For the Love of Land: Global Case Studies of Grazing in Nature's Image

by Jim Howell, Allan Savory

For the Love of Land describes practical, proven methods for bringing degraded landscapes--grasslands, rangelands, savannas, and farmlands--back to life through mimicking natural migratory grazing patterns with domestic livestock. Through a combination of essays describing nuts-and-bolts management guidelines, the natural history of grazing, and inspiring stories of successful practitioners of landscape stewardship and restoration, For the Love of Land points the way to an ecologically, economically, and socially regenerative future.

Genres: Agriculture

496 pages, Paperback

First published March 20, 2009

Reviews

[Brad Belschner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books on grazing and land management that I've ever read. It's basically a rubber-meets-the-road version of Allan Savory's "Holistic Management." In this book we follow Jim Howell working as a ranch consultant for many farms in every habitable continent, ranging from the mountains of Peru, to the deserts of Mexico, to the tropical Savannah of Zimbabwe, etc. Jim observes how different management practices have succeeded/failed in different environments. It's especially interesting to see the cases when he consulted for the same ranch over multiple years and returned periodically to give updates regarding their improvements/challenges. This book should be immensely helpful and eye-opening for anyone involved in grazing. Not all the stories will be applicable for your exact farming region, but the insight and perspective is priceless. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

[Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing and inspiring book! Great read from start to finish. Essential reading for anyone who works in agriculture and ranching.

[Dylan Groves · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not read about five of the U.S. based case studies in the middle.

three takeaways:

1 - contemporary rangeland management in the U.S. and around the world is screwing over the grass and therefore undermining the long term sustainability of livestock rearing

2 - we don't really know why this is (other than hand waiving about holism or lying to ourselves about overstocking), and agriculture science has been very slow in asking the right questions, much less figuring out the right answers

3 - the best practices we have learned have primarily come from practitioners - things like rotational grazing, generating adequate grazing coverage, etc. but these things are incredibly hard and time-intensive to implement, limiting their applicability to support for rangeland management in the developing world

[Rosemary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommended to any farmer. Lots of different case studies set in different types of terrain.