--- product_id: 1562913 title: "Restoration Agriculture" price: "8706 kr" currency: ISK in_stock: true reviews_count: 8 url: https://www.desertcart.is/products/1562913-restoration-agriculture store_origin: IS region: Iceland --- # Sustainable, regenerative farming methods Diverse perennial polyculture system 734 reviews, 4.8-star rating Restoration Agriculture **Price:** 8706 kr **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Summary > 🌿 Grow smarter, farm wiser — join the restoration revolution! ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Restoration Agriculture - **How much does it cost?** 8706 kr with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.is](https://www.desertcart.is/products/1562913-restoration-agriculture) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Key Features - • **Cold Climate Friendly:** Practical, actionable strategies tailored for cold-climate farmers, gardeners, and permaculture designers. - • **Farm Like Nature Intended:** Learn Mark Shepard’s proven system that mimics natural ecosystems for sustainable abundance. - • **Science Meets Storytelling:** Engaging, witty narrative backed by real-world results and 734+ rave reviews. - • **Revolutionize Your Land Use:** Discover how diverse perennial planting boosts yield and resilience beyond monoculture limits. - • **From Garden to Global Impact:** Understand how regenerative agriculture nourishes soil, plants, animals, and communities holistically. ## Overview Restoration Agriculture by Mark Shepard is a highly rated, insightful book that presents a transformative approach to farming by mimicking natural ecosystems. It offers practical guidance on perennial polyculture, integrating animals, and restoring soil health, especially suited for cold climates. With 734 reviews averaging 4.8 stars, this book inspires professionals and enthusiasts alike to adopt sustainable, regenerative agriculture that nourishes both people and planet. ## Description Buy Restoration Agriculture on desertcart.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders Review: Great Book - A Review from SimplicityforJulia.com - From my recent blog post: This book outlines Mark Shepard’s journey from his childhood in New England to life at his farm at his home in Wisconsin. As a child, Mark’s family relied heavily on their annual garden and fruit trees to provide food for the family. He remembers garden work to be hot, laborious and never ending. The annual garden was a constant fight against nature. Weeding, watering, planting, a never ending cycle. He then recounts the food they foraged. It was cool and peaceful. They mostly harvested. They didn’t have to worry about weeds, as every part of the natural system worked together. These childhood experiences, along with a few books, led him to the restorative agriculture system he uses today. Mark’s farm in Wisconsin copies natural systems which are conducive to the area which he lives. Within a small area, he will plant chestnuts, apples, grapes, and blackberries. Each plant either complimenting each other, or utilizing different substrates of the area. An area filled with this diverse plant system will produce more food overall. However, if that same area were planted with all apples, you would harvest more apples, but the diversity equals safety. If there is a bad year for apples, the apple producer is completely out of luck. You can even use this system to harvest wood for fuel and building. He also expand this system to include animals. You an have pigs foraging in between the alleys of perennial woody crops, in a paddock shift system. This means that the pigs move from area to area with just enough disturbance to to enhance the area. If there are too many pigs in too little an area for too long ( or one of any of those three “too’s”), you will end up degrading your land instead of enhancing it. This book also commented on how these methods can actually nourish the world instead of “feeding” it. He discussed the nutrition lacking in corn and our other mono-crops. This is evident when we see 500 pound adults with Rickets, a disease partially caused by a deficiency in necessary nutrients such as calcium. They are clearly getting enough calories, but not any nutrition. It is possible to be fat and malnourished. At his farm, New Forest Farm, Mark is also trying to restore the American Chestnut. The American Chestnut was hit with a blight originating from the Chinese Chestnut. The American Chestnut was the East Coast’s version of the Red Wood. When the blight first started to spread, we stupidly decided to cut down all the American Chestnuts to stop the spread. This removed any trees that may have had a natural genetic resistance to the blight. Mark is planting thousands of trees in hopes of finding one genetic variety that has resistance. He does this over planting them from seeds and then using his STUN technique. STUN stands for Sheer Total Utter Neglect. This allows for the strongest of plants to survive. If any tree wants to die, he lets it. The weeds out the weak genetics and brings the strong genetics to the foreground. This book is an enlightening read. It gives