2490]

I wish you would tell this to local farmers here in s. Michigan. They couldn't plant so they spent all summer spraying off every living weed they saw. So much overspray damage

[@TT-Freak]

And they destroy the soil and it's capability to store Co2 and water too. This type of farming will and either way since it converts fertile land into deserts.

[@lifeisgood070]

I used to follow the old method of spraying and now I realize that spraying isn't killing the plants, it kills the bacteria which feed the plant and thus spraying ruins the soil. Took a long time to understand that.

[@inharmonywithearth9982]

The toxin in the herbicides is non biodegradable. Like plastics it washes into streams and rivers to concentrate in the ocean.Gulf of Mexico has a new very mysterious Dead Zone 250 miles wide. The phytoplankton plants have all died there resulting in absolutely no oxygen in the water. The Monsanto owned USDA scientists are not allowed to tell and say it is nutrients killing this area. Nutrients have never caused anything before but algeal blooms. Dead Zones are brand new herbicide era problems.

[@thechaosgardener]

This is the problem in Arizona farming. They let the fields sit barren and the soil always reverts to dead dirt. Someone needs to teach my neighbors that there’s no such thing as weeds. Exploit weeds to build organic material

[@lanceklessigregenerativeag7901]

Thanks for the thoughts! There is so much we can do as we seek to understand & then adopt the soil health principles onto our farm, ranch or garden. And the associated benefits are very helpful!

[@hankelrod7315]

Arizona doesn’t have enough water to grow cover crops

[@scotthughes7440]

No offense but AZ is screwed. There's no water and every day more people come. No amount of regenerative farming can help a place that is already a desert. First you would have to outlaw watering your lawn. Those baby boomers in AZ cannot fathom that behavior change. They will water their lawn for green grass until Phoenix dies and they don't care one bit.

[@clutzfrmr3645]

@@scotthughes7440 Watch Tom Savory videos on reclaiming the desert in Africa.

[@scottschaeffer8920]

He should be the next secretary of Agriculture.

[@lanceklessigregenerativeag7901]

Right on!

[@nielknox]

Thank you 💗☺️

[@BAOchsner]

Just came across this video, these numbers are great... but some farmers may be skeptical (shocker, I know). Did he make that profit by selling the hay, and/or having livestock graze it and/or another revenue source?

[@dantheman9135]

ThankQ

[@wallyyuriy8912]

Just curious how you get fall crops to grow. We live in south east Saskatchewan which is not too far from you and we don’t get the rain in the fall to get anything to grow

[@jimmyrichardson67]

I have a decent size garden and am trying to use this in it, it’s fascinating and you have a real connection with the soil. Struggling with diversity, but not giving up. I love it that he’s not put any kind of fertiliser of any kind on the soil, just growing it. Amazing

[@lanceklessigregenerativeag7901]

Thanks for the feedback Jimmy! And keep at it. Part of this regenerative journey is applying the soil health principles. Don’t be afraid to network w like minded people and best check out Gabes book Dirt to Soil if you haven’t already. Best! Lance

[@augustreil]

Is cow poo bad ? Thanks.

[@kathyreese4052]

@@augustreil it's great fertilizer and feeds the soil.

[@kevinmcgrath1052]

Excellent video

[@lanceklessigregenerativeag7901]

Thanks Kevin!

[@erbauungstutztaufgnade1875]

very cool since 2007

[@larrymagill5422]

Just saw this video and thought I’d ask cash crop were you cutting it for hay for taking it all the way to grain grain where are you going to pasture it to make that $900 less than an acre

[@joepeeer4830]

ty

[@miroslawskovsky-skolyszews6384]

Do you have your own seeds or you have to by them (to plant them)?

[@georgecarlin2656]

Finally showing the cover crops instead of seeing pictures of them.

[@michellekaiser5907]

He's showing a cash crop.

[@georgecarlin2656]

@@michellekaiser5907 True but he explains that this could also be cover crops, it's just that he decided that particular field to be a cash crop that year.

[@michellekaiser5907]

@@georgecarlin2656 Fair enough. I'm sensitive to being very specific and accurate. It's the hazard of spending too much time with scientists. I very much loved the film.

[@nickrodgers4760]

Would love to hear Gabe Brown on working cows podcast.

[@lanceklessigregenerativeag7901]

Agreed!!...Send your vote to Mr. Clay Conry!

[@jc22ification]

What grain buyer is going to buy this kind of seed mix if it is combined as a "cash crop"? Is it sold as a cover crop or forage seed mix for other cattle or sheep producers? The biggest downfall here is that grain buyers want a specfic crop for a specfic purpose. How can a 3 or 4 crop mix be considered a cash crop? Thanks

[@danryan9386]

thanks for the video! but I can't put it into perspective$951/acre. It would be useful to at some point in the video to break down the concepts Gabe is explaining and what this means in the larger context of the environment.

