Regenerating Earth: Farmers Working with Nature to Feed Our Future

by Kelsey Timmerman

With the current administration pausing funding for agricultural projects and farming support, the issues discussed in this book are more urgent and relevant than ever before. The system of agriculture needs to be reimagined. This book is the best place to begin.

There’s no denying we treat our planet like dirt. Humanity’s impact has become a geologic force changing the climate and threatening oceans, glaciers, and the lands that feed us.

Living in rural Indiana, author Kelsey Timmerman witnesses first-hand the damage modern industrial agriculture has done to our land and our communities. He’s afraid to let his kids swim in the nearby pond filled with farm runoff. There are times, after manure from giant chicken factories has been spread on the surrounding fields, that it’s hard to breathe. The industrialization of agriculture has disconnected farmers from the fields, neighbors from neighbors, and communities of eaters from the harsh realities of how their food is produced.

Timmerman recognizes that farming – the occupation of his family heritage -- is the source of these and other problems. But he also suspects it doesn’t have to be that way. In Regenerating Earth, Timmerman travels across the United States and around the world to meet farmers and activists who employ practices and philosophies that acknowledge the human role in complicated agricultural systems. Over and over again he finds farmers who see agriculture as not the problem but the solution, one that builds soil, promotes ecological diversity, provides people with meaningful lives and livelihoods, and sequesters carbon—maybe even enough to combat climate change.

Timmerman takes readers along on his global adventure – standing barefoot in a traditional Hawaiian kalo patch, into the Amazon, and down forgotten rivers. He protects a herd of cattle from lions alongside the Maasai warriors of Kenya, sees firsthand how chocolate could save the rainforest in Brazil, and meets American farmers who’ve rejected the agrochemical industry for an approach inspired by that of ancient and Indigenous peoples.

By weaving the local with the global, Timmerman shows readers how the way they live, their eating habits and relationship with nature connect to issues of environmental and social justice. And how this newfound awareness can add meaning and purpose to our lives.

Our hunger, and the agriculture required to satiate it, can be a gift that connects us to chloroplasts, lions, mycorrhizal fungi, and our fellow humans around the block and the world, if we accept our responsibility to play an active part in a regenerative future.

Audible Audio

Published June 24, 2025

About the author

I'm the author of "Where Am I Eating? An Adventure Through the Global Food Economy" and "Where Am I Wearing: A Global Tour to the Countries, Factories, and People That Make Our Clothes"

I've spent the night in Castle Dracula in Romania, gone undercover as an underwear buyer in Bangladesh, played PlayStation in Kosovo, taught an island village to play baseball in Honduras, and in another life, worked as a SCUBA instructor in Key West, Florida.

I live with my wife and two kids Muncie, IN, the hometown of Garfield.

I read a lot of nonfiction to inform my writing, but try to sneak in some fiction, from cowboys to space battles, to wizards when I can. I'm also really pumped to have an excuse to read kid lit now...kids.

Reviews

[Lloyd Mullins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great introduction to the idea of regenerative farming (a more holistic, chemical-free, natural way of farming that emphasizes farming as a relationship with the earth). I don’t know anyone who thinks that spraying all sorts of chemicals on our food is a good idea. At best, it’s seen as a necessary evil, even by most farmers. Timmerman takes us on a journey through the Amazon rainforest, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains of Colombia, the island of Kaua’i, and Kenya, along with numerous locations in the U.S., where farmers are proving not only the viability of regenerative farming, but the amazing benefits of it, not only to the land itself, but to the farmers and their customers.

For such a heavy subject, Timmerman uses a surprisingly light touch, focusing on hope, rather than despair. The son of generations of farmers, he is overwhelmingly supportive of farmers, pointing out the Catch-22 situation the current model of agriculture places them in, and how they’ve quite reasonably gotten there. His writing is passionate, but reasoned, and seasoned by self-deprecating humor, and empathy. It is one of the kindest books I’ve ever read. It is very engaging, and I found myself so caught up in it that I tore through it in a day. It is abundantly illustrated with photos of the places he traveled to, and the people he met and learned from.

The bulk of the book focuses showing that there is hope. With Timmerman, we hear the wisdom of Arhuaco elders in Colombia, herd cattle to water in Kenya, protecting them from lions armed only with a stick while learning how regenerative farming can bring soil back to life, and see how the White Oak Pastures farm in Georgia not only improves the soil and provides healthier food, but employs over 100 workers, and has regenerated not only the soil, but the town of Bluffton. And those are just three of the many examples.

It is an eye-opener in a number of ways. One of the most shocking is sand harvesting (you’ll have to read it to believe it). Something that came as no surprise is that all the destructive farming practices are profit-driven, despite the UN warning from 2014 that “we only had enough soil left for 60 more years of growing seasons”.

Not only does he show the advantages of regenerative farming, he presents a strong argument against the current agricultural model, which relies heavily on chemicals (which also poison neighborhoods, the soil, and water), focuses almost exclusively on corn and soybeans for crops, and operates inhumane CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations), increases erosion, and is designed to force farmers to essentially become indentured to the big ag and chemical companies, along with quite a few other intended and unintended results.

All told, it is an extremely thoughtful and thought-provoking look at regenerative farming. At least one moment had me choked up, and much of it caused me to examine my own relationship with the land I own, not in a guilty way, but in a way that makes me think about how I could be treating it better. All in all, it is a great book. Read it, and get ready to do some thinking.

[Meg Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book on regenerative farming practices. It was informative and inspiring, and I’m excited to try some of the ideas in our own yard.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

My AudioFile review:

REGENERATING EARTH
Farmers Working with Nature to Feed Our Future
by Kelsey Timmerman | Read by Kelsey Timmerman
Contemporary Culture • 8.75 hrs. • Unabridged • © 2025
Author/narrator Kelsey Timmerman addresses the dangers of corporate farming: how planting large tracts of nothing but corn and soybeans necessitates using damaging chemicals to yield desired profits at the cost of polluting the soil and water. Timmerman's thesis is as timely as it is terrifying, and he's a popular speaker on the topic. However, he struggles when narrating due to his choppy cadence and tendency to read too quickly and swallow some of his words. Timmerman, who farms in rural Indiana, travels near and far to investigate sustainable methods of small farming and animal husbandry. From Wisconsin to eastern Africa, the Amazon rainforest, and Hawaii, he observes both new and ancient Indigenous methods of land management that support regenerative agriculture by promoting biodiversity. S.G. © AudioFile 2025, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2025]

Trade Ed. • Random House Audio • 2025
DD ISBN 9798217172467 $23.00

Library Ed. • Books on Tape • 2025
DD ISBN 9798217172474 $95.00