hope, and also gives a reason to become active in your food choices. It offers a new prospective on farming and restoration to the land. This book is an entertaining and quick read, but beyond informative. My take aways: Plant more trees Plant things you can eat (they still look pretty!) Plant trees Eat from a perennial systems. (nuts, fruits, pastured meats) There is hope. Plant trees that will thrive in your area. I do recommend this book. It has opened my eyes and added to my arsenal of information so that I can make educated decisions. As I start to design my property and plant with a plan, I will be keeping Mark’s systems and philosophies in mind. Review: Not just for career farmers - Mark Shepard's book is entertaining and readable. It provides clear examples of real-life practices for cold-climate permaculturists, whether a professional farmer or not. Yes, Shepard comes at the topic of permaculture from the standpoint of a farmer looking to transition from "Big Ag" methods to a sustainable alternative, and makes a great case for making the switch. But a clear picture with ideas to try are included that any gardener, homesteader or permaculture designer will find useful. Shepard presents ideas for producing food and other products sustainably, beyond organic, that can take place on any size agricultural acreage. It's a fun read. For instance, did you know there is a movement to reintroduce very large mammals into the North American ecosystems, like elephants? There are lots of interesting tidbits and anecdotes, told in a witty, conversational voice. At the same, time, Shepard successfully portrays the extremely serious, accelerating death spiral of current agricultural practices. It was the first time I was really struck with the full truth of what is happening and where we are heading if we don't change how we farm. As a student in Geoff Lawton's online Permaculture Design Course, I am finding in retrospect that Shepard worked the principles of permaculture into the text in a very digestible form. Now as I learn about the foundations of permaculture, I think of this book and think, oh, that's why he did that! I highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in sustainably farming or gardening in a cold climate, and believe it is essential to any permaculture designer. ## Features - Used Book in Good Condition ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Customer Reviews | 4.8 out of 5 stars 734 Reviews | ## Images ![Restoration Agriculture - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71gdujdhBXL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great Book - A Review from SimplicityforJulia.com *by J***R on September 26, 2014* From my recent blog post: This book outlines Mark Shepard’s journey from his childhood in New England to life at his farm at his home in Wisconsin. As a child, Mark’s family relied heavily on their annual garden and fruit trees to provide food for the family. He remembers garden work to be hot, laborious and never ending. The annual garden was a constant fight against nature. Weeding, watering, planting, a never ending cycle. He then recounts the food they foraged. It was cool and peaceful. They mostly harvested. They didn’t have to worry about weeds, as every part of the natural system worked together. These childhood experiences, along with a few books, led him to the restorative agriculture system he uses today. Mark’s farm in Wisconsin copies natural systems which are conducive to the area which he lives. Within a small area, he will plant chestnuts, apples, grapes, and blackberries. Each plant either complimenting each other, or utilizing different substrates of the area. An area filled with this diverse plant system will produce more food overall. However, if that same area were planted with all apples, you would harvest more apples, but the diversity equals safety. If there is a bad year for apples, the apple producer is completely out of luck. You can even use this system to harvest wood for fuel and building. He also expand this system to include animals. You an have pigs foraging in between the alleys of perennial woody crops, in a paddock shift system. This means that the pigs move from area to area with just enough disturbance to to enhance the area. If there are too many pigs in too little an area for too long ( or one of any of those three “too’s”), you will end up degrading your land instead of enhancing it. This book also commented on how these methods can actually nourish the world instead of “feeding” it. He discussed the nutrition lacking in corn and our other mono-crops. This is evident when we see 500 pound adults with Rickets, a disease partially caused by a deficiency in necessary nutrients such as calcium. They are clearly getting enough calories, but not any nutrition. It is possible to be fat and malnourished. At his farm, New Forest Farm, Mark is also trying to restore the American Chestnut. The American Chestnut was hit with a blight originating from the Chinese Chestnut. The American Chestnut was the East Coast’s version of the Red Wood. When the blight first started to spread, we stupidly decided to cut