[@kathyreese4052]

Check out the other videos on Gabe or get his book. Great info.

[@downbntout]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/pIi7dH-MeK-Kirc

[@TJ-bk9vf]

I was thinking the same thing. I’d like to see how that’s calculated.

[@Run4Ever77]

​@@TJ-bk9vfIt should be really easy for someone knowledgeable to post a simple breakdown of where that number comes from.

[@bigwhane8603]

What was in that field before he planted that stuff?

[@KrazyKajun602]

Is there a website that one can go to to look up other people in their area that are implementing Regen Ag?

[@lanceklessigregenerativeag7901]

Yes There are a couple I'm aware of. Where are you located? Thanks - Lance

[@jimmydykes7961]

No herbicides sounds good but when I try to get cereal rye to the right stage of growth to crimp it lodges and crimping don't seem to respond to crimping.what am I to do

[@downbntout]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/pIi7dH-MeK-Kirc

[@everlastinggrass]

Dang subscribes me's driving me to push the reverse, contents awesome!!!! Keep it up!!!!

[@safffff1000]

Really excellent smart people don't respect their viewers intelligence. Yea we know for the millionth time if I like your content I know how to subscibe, duhhhh

[@ryecarlson7867]

So he rolled it down and planted another crop?? What did he plant into it and just terminated with a crimper?

[@TheBahamabob]

Hi I’m not a crop farmer so when Gabe says “sometimes I’ll roll it down” or “we make a cash crop from it” it’s a little confusing. Some restorative farmers actually roll and crush covers to become thatch and feed microbes etc. Some would “roll” it into hay. And some would take the grain heads for feed? Rye and triticale are normally sold separately? Apologies to farmers for this but it might help others. I grow trees.

[@lanceklessigregenerativeag7901]

Hey Bob! Thanks for the ?. Yes at times farmers will roll or crimp down a crop like this (often times called a cover crop) and then plant another crop into it (without tilling). We call that no-till planting or planting green. The idea is to armor the soil and yes feed the soil microbiology amongst many other things.

[@lanceklessigregenerativeag7901]

When Gabe says take a cash crop...he's saying he likely plans to combine the crop. in this case he will combine it all, clean it and then sell the end product all as one unit, likely for seed. you are correct that often times rye and triticale are sold separately however they don't need to be. Hope that helps.

[@TheBahamabob]

Yes it helps. I watched another vid featuring Gabe just after this. He explained he plants a cocktail of cover plants and harvests them all together! He feeds it to pigs and chickens as a healthy diet but also uses it for all the other soil building operations. I’ve been planning to expand and this is a fine solution for several problems I was facing in plans. I was just confused by the wording “roll it up.” Non soy/corn grown without chemicals definitely draws a premium in the South for sure for poultry feed and pigs. Thanks for the video.

[@downbntout]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/pIi7dH-MeK-Kirc

[@aaronlange8123]

Thanks for posting this! Do you know what Gabe expects for yield and what he retails this crop for $$ wise to net $900 per acre?

[@lanceklessigregenerativeag7901]

Thanks for the question......55-60 bushel of cereal rye/Triticale and around 500# of HV to the acre on an average year. Some years I know his HV component is larger than 500# (with adequate to abundant soil moisture). thanks again for the question!

[@aaronlange8123]

Lance Klessig Thank you sir!

[@meralkarasulu4191]

Lance Klessig are these two crops mixed ?

[@lanceklessigregenerativeag7901]

@@meralkarasulu4191 Great Question.....there are actually 3 crops all growing together here......Winter Cereal rye, triticale, and hairy vetch. I believe Gabe is also working on adding winter wheat into the mix. thanks again for the ? and have a great day!

[@meralkarasulu4191]

Lance Klessig thanks for the response. In this case how does he separate them for cash crop purposes or does he sell them as a forage mix?

[@MarkSmith-ut2eu]

Gabe said that was a cash crop, does he bale it in the fall? (sorry if it is a stupid question, new to this)

[@lanceklessigregenerativeag7901]

Good Day Mark! Thanks for the question. In the early years he baled the straw but I believe he also leaves the armor there at times as well. The straw/crop residue is very valuable as insulation, armor, food and habitat for the soil biology. Think about how vital it is to wear long johns and lots of insulated clothing in the middle of ND winter. Might we treat our soils similar?? Thanks again for the question and check out more of our videos for some great food for though on soil health. lance

[@frontagulus]

I'm very interested in this and would like to try on a five acre block. I don't have any interest in animals so would want to crop. Is there information on how to crop profitably (i.e. not making a loss : ) growing annually while still building soil quality, with minimal herbicide and fertilization?

