5x15 and Groundswell on the story of soil

David R. Montgomery is a geomorphologist who looks at the process shaping Earth’s surface and how they affect ecological systems—and human societies. He has studied everything from the ways that landslides and glaciers influence the height of mountain ranges, to the way that soils have shaped human civilizations both now and in the past. He has worked in mountain ranges throughout the world, from the Cascades in the Pacific Northwest, to the Andes in South America and Tibet and the Himalaya in Central Asia. He is a Professor at the University of Washington, an elected Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and has received many awards throughout his career, including a MacArthur Fellowship and the Vega Medal.

Tim Spector is a professor of genetic epidemiology at King's College London and honorary consultant physician at Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals. He is a multi-award-winning expert in personalised medicine and the gut microbiome, and the author of numerous books, including the bestsellers Spoon-Fed and The Diet Myth. He appears regularly on TV, radio and podcasts around the world, and is one of the top 100 most cited scientists in the world. He is co-founder of the personalised nutrition company ZOE and leads the world's biggest citizen science health project, the ZOE Health study. He was awarded an OBE in 2020 for his work fighting Covid-19. His latest book is Food for Life: The New Science of Eating Well.

Gabe Brown is one of the pioneers of the current soil health movement which focuses on the regeneration of our resources. Gabe, along with his wife Shelly, and son Paul, own and operate Brown's Ranch, a diversified 5,000 acre farm and ranch near Bismarck, North Dakota. The ranch consists of several thousand acres of native perennial rangeland along with perennial pastureland and cropland. Their ranch focuses on farming and ranching in nature's image. The Browns holistically integrate their grazing and no-till cropping systems, which include a wide variety of cash crops, multi-species cover crops along with all natural grass finished beef and lamb. They also raise pastured pork, laying hens, and broilers. This diversity and integration has regenerated the natural resources on the ranch without the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and fungicides. The Browns are part owners of a state inspected abattoir which allows them to direct market their products. They believe that healthy soil leads to clean air, clean water, healthy plants, animals, and people.

Over 2,000 people visit the Brown's Ranch annually to see this unique operation. Gabe and Brown's Ranch have received many forms of recognition for their work, including a Growing Green award from the Natural Resource Defense Council, an Environmental Stewardship Award from the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, and a Zero-Till Producer of the Year Award, to name a few. Gabe has also been named one of the twenty-five most influential agricultural leaders in the United States. Gabe recently authored the book, Dirt to Soil, One Family’s Journey Into Regenerative Agriculture. He is a partner, along with Ray Archuleta, Shane New and Dr. Allen Williams, in Understanding Ag LLC. He is also an instructor for Soil Health Academy, which focuses on teaching others the power and importance of healthy functioning ecosystems.

John Cherry farms the Groundswell host farm with his brother Paul. His initial enthusiasm for no-till farming stemmed from laziness and an urge to avoid bouncing around on tractor seats, but the further the brothers advanced down the road of continuous no-till, the more obsessed John became about the various soils on the 2500 acres that they farm and how they should be looked after. The Groundswell show came about because he had too many questions that no-one had satisfactory answers for and the easiest thing seemed to be to gather all the experts in one place and see what happened. The result exceeded all expectations…

Joanna Bowen has been a teacher, actor, director, impresario and sometimes a writer. She started and ran theatre companies and has organised enormous community events. But for now she focuses on the Groundswell Outreach programme.

Paul has been farming at Weston Park Farms for 35 years with his brother John. Over the years the farm has expanded from 950 to 2,000 acres of arable (now all zero tilled) and 500 acres of pasture providing grazing for 150 head of commercial Beef Shorthorn herd of cattle. It was during a heavy autumn shower when they watched a neighbour’s ploughed field gradually forming rivers then gullies as the topsoil moved down the hill, while their side of the valley, still in stubble stayed put that they realised that it was time to do something.