Gabe Brown and the Roots of Carbon Farming

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Carbon farming is not a marketing term — it’s a set of deeply practical principles for restoring soil health and drawing down atmospheric carbon. One of the most influential voices in this field is Gabe Brown, a North Dakota farmer whose work has transformed not only his own land but also the thinking of farmers and researchers worldwide.

Regenerative Agriculture vs. Carbon Farming

The term regenerative agriculture gained traction in the early 1980s with advocates like the Rodale Institute, focusing on rebuilding soil, increasing biodiversity, and improving the water cycle. Carbon farming came later, emphasizing the climate aspect — specifically, the potential of agricultural soils to sequester atmospheric carbon. While the two approaches overlap, carbon farming adds sharper focus on carbon sequestration as a climate solution, often through practices like biochar application, reduced tillage, and year-round root presence.

At DirtKarma, the term carbon farming is favored because it highlights carbon drawdown using biochar (including rice hull char 燻炭) as a long-lasting form of carbon storage. It also connects the dots between soil biology, climate resilience, and the ancient tradition of enriching soil with stable carbon.

The Five Principles of Soil Health – According to Gabe Brown

Gabe Brown’s approach centers on five guiding principles:

  1. Limit Disturbance – Both mechanical tillage and chemical applications disrupt soil biology and release stored carbon.
  2. Armor the Soil – Maintain organic material on the surface to protect the soil from erosion, overheating, and moisture loss. Cover crops help serve this function.
  3. Keep Living Roots in the Ground – Photosynthesizing plants feed the soil microbial community via root exudates. For this cover crops are widely used.
  4. Encourage Diversity – Avoid monoculture. Foster a wide mix of plants (including native and volunteer species) to support a broad range of microbes and pest-suppressing dynamics. At least 12 varieties of plants are recommended in cover crops used by many proponents of these methods.
  5. Integrate Livestock – Animal activity cycles nutrients, disturbs the surface lightly, and stimulates plant regrowth.

Plus One: Context

In Gabe Brown’s lectures, he emphasizes a sixth, sometimes overlooked principle: context. No principle exists in isolation. Your climate, soil type, available tools, and scale all affect implementation.

Japan’s Unique Context

In the U.S., carbon farming practices have gained visibility and traction — especially among regenerative ranchers and no-till grain producers. As of 2023, it’s estimated that 10–15% of large-scale operations have adopted some regenerative principles. In Japan, however, small-scale plots, aging farmers, and limited access to crimpers or direct-seeding equipment complicate things.

Even the term “cover crop” lacks clarity in Japanese and can be confused with 緑肥 (ryokuhī) which translates as “green manure” referring to crops tilled into the soil. More accurately, カバークロップ (cover crop) or 被覆作物 (hifuku sakumotsu) are increasingly used to describe crops grown not to till in, but to terminate and leave as surface mulch. Some growers now speak of リビングマルチ (living mulch) and experiment with 多種混合 (multi-species) cover crops, but these practices and seed to support them are still rare and not as fully researched in the Japanese context.

Multi-Species Cover Crops in Japan

As Gabe Brown emphasizes, plant diversity is a central pillar of regenerative farming. In Japan, conversations about multi-species cover crop mixes are just beginning to emerge. Some progressive growers and researchers have experimented with blends of rye, hairy vetch, crimson clover, daikon, and buckwheat to build biomass and suppress weeds.

For example, a 2021 study by Japan’s National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) found that a five-species mix outperformed rye monocultures in moisture retention and weed suppression in Kyushu field trials. Still, adoption remains limited due to challenges in sourcing mixed seed blends and the lack of equipment like roller-crimpers or no-till drills.

In this context, Japanese farmers must often rely on creative experimentation and on-farm seed saving to build their own regenerative solutions.

This article is just one layer. Stay tuned as we dig deeper into each of these topics:

📗 日本語で読む: こちらをクリック ⇒ カーボンファーミングとゲイブ・ブラウン