[@downbntout]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/pIi7dH-MeK-Kirc

[@CSnipes]

If you read Dirt to Soil, you'll learn the whole goal is to increase profit not yield. You'll also learn that grazing animals play an important part in soil health and crop yield.

[@RustyMeadowsHomestead]

💯❤️🐮

[@elizabethblane201]

Does anyone know how a mixed field turns into a cash crop? How do they harvest it and what is the product? How do they separate it?

[@user-wv5fq8di2m]

I'm-a guessing grazing for ruminent animals, and also hay. Plus nitrogen and biology being built into the soil - for other cash crop plantings.

[@karlrovey]

​@user-wv5fq8di2m I'm pretty sure he doesn't do hay because it takes organic matter and nutrients away from the soil.

[@lovetofly32]

Hiw do they harvest that stuff? And whats it used for after its harvested?

[@lanceklessigregenerativeag7901]

Thanks for the ? James! Typically it is combined although sometimes Gabe and Paul graze it. IF combined, it's sold as seed. Best! - Lance

[@mikehoward2128]

Great vid. One question, how was he cashing on that crop? Was he making hay out it and selling it? Or is there some other purpose for that plant combination that people will buy it? Hope that's not a dumb question lol

[@lanceklessigregenerativeag7901]

There are multiple ways Gabe is harvesting this crop.....combining it and grazing it as well.

[@downbntout]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/pIi7dH-MeK-Kirc

[@ZoeyTG]

I'd love to know why he hasn't had to use fertilizer and why it's a high yield cash crop. What is the interplay between the different species of plants? What's processing like for him? What are the plants yield typically used for, feed? Consumer good? I'd love to be directed to videos that get deep into the Botany of it all.

[@vanoliale]

for that i think you'll have to enroll in university

[@jmillin1966]

The Vetch is a heavy nitrogen fixing legume. the rye and triticale are fast growing grains that need to go through cold below freezing (vernalization) before they set a seed pod. He will get all three types of seed when he combines plus a probably 4-5 tones per acre of high quality straw. He also can graze it in the fall to extend his time on pasture and graze it several times in the spring to put weight on his cows. Once the other pastures are ready it will produce seeds for harvest.

[@regiodeurse6513]

It can be pasture. can be baled up as feed, or rolled down and planted into. The crop is the fertilizer. Plants feed the soil with carbon exodates, in return the soil life converts minerals and decaying organic matter into usable nutrients for the plants. Withouth living plant roots soil life declines rapidly, especially during the growing season. But bare/clean soil overwintering are just as bad. that's where fertilizers come into play. The soil life in that will feed on that and it becomes like an addiction. these kind of soil as result will in turn burst with weeds. Which have to be eradicated. Creating this vicious cycle of detriment. Back in the day here in europe when certain plots of cropland, often plowed and cultured for generations, became unusable there was a simple practice to regenerate the soil: Do nothing to it for a couple years, let animals graze it after a while. Then they would plow it again. But modern farmers are just completely out of touch. They dont realize the only use that plow has is turning a weedy overwintered plot into a plantable bed. Both modern farmers and their equipment taken it to a whole new level of war against the weeds. A simple practice like letting nature take a hold of it for a while doesn't fit in that agenda. They do more detriment in their lifetime then the all of the generations before them could combined.

[@liljoe8952]

@@regiodeurse6513 I love your comment. Here in texas. All the big ranches around here do this “war against weeds” . I get to see it firsthand as a ranchhand on a cattle ranch down here. It’s just been since this April. However just in the short time I’ve become speculative of the purpose of running around spraying mesquites (poor grasshoppers are always sitting on the mesquites, I try to shake them off however I miss some 🤦‍♂️) with sendero and remedy and this dye so we know where we’ve sprayed. It’s just silly, of course I’m sure I’d be looked at if I were to question. What do I know I’m just a hand. Also I took agriculture courses at a community college round here. A year ago, didn’t learn from what I can remember about any of this regenerative agriculture. Glad I came across it now. Have a small family farm close to where I work. Got 25 cows(inbred af, my great gpa never worked the herds, so my gpa learned to do the same, cause just liked havin em ig??? And tax write off??? . However now that I live down here I plan to implement these practices on our farm. And also of course get a different bull in here with these cows 💀.

[@downbntout]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/pIi7dH-MeK-Kirc

[@michaelalexander3828]

In what form is it sold as a cash crop, hay or seed perhaps ? Thanks

[@lanceklessigregenerativeag7901]

Thanks for the ?......this crop most years will be sold as seed but Gabe also can graze it when he feels the need. The straw/hay that is produced after combining is also another product and resource to use.

