--- title: "7 Soil Quotes By Joel Salatin" description: "7 Soil quotes by Joel Salatin. Plus more from Joel Salatin and more Soil sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/331/joel-salatin-3103_breaths_the-wealth-of-any-ecosystem-is-its-peren_198196.jpg" --- > [The wealth of any ecosystem is its perennials. The primal herbivore-predator-disturbance-rest dance is literally the breath and pulse of the earth. Grasses…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-salatin/the-wealth-of-any-ecosystem-is-its-perennials-the-primal-herbivore/) [Joel Salatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-salatin/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/331/joel-salatin-3103_breaths_the-wealth-of-any-ecosystem-is-its-peren_198196.jpg) > [Ours is certainly not an old culture. Yet in recent decades we've used more energy, destroyed more soil, created more pathogenicity (temporarily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-salatin/ours-is-certainly-not-an-old-culture-yet-in-recent-decades-we-ve-used/) [Joel Salatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-salatin/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/568/joel-salatin-3103_bacteria_ours-is-certainly-not-an-old-culture-yet_421541.jpg) > [You can't chemical your way out of soil infertility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-salatin/you-can-t-chemical-your-way-out-of-soil-infertility/) [Joel Salatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-salatin/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b09/joel-salatin-3103_chemicals_you-can-t-chemical-your-way-out-of-soil_835351.png) > [Since chemical fertilizer burns out the soil organic matter, other farmers struggle with tilth, water retention, and basic soil nutrients. The soil…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-salatin/since-chemical-fertilizer-burns-out-the-soil-organic-matter-other/) [Joel Salatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-salatin/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c56/joel-salatin-3103_acquire_since-chemical-fertilizer-burns-out-the_1073761.jpg) > [How dare you treat your soil like dirt!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-salatin/how-dare-you-treat-your-soil-like-dirt/) [Joel Salatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-salatin/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/65f/joel-salatin-3103_dare_how-dare-you-treat-your-soil-like-dirt-1_1706781.png) > [A farm includes the passion of the farmer's heart, the interest of the farm's customers, the biological activity in the soil, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-salatin/a-farm-includes-the-passion-of-the-farmer-s-heart-the-interest-of-the/) [Joel Salatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-salatin/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/085/joel-salatin-3103_air_a-farm-includes-the-passion-of-the-farme_1979565.jpg) > [It's as if the whole notion of growing soil is something only lunatics would think about. But why not grow soil? Does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-salatin/it-s-as-if-the-whole-notion-of-growing-soil-is-something-only/) [Joel Salatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-salatin/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/306/joel-salatin-3103_barns_it-s-as-if-the-whole-notion-of-growing-s_2494854.jpg) ## Other authors on Soil ## More by Joel Salatin > [Read things you're sure will disagree with your current thinking. If you're a die-hard anti-animal person, read Meat. If you're a die-hard global warming…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-salatin/read-things-you-re-sure-will-disagree-with-your-current-thinking-if/) [Joel Salatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-salatin/) > [Know you food, know your farmers, and know your kitchen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-salatin/know-you-food-know-your-farmers-and-know-your-kitchen/) [Joel Salatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-salatin/) > [If we fail to appreciate the soul that Easternism gives us, then what we have is a disconnected, Greco-Roman, Western, egocentric, compartmentalized, reductionist, fragmented,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-salatin/if-we-fail-to-appreciate-the-soul-that-easternism-gives-us-then-what/) [Joel Salatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-salatin/) > [Remember, machines don't forgive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-salatin/remember-machines-don-t-forgive/) [Joel Salatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-salatin/) > [Instead of buying into the global agenda, which is using food as just industrial stuff, we would say we view food as biological, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-salatin/instead-of-buying-into-the-global-agenda-which-is-using-food-as-just/) [Joel Salatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-salatin/) > [Ecology should be object lessons that the world sees, that explains in a visceral, physical way, the attributes of God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-salatin/ecology-should-be-object-lessons-that-the-world-sees-that-explains-in/) [Joel Salatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-salatin/) > [I'm a Christian-libertarian-environmentalist-capitalist-lunatic. It's a humorous way for me to describe that I'm not stereotypical.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-salatin/i-m-a-christian-libertarian-environmentalist-capitalist-lunatic-it-s/) [Joel Salatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-salatin/) > [Frankly, any city person who doesn't think I deserve a white-collar salary as a farmer doesn't deserve my special food.