down all the American Chestnuts to stop the spread. This removed any trees that may have had a natural genetic resistance to the blight. Mark is planting thousands of trees in hopes of finding one genetic variety that has resistance. He does this over planting them from seeds and then using his STUN technique. STUN stands for Sheer Total Utter Neglect. This allows for the strongest of plants to survive. If any tree wants to die, he lets it. The weeds out the weak genetics and brings the strong genetics to the foreground. This book is an enlightening read. It gives hope, and also gives a reason to become active in your food choices. It offers a new prospective on farming and restoration to the land. This book is an entertaining and quick read, but beyond informative. My take aways: Plant more trees Plant things you can eat (they still look pretty!) Plant trees Eat from a perennial systems. (nuts, fruits, pastured meats) There is hope. Plant trees that will thrive in your area. I do recommend this book. It has opened my eyes and added to my arsenal of information so that I can make educated decisions. As I start to design my property and plant with a plan, I will be keeping Mark’s systems and philosophies in mind. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Not just for career farmers *by P***R on April 15, 2014* Mark Shepard's book is entertaining and readable. It provides clear examples of real-life practices for cold-climate permaculturists, whether a professional farmer or not. Yes, Shepard comes at the topic of permaculture from the standpoint of a farmer looking to transition from "Big Ag" methods to a sustainable alternative, and makes a great case for making the switch. But a clear picture with ideas to try are included that any gardener, homesteader or permaculture designer will find useful. Shepard presents ideas for producing food and other products sustainably, beyond organic, that can take place on any size agricultural acreage. It's a fun read. For instance, did you know there is a movement to reintroduce very large mammals into the North American ecosystems, like elephants? There are lots of interesting tidbits and anecdotes, told in a witty, conversational voice. At the same, time, Shepard successfully portrays the extremely serious, accelerating death spiral of current agricultural practices. It was the first time I was really struck with the full truth of what is happening and where we are heading if we don't change how we farm. As a student in Geoff Lawton's online Permaculture Design Course, I am finding in retrospect that Shepard worked the principles of permaculture into the text in a very digestible form. Now as I learn about the foundations of permaculture, I think of this book and think, oh, that's why he did that! I highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in sustainably farming or gardening in a cold climate, and believe it is essential to any permaculture designer. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Gives Lg-scale ag a starting point for change *by O***R on May 1, 2018* Can't reasonably expect one book to be complete on any subject. That said, this is a Decent intro for why reaching beyond organic ag (to restoreAg) is a necessity, and offers some practical steps for transition Audience & Focus is more toward: ~shifting mindset away from ChemCorp /PharmAg practices, which comprise the majority of current US production ~beyond tillage farming of organic annual cropping ~feasible, interim strategies for large-scale producers to implement while in transition toward sustainability. To these ends, it's a good start, and should be required reading in ecology 101. Mainstream awareness is obviously critical to shift markets from lowest price to favoring suppliers who follow humane, sustainable practices. The transition is most economically sound for the consumer: ~sustainable practices make production less costly and a higher quality product ~shifts a "gourmet" to the mainstream, improving the standard and eventually price Market shifts pressure big Corp 'Pharmers' to clean up their act and improve product in order to compete. ~To these ends, should be required reading in any intro economics class, especially home economics. Silvopasturing is touched on in prose, but follow-on poly-culture mob stock grazing (a cornerstone practice for economic and ecologic stability) is given far less attention than i hoped. The few examples that only elude to actual nuts&bolts of specific RestoreAg practices, their economic impact or projections, and scalability are only a good start, and left me wanting for more hard data. I recommend it, i enjoyed it, give it 5 stars, but I'm not in the large-scale Ag commodity production business. For my far smaller-scale aspirations, I've found books by J. Salatin, M. Phillips, Bill Mollison or Yoeman more helpful for my circumstances and stage of learning. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.is/products/1562913-restoration-agriculture](https://www.desertcart.is/products/1562913-restoration-agriculture) --- *Product available on Desertcart Iceland* *Store origin: IS* *Last updated: 2026-05-03*