[@lanceklessigregenerativeag7901]

@Alicia Pyle Good Day Alicia! Do you have ideas of which crops you hope to sell as seed? Also where are you located? I'd look into the Practical FArmers of Iowa website re small grains. You could also contact some of the various cover crop seed dealers either in your area/state or across the midwest and they would be able to direct you......Green Cover Seed, Albert Lea, La Crosse Seed, there are many others. Best of luck - lance

[@lanceklessigregenerativeag7901]

@Alicia Pyle I'd highly suggest you read/listen to Dirt to Soil by Gabe brown if you haven't already.

[@kennethheern4896]

So Gabe actually combines that crop for the seed or cuts for hay as a cash crop.

[@lanceklessigregenerativeag7901]

Hey Ken, Thanks for the question. Most often the crop is combined. Lance

[@benpol3537]

So I'm confused as I'm totally new to this, is he rolling that cover crop down and it provides a better cash crop cover and thats what he is calling his profits? Or is he harvesting this crop

[@downbntout]

Or running it through animals, which produces meat, but also ruminants are walking composters feeding the soil with desirable species of bacteria to diversify the soil microbiota. Land needs animals just as much as animals need land

[@brettmathews8227]

What are his planting rates on the field you were standing in?

[@lanceklessigregenerativeag7901]

70 # Cereal Rye and Triticale with 15# of Hairy Vetch....majority of small grain was Cereal rye. Thanks for the question!

[@Cmfacebk]

Is it 70lbs half and half or 70lbs each?

[@brettmathews8227]

@@Cmfacebk I did 55# crye and 15# trit

[@xMarf]

By cash crop does he mean that he uses the crop to feed the cows and obtain the value out of them? or by other ways?

[@andylieffring3987]

Martin Nannig I had the same question

[@jamesruane7744]

Generally the cash crop is the crop sold as a crop.

[@damoarm]

How does Gabe establish this cover crop without a knockdown herbicide? Looks incredible.

[@lanceklessigregenerativeag7901]

Several ways come to mind.....heavy and strategic grazing pressure, plant a warm season diverse cover crop mix thick before this mix of Cer Rye/Triticale/HV, mechanical harvest options, etc. There are many ways to get away from regular herbicide use....if we allow ourselves to think outside the box, network with like minded people, and also ask what did farmers/ranchers use before chemicals. Great question!

[@damoarm]

@@lanceklessigregenerativeag7901 Thanks for your reply. I have tried seeding cool season cover crops into existing pasture. I have heavily grazed with cattle and sheep prior to seeding. It seems to work well in areas of the paddock and not so well in other areas, hence the question regarding a knockdown. From my experience it seems to rely heavily on timely rainfall and that is very uncertain in Australia at the moment with most of the country in drought.

[@sonnymery4193]

according to Gabe and others using this farming method: there is no need for herbicides because when you grow healthy soil the plants dont suffer from the common issues (weeds, pests etc.)

[@damoarm]

@@sonnymery4193 It's not so much weeds and pests that are the issue. I was sowing into existing pasture. So the establishing cover crop has to compete with native pastures. Without timely rainfall the seedlings couldn't compete with the pasture.

[@lanceklessigregenerativeag7901]

@@damoarm Thanks for the thoughts. One idea that Gabe and others use who are practicing regenerative ag......NT drill a warm season cover crop mix prior to seeding a cooler season mix of Cereal Rye, Triticale, HV, etc. This also really stimulates the soil biology especially since you are adding diversity and C4 grasses. Graze the warm season mix and then plant the desired mix (cer Rye, HV, etc).

[@alterityregenerativeranchi7947]

Open source farming

[@jawnkandy]

💎🎓💯🤣👍

[@slangster233]

Monoculture crops produce monocultured people.

[@safffff1000]

Aren't you afraid of ticks and lyme disease moving in tall grass.

[@jackclark4356]

Ticks aren't out in August.

[@graydon479]

Good question! Google “U.S. tick born disease map” to see where tick diseases like Lyme show up. Minnesota and Wisconsin are hot spots.

[@dionbrandt6176]

You r probably wearing a mask in the shower

[@northrockboy]

Tick dont live much in cropped fields.

[@safffff1000]

@@northrockboy Dears are the biggest spreader of ticks and the love tall grass and Greg has lots of dear. I just took a walk last week on a path in a MO. state park and had my pants tucked into my cotton sock. When I got home I found a couple dozen ticks the size of a period that crawled right thru the socks fibers and in less than an hour I had cleaned off those super small ticks off me yet I have over dozen mosquito like bites all over my ankles. I don't see how Greg can work daily in those fields without getting bite.

[@bitTorrenter]

23¢ profit per m2? That's depressing, surely.

[@Theorimlig]

No. It's amazing.

[@leelindsay5618]

This is in a field that would have been empty after a cash crop, or the following cash crop would need inputs if it wasn't there fixing soil and keeping in moisture. $951 per acre extra income isn't bad.

[@thecurrentmoment]

Depends how expensive your land is, but his land is no Parisian apartment block