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Water for Any Farm
Written as a companion to the bestseller, Restoration Agriculture, this book will help farmers capture water in areas they want to, and avoid having water flow immediately to the low point. The result? Less water expense, healthier crops and livestock, and less erosion ... just to name a few.
What you will read in this book is a distillation of over 25 years of on-the-ground experience working with and modifying the Yeomans’ Keyline Plan. From the back yard suburbs to 10,000-acre ranches and everywhere in between, from permafrost mountainsides just shy of the Arctic Circle, to equatorial boulder fields of East Africa, areas with 300 inches of rain per year to those with less than 3 inches, I have personally installed systems based on the Keyline design methodology and its modified forms.
What you will read in this book is tried and true. It is intended to give a sufficient background to any landowner so that they can optimize their water resource for higher site productivity, have greater drought resistance and just as importantly, to know deep in their heart that they have made even one little piece of earth a little more life-filled, livable and green.
What you will read in this book is a distillation of over 25 years of on-the-ground experience working with and modifying the Yeomans’ Keyline Plan. From the back yard suburbs to 10,000-acre ranches and everywhere in between, from permafrost mountainsides just shy of the Arctic Circle, to equatorial boulder fields of East Africa, areas with 300 inches of rain per year to those with less than 3 inches, I have personally installed systems based on the Keyline design methodology and its modified forms.
What you will read in this book is tried and true. It is intended to give a sufficient background to any landowner so that they can optimize their water resource for higher site productivity, have greater drought resistance and just as importantly, to know deep in their heart that they have made even one little piece of earth a little more life-filled, livable and green.
240 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2020
55 people are currently reading
259 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 9, 2024
There's a reason this book is well-loved in homesteading circles. With so much emphasis on soil health, water management isn't usually the first thing permaculturists think of when optimizing their land. Mark Shepard has written an accessible book taking a system of water management developed in Australia and broadening its usage to all kinds of land complexities. Although the emphasis is on large farm plots, I'm excited to use these methods on our small homestead. This book could have benefited from some proofreading. There were several small editing mistakes that took away from Shepard's engaging voice.
September 17, 2020
Having participated in a weekend workshop with Mark Shepard and followed his work for years, I can say that this guy knows his stuff. With fires burning Australia and California, this book is very much needed. If you know a farmer, give him a copy of this. The methods he discusses could literally turn our world into a paradise.
May 19, 2025
I enjoyed mark's previous book Restoration Agriculture, and am a big fan/nerd about water use on Permaculture sites so I was excited to read/listen to this book. I was very disappointed then to discover in this book that Mark is an egotistical individualist to an extant that is wholly opposed to the basic principles of Permaculture.
In its best moments, this book provides a couple interesting annotations to Yeoman's original text on Keyline design. These may be useful elaborations for managers of a very large site (160 acres+) but could have been easily covered in a 2-page magazine article or perhaps one single thoughtful napkin sketch.
Instead, Mark claims to be utterly baffled by the obvious fact that water-formed landscapes (valleys and ridges) obey the widely-applicable principle of fractal self-similarity in natural systems which results in multiple orders of iterated valleys as you look closer to or further out from a given site's boundaries. Yo dude, smaller valleys merge into bigger valleys over and over again - Duh! Mark seems to think that his own discovery of this pattern of watersheds should earn him trophies and accolades. In reality, this is a minor and common-sense extension of the insights that Yeoman deserves full credit for.
Beyond that, Mark spends an enormous portion of the book whining and crying about having to deal with government agricultural agencies in the united states. It may be true that paperwork is a chore and bureaucracies lumbering, but the author certainly never acknowledges the fact that this nation's government has spent centuries making land and technical resources easily available to folks of his demographic privilege in many advantageous ways. Nor, for that matter, does he adequately acknowledge that tending to such large properties relies on the labor and intelligence of many individuals; instead, casting his every success as an accomplishment of his own personal brilliance.
All of this is plainly at odds with the Permaculture ethics of "Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share".
In its best moments, this book provides a couple interesting annotations to Yeoman's original text on Keyline design. These may be useful elaborations for managers of a very large site (160 acres+) but could have been easily covered in a 2-page magazine article or perhaps one single thoughtful napkin sketch.
Instead, Mark claims to be utterly baffled by the obvious fact that water-formed landscapes (valleys and ridges) obey the widely-applicable principle of fractal self-similarity in natural systems which results in multiple orders of iterated valleys as you look closer to or further out from a given site's boundaries. Yo dude, smaller valleys merge into bigger valleys over and over again - Duh! Mark seems to think that his own discovery of this pattern of watersheds should earn him trophies and accolades. In reality, this is a minor and common-sense extension of the insights that Yeoman deserves full credit for.
Beyond that, Mark spends an enormous portion of the book whining and crying about having to deal with government agricultural agencies in the united states. It may be true that paperwork is a chore and bureaucracies lumbering, but the author certainly never acknowledges the fact that this nation's government has spent centuries making land and technical resources easily available to folks of his demographic privilege in many advantageous ways. Nor, for that matter, does he adequately acknowledge that tending to such large properties relies on the labor and intelligence of many individuals; instead, casting his every success as an accomplishment of his own personal brilliance.
All of this is plainly at odds with the Permaculture ethics of "Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share".
