Facilitating Regenerative Agriculture Transitions

Our vision for Acres U.S.A. magazine

Acres U.S.A. magazine has established a legacy as a voice for ecological agriculture. When Charles Walters began publishing, in 1971, there was hardly anything like it. Acres U.S.A. brought to the farming community William Albrecht’s research, Carey Reams’ observations, Bruce Tainio’s discoveries, Jerry Brunetti’s brilliance and the wisdom and experience of many other pioneers in the ecological farming space. 

The state of ecological/regenerative agriculture has changed dramatically since 1971 — in almost all ways, for the better.

Today we have an abundance of information available about ecological farming methods (and about everything, frankly) that was not available fifty years ago. There are thousands of hours of webinars, podcasts, YouTube clips, blog posts and relevant papers being published. It has become difficult to keep track of all the new things we are learning collectively — to dig through all the data to find the most important bits. Our task at Acres U.S.A. is to collate the information that is most valuable to growers.

Acres U.S.A. will be one of your trusted sources for the highest-quality information concerning regenerative agriculture. And as the new editor (Paul) and executive editor (John) of this historic publication, we want to share our editorial goals for the magazine going forward. 

Our vision is that Acres U.S.A. be the publication that brings together the information needed to help growers transition to ecological/regenerative farm management systems on scale. We will continue to emphasize the agronomy angle of regenerative agriculture, because soil health and plant health are foundational to our legacy, as well as the future we want to co-create. This agronomic perspective will include developing climate resilience and nutritional integrity.

However, we will also be highlighting the very necessary work being done in other areas, such as alternative finance and crop insurance, market access and processing facilities, and alternative crops that can be grown at scale. The content of Acres U.S.A. will be developed for professional growers of all sizes. Information that is useful for professionals is also likely to be useful for homesteaders, but the reverse is less often the case. 

We intend to provide practical information to growers and agronomists to help them solve problems. We want what you read in these pages to be directly useful in your operation and to aid you in becoming more profitable.

We intend to introduce new scientific discoveries, technological and equipment advances, cultural management practices and growing techniques. We hope to describe the science in a very understandable way.

We also intend to introduce you to the leaders in this space. Who are the individuals and companies that are facilitating a different and kinder model of agriculture on scale?

Generally, we prefer to avoid airing the grievances of the abuses of contemporary agriculture, the problems of climate change, the issues of food activism, etc. These problems are well known and are generally assumed. It is much more powerful to be for something than to be against something. We will focus our energy on sharing information about superior models that will displace the current mainstream. 

We also recognize that each individual is on their own journey. We care about progress and continual improvement. We will share information relevant to farmers at all stages of transition, including those who are just beginning. 

How will these intentions affect the magazine going forward? You’ll see more articles written by subject-matter experts (farmers, agronomists and scientists) than by freelance writers — we want you to hear the information straight from those who are doing the frontline work. Yes, in some cases, farmers and scientists do not write as clearly as a trained author — that’s our challenge, though: to take top-notch information and communicate it to you clearly and concisely. 

To that end, every one of you knows something other people would benefit from understanding. We are looking for your contributions. Who are the people you would like to hear more from? What are the pieces that you have to contribute? Please let us know.

You’ll also see more commentary on the science of growing. While we believe that science is limited in what it can teach us — in the sense that single-factor analysis can never tell the complete story of how a holistic system as complex as nature operates — there is a vast amount of useful information being published every month that can be very helpful to growers. Our task is to curate that knowledge and to present it in a way that is understandable and practical.

We will continue to publish information that is outside the bounds of contemporary agriculture, and possibly even outside the bounds of “mainstream regenerative” agriculture. There are many examples of growers’ observations and experiences that aren’t yet accurately described by modern science. It is important to recognize that anecdotal evidence is still evidence — evidence that we can learn from and should seek to understand, rather than immediately reject.  

Finally, who are “we,” and why do we care?

Paul is the day-to-day editor for the magazine. He didn’t grow up in agriculture — he has degrees in business, German and nuclear engineering and served for 20 years as an Army officer. He spent a year interning on a regenerative cattle farm in Alabama after retirement from the military and has extensive experience as an editor. He has been involved with Acres U.S.A. since 2017 on both the magazine and book sides of the organization. He homesteads and raises his family in southern Michigan.

John is well-known to most readers of this magazine and to those within the regenerative agriculture movement. As executive editor, he will provide the discerning eye of what deserves to be highlighted in these pages. He is the founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture and KindHarvest.ag and is an avid sideline beekeeper as well as husband and father. John was heavily influenced by many Acres U.S.A. authors and conference attendees in his formative years and desires to give back to the community with the magazine and the organization. He is keenly interested in not just helping growers but in developing leaders within the regenerative agriculture space. 

Putting together a farm magazine is relatively straightforward. Publishing a top-notch, leading-edge farm magazine that sifts through all the available information and tries to present that which is most important for growers — that’s a difficult task. We will do our best to provide a publication that you can always look forward to and that will challenge and encourage you to farm more in tune with nature. 

It’s a big job, but we’re actually comforted by the fact that we won’t ever be able to fully explain everything to you. To paraphrase William Albrecht — one of the most influential voices in the history of this publication — read this magazine, but also observe and study nature; and when the two contradict, throw away this magazine! 

Our task is to make each issue so valuable that you can’t imagine doing that.