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-salatin/frankly-any-city-person-who-doesn-t-think-i-deserve-a-white-collar/) [Joel Salatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-salatin/) > [Think of all the mesquite in Texas, the pinyon pines, the acorns in Appalachia, every place has the possibility of mass production. It's an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-salatin/think-of-all-the-mesquite-in-texas-the-pinyon-pines-the-acorns-in/) [Joel Salatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-salatin/) > [Our culture doesn't ask about preserving the essence of pig; it just asks how can we grow them faster, fatter, bigger, and cheaper. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-salatin/our-culture-doesn-t-ask-about-preserving-the-essence-of-pig-it-just/) [Joel Salatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-salatin/) > [We only want autonomous collaborators that are incentivized to make or break their own income.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-salatin/we-only-want-autonomous-collaborators-that-are-incentivized-to-make/) [Joel Salatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-salatin/) > [The wealth of any ecosystem is its perennials. The primal herbivore-predator-disturbance-rest dance is literally the breath and pulse of the earth. Grasses recycle oxygen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-salatin/the-wealth-of-any-ecosystem-is-its-perennials-the-primal-herbivore/) [Joel Salatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-salatin/) > [From zoning to labor to food safety to insurance, local food systems daily face a phalanx of regulatory hurdles designed and implemented to police…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-salatin/from-zoning-to-labor-to-food-safety-to-insurance-local-food-systems/) [Joel Salatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-salatin/) > [On a grander scale, when a society segregates itself, the consequences affect the economy, the emotions, and the ecology. That's one reason why it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-salatin/on-a-grander-scale-when-a-society-segregates-itself-the-consequences/) [Joel Salatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-salatin/) > [When faith in our freedom gives way to fear of our freedom, silencing the minority view becomes the operative protocol.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-salatin/when-faith-in-our-freedom-gives-way-to-fear-of-our-freedom-silencing/) [Joel Salatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-salatin/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soil/joel-salatin/#itemlist", "name": "7 Soil Quotes By Joel Salatin", "numberOfItems": 7, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The wealth of any ecosystem is its perennials. The primal herbivore-predator-disturbance-rest dance is literally the breath and pulse of the earth. Grasses recycle oxygen far more efficiently than trees. The turnover is faster. Grass reaches out and turns solar energy into carbon. Tillage hyper-aerates the soil, burning out carbon. But because a plant creates bilateral symmetry at the soil horizon, it sloughs off root mass when the top gets chopped off.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joel Salatin" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-salatin/the-wealth-of-any-ecosystem-is-its-perennials-the-primal-herbivore/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/331/joel-salatin-3103_breaths_the-wealth-of-any-ecosystem-is-its-peren_198196.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/331/joel-salatin-3103_breaths_the-wealth-of-any-ecosystem-is-its-peren_198196.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/331/joel-salatin-3103_breaths_the-wealth-of-any-ecosystem-is-its-peren_198196.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The wealth of any ecosystem is its perennials. 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I have no desire to live anywhere else, but that doesn't mean I think everything we're doing should be done or can be maintained.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joel Salatin" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-salatin/ours-is-certainly-not-an-old-culture-yet-in-recent-decades-we-ve-used/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/568/joel-salatin-3103_bacteria_ours-is-certainly-not-an-old-culture-yet_421541.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/568/joel-salatin-3103_bacteria_ours-is-certainly-not-an-old-culture-yet_421541.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/568/joel-salatin-3103_bacteria_ours-is-certainly-not-an-old-culture-yet_421541.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Ours is certainly not an old culture. 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The soil gets harder and harder every year as the chemicals burn out the organic matter, which gives the soil its sponginess. One pound of organic matter holds four pounds of water. 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A farm is virtually a living organism. The tragedy of our time is that cultural philosophies and market realities are squeezing life's vitality out of most farms. And that is why the average farmer is now 60 years old. 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But why not grow soil? Does anything make more sense than growing soil? Isn't that more important than tractors, trucks, silos, barns, county fairs and country music? Of course it is. And yet to the lion's share of American farmers, the very notion of growing soil is just plain silly.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joel Salatin" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-salatin/it-s-as-if-the-whole-notion-of-growing-soil-is-something-only/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/306/joel-salatin-3103_barns_it-s-as-if-the-whole-notion-of-growing-s_2494854.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/306/joel-salatin-3103_barns_it-s-as-if-the-whole-notion-of-growing-s_2494854.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/306/joel-salatin-3103_barns_it-s-as-if-the-whole-notion-of-growing-s_2494854.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It's as if the whole notion of growing soil is something only lunatics would think about. 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