The Problem With The Regenerative Ag Movement.

[miraclefarm]

New regenerative small farmer here. Thanks for being real. We don't do everything right and we are just learning. Some of our failures have been from our own lack of knowledge and some from others not liking what we are doing and causing us to start over. This year has been much better and we are a tad smarter. If you don't share your failure us new guys are destoned to do the same without even knowing. Let them throw their fluff somewhere else, we've not got time for that.

[eddiemachines]

Jay, we live in a fallen broken world, because of this we have to deal with thorns and thistles, toil in labor and provide for our families by the sweat of our face. Does the toil of our labor look the same today as it did 6, 000 years ago? No, today it’s seven year crop rotation spreadsheets that are crumpled up by two years of drought or someone spraying the wrong chemical mix on a field. The sweat of our face isn’t quite the same either, but you get what I’m saying. GMO and glyphosate promised to shortcut the curse. How’s that working out? We’ve become slaves to Big Ag. Then regenerative ag experts come on the scene promising eden like results, if you follow some principles. You are stewarding a piece of creation that is not nor ever will be Eden, and you’re dealing with us fallen broken people that hear what we want to hear. Keep up the good work.

[Trivdgun-]

"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm."
-Winston S. Churchill

[mtpocketswoodenickle]

Glad to see you're sponsored by Green Cover Seed in this episode. Dale Strickler of green cover seed, in my opinion, is one of America's leading agronomists and just as knowledgeable as a beef producer as well.
Good luck in your future endeavors.

[homesteadknowhow]

I'm full throttle in Regen Ag in Michigan. I grew 40 bushel/acre corn this year. Crap. We ran the pigs through it early then planted turnips for extra feed. we didn't get al the grain we need for winter, but the jerusalem artichokes did surprisingly well and we should be able to supplement enough to get through.

[KPVFarmer]

Your honesty and dedication to showing the good, bad, and ugly is what I want to see. Not because I want to see struggling, but because I want to see the lessons you learn in your area when things don’t go as planned. Thanks for pledging to keep it 💯

[organicentourage]

Regarding placing focus on getting conventional farmers to see regenerative ag as a viable option, Amen! Like you said, farmers like you are few and far between. That means everyone else is out there pounding the land and hurting our collective future. The fact that you are willing to share the good and the bad with the intention of elevating ag speaks volumes about your character. You are a pioneer in this field. There is absolutely no comparison between the work you are doing and the comments of "couch potatoes". For what it's worth, we tried compost extract this year for the first time with little to no benefit. And we had such high hopes. Half the problem is we're all so overworked and operating "on a shoestring" that it's hard to get all the details right on the first go. Nice message in this video.

[cascades]

Proverbs 24:16 For the righteous one may fall even seven times, and he will certainly get up; but the wicked ones will be made to stumble by calamity. I feel this scripture kind of sums up what you're talking about. Feel it's a good idea to shed some Heavenly light on everything we do. Thank you for sticking on the journey and sticking with our original purpose here on Earth. - Genesis 2:15

[happytomeetyou.]

I appreciate when a man shares his failures, that is a great way to earn a good man's respect, and you have always been honest and forthright. There many zealots out there trying to hijak the movement but these are ' practices' not scripture. Even physicians lose a patient once in a while while practicing medicine, so keep the good work JAY. Best regards from Texas

[scottdavis]

I turned 61 today and my project is to build two totes for my family farm in Northern NY .Following your videos of good, bad and ugly is a great motivation so keep the chin up and the eyes forward

[mistymounthomestead]

This planet needs more people like you, honest and kind and smart. We're only on a 2/3 of an acre here but learning/practicing permaculture is similar to what you are talking about. Only doing it since 2018 but still have many failures but I'm not giving up. Thank you for your words of encouragement.

[chrispfister]

Jay, this video is exactly why I keep coming back. Unvarnished truth. Don't forget you are venturing into uncharted territory for the benefit of us all! Thank you.

[jneely]

Thank you for this perspective! In all major decision making, I have to ask myself "What don't I know"? Finding sources of complete and accurate information lead to better decision making.

[aaronswanson]

This is by far the most honest video I’ve ever seen on regenerative ag and I’ve watched a lot of them over the years. The situation described of push the good, shame the bad is why I will not intentionally try to do regenerative ag ever again. I just can’t trust it. Too many pie in the sky stories that leave out crucial bits of context no one else has. I tried regenerative techniques for a number of years and kept getting told I wasn’t doing it good enough. It was always another suggestion that would cost a lot of money and take 2, 3 or 5 years to implement. I’d say that I’ve already been doing it for 15 and I’d really get condescended to. Which in a way was rightly so. Why was I being so stupid as to take these people seriously for so many years when my neighbors who didn’t pay attention to any of this stuff appeared to do just fine. I had enough and went full conventional ( tillage, GMOs, full herbicide) in what was a really dry year. I couldn’t believe the profitability that was possible simply from getting a good crop. I could finally afford to lay drain tile (which some regen folks said was unnecessary) across my whole farm without borrowing any money for it while I’m still making land payments. Maybe drain tile is what I needed all along but none of the big name people I talked to ever suggested it although they did suggest other ideas that certainly would’ve cost plenty of money. Best wishes to this gentleman and his family. I hope all of us farmers are able to find the tools to do whatever it is we need to make a good living.

[ashleyskinner]

Wow!! Thank you for this video!!!! I haven’t seen anyone have the courage to say these things, but you could not be more right!!! Thank you Jay, my heart feels warmer having watched this ❤

[guyepennington]

What a fantastic message! I could not agree more. We are trying too, and not every experiment is a success. Thank you for acknowledging this.

[ciaranomalley]

Failure is only a failure if you repeat your mistake and don't learn from it .. thanks for your honesty warts n all !👍

[adamlasch]

You're 100 percent correct, and I'd like to add one more element. I've noticed that the guys who are quick to drop regenerative principles, generally aren't willing to take the time to understand their system in the first place. They are wanting quick results without taking the time to plan or run scenarios on possible outcomes. I've learned far more from my failures than my successes.

[patricktoomey]

Just earned my subscription. I work for the NRCS and manage 50 acs of pasture in Eastern SD. I see this all the time. Folks, especially farmers, have been fed the silver bullet idea that "x" will solve your problem. So when it doesn't work exactly like Gabe Brown year 1, the whole process doesn't work. In reality, regenerative ag is taking back your decision making from the silver bullet salesman which comes with risk and failure. That is a very hard pill for a farmer that's been told for decades "spray this" or "plant that" by someone else to swallow.

[melvinrexwinkle]

The regenerative agriculture idea is new to me in 2023. I'm working for a cow man in SE KS. Everything we have done this year, so far, has been a failure. I don't think that it is anything that we're doing. We just can't get any decent rainfall! We planted 2000 dollars of annual ryegrass in the spring. I saw literally 10 or 12 plants of it growing.
We tried to spray weeds with a mister and it didn't work either, too much bare soil between grass plants and the weeds just kept coming, cow numbers were way down, but just enough to eat all the grass and leave all the weeds. In early October we sowed cereal rye in Bermuda grass pasture along with some fescue in parts, and radishes in combination with cereal rye in other places. So far the last 2 two weeks of "major changes in the weather patterns" we got zero in the first one, and yesterday, oct 24 rained .6 inch !
So, as you are well aware, nothing, nothing works when it doesn't rain.