September 14, 2024
Mark Shepard has great advice and perspective. There is really a lot of great technical and historical context on agricultural water management techniques, and you're going to come out of this with a reasonably solid sense why, what, and how to go about making many choices in land management to manage water flow. However, in this work he's really facing an uphill battle with two headwinds working against him:
1. Describing geometric concepts in text form. It can be hard to follow, and in the big sythesis showing different options, it uses the same picture of a particular hillside instead of the topology and landscape features particular to each scenario. It would have been much better if he had collaborated with someone capable of generating particular images.
2. I think the complexity of choices got the better of this work from time-to-time. You really see it with the phrase "it depends on what your goals are". It would be better to have a sense of what kinds of goals and constraints that are addressed and how each design strategy pursues or neglects each of them subject to different external conditions. In short, it could have been more systematic from an engineering perspective.
My take on this work is that a lot of good effort went into it, but it could have used more support from its publisher to help edit and provide resources to help draw out the insights more.
Having said all that, this book does address agroecological design for water management, which is a niche I haven't seen better coverage elsewhere. So, despite these quibbles, I still recommend it as the first reference on the subject as best I know.
1. Describing geometric concepts in text form. It can be hard to follow, and in the big sythesis showing different options, it uses the same picture of a particular hillside instead of the topology and landscape features particular to each scenario. It would have been much better if he had collaborated with someone capable of generating particular images.
2. I think the complexity of choices got the better of this work from time-to-time. You really see it with the phrase "it depends on what your goals are". It would be better to have a sense of what kinds of goals and constraints that are addressed and how each design strategy pursues or neglects each of them subject to different external conditions. In short, it could have been more systematic from an engineering perspective.
My take on this work is that a lot of good effort went into it, but it could have used more support from its publisher to help edit and provide resources to help draw out the insights more.
Having said all that, this book does address agroecological design for water management, which is a niche I haven't seen better coverage elsewhere. So, despite these quibbles, I still recommend it as the first reference on the subject as best I know.
July 10, 2025
Fabulous book, even in audio. To actually implement these ideas will require a few diagrams, but even so, if you are familiar with agriculture or even backyard gardening (or even if you have two hands), you ought to be able to envision what the author is talking about. I have a small backyard and I was thinking of ways I could improve the water flow. Amazing.
NOTE: Jack Spirko wrote the foreword to this book. I have worked with Jack in the past. I admire him greatly and I have heard of Mark Shepard. If Jack likes him then I like him.
Jack Spirko has been podcasting 5 days a week for several years.... mostly on topics regarding permaculture, water conservation and duck farming. I recommend listening. (Also note: I produced content for the podcast myself 5 days a week for 3 1/2 years.) Here is a link: The Survival Podcast. I noticed that Jack recently posted an interview with Geoff Lawton (July 9, 2025) entitled "Permaculture Design in 2025 with Geoff Lawton – Epi-3701". Geoff Lawton was mentioned by Mark Shepard in the book "Water for Any Farm".
I am planning on reading "Restoration Agriculture" by Mark Shepard as well.
I'll probably listen to this audiobook again.
NOTE: Jack Spirko wrote the foreword to this book. I have worked with Jack in the past. I admire him greatly and I have heard of Mark Shepard. If Jack likes him then I like him.
Jack Spirko has been podcasting 5 days a week for several years.... mostly on topics regarding permaculture, water conservation and duck farming. I recommend listening. (Also note: I produced content for the podcast myself 5 days a week for 3 1/2 years.) Here is a link: The Survival Podcast. I noticed that Jack recently posted an interview with Geoff Lawton (July 9, 2025) entitled "Permaculture Design in 2025 with Geoff Lawton – Epi-3701". Geoff Lawton was mentioned by Mark Shepard in the book "Water for Any Farm".
I am planning on reading "Restoration Agriculture" by Mark Shepard as well.
I'll probably listen to this audiobook again.
August 28, 2021
Fantastic book for those looking at redesigning the water ways on their farm and land.
It basically helps you figure out how your water should travel. Whether you wanna build a forest or design a city or well create a swimming pool between the two mountains you just brought - you lucky bastard.
Quite technical, videos would've helped a lot. But all in all the concepts are solid. And I will never look at "drains" the same way again.
Thank you.
It basically helps you figure out how your water should travel. Whether you wanna build a forest or design a city or well create a swimming pool between the two mountains you just brought - you lucky bastard.
Quite technical, videos would've helped a lot. But all in all the concepts are solid. And I will never look at "drains" the same way again.
Thank you.
July 19, 2023
A 6hr audio book. This book had a few amazing bits of information, but it also at times, a bit annoying to listen too, I heard the word 'Primary' way to many times. Overall a good book for those who dont understand water flow, and a step in the right direction for old school famers who really never think outside of next year crop.
January 6, 2021
Wonderful book on the importance of water on the farm and how to best harvest it and allow it to do it's magic on the farm. I will definitely reference this book when I acquire some land in the future Lord willing!
August 8, 2021
So I enjoyed this much better than Restoration Agriculture. There was a great blend of history, philosophy, and practical instruction to make this book move pretty quickly. I found myself going back and rereading (and taking notes) many of the passages.
March 2, 2021
A great resource, with many photos and illustrations to provide a greater understanding of how to control and retain rainfall.
December 8, 2023
There are some really useful things in this book but they could probably fit in a booklet. I'm glad I read it though
January 12, 2025
Love this book
February 21, 2021
Rip the earth to save it.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews