What do you think?
Rate this book
Sixty Harvests Left
'The warnings are coming thick and fast now and Lymbery's are clear, concise and truly frightening ... But we have solutions that we must implement now' Chris Packham'Philip Lymbery pulls no punches in cataloguing the calamitous mistakes we've made in our food system, but he has bold and inspiring solutions to offer, too' Hugh Fearnley-WhittingstallSixty Harvests Left not only reveals how industrial farming is ruining our soils but shows how we can adapt to restore the planet for a nature-friendly future.Taking its title from a chilling warning made by the United Nations that the world's soils could be lost within a lifetime, Sixty Harvests Left uncovers how the food industry is threatening the planet. Put simply, without soils there will be no game over. And time is running out.From the United Kingdom to Italy, from Brazil to the Gambia to the USA, Philip Lymbery, the internationally acclaimed author of Farmageddon , goes behind the scenes of industrial farming and confronts 'Big Agriculture', where mega-farms, chemicals and animal cages are sweeping the countryside and jeopardising the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat and the nature that we treasure.In his investigations, however, he also finds hope in the pioneers who are battling to bring landscapes back to life, who are rethinking farming methods, rediscovering traditional techniques and developing technologies to feed an ever-expanding global population.Impassioned, balanced and persuasive, Sixty Harvests Left not only demonstrates why future harvests matter more than ever, but reveals how we can restore our planet for a nature-friendly future.
Paperback
Published March 1, 2023
24 people are currently reading
506 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
March 6, 2025
I work in this field and was interested to see what popular non-fiction writing makes of it. I started over half a year ago and liked the beginning, but the episodic, anecdotal story telling is not working for me. The topics are interesting and relevant, the pacing and repetitive structure of the chapters made this very boring for me. Giving up after 156 pages. Maybe one of my colleagues might enjoy the glacial pace and formulaic writing more than I did, passing it on…
November 3, 2022
(This review was written for Writers Review: www.reviewsbywriters.blogspot.com)
"This is now our planet, run by humankind for humankind," David Attenborough has written, quoted by Philip Lymbery. "There is little left for the rest of the living world." Our food systems are part of that domination, and Lymbery outlines powerful reasons for transforming the way we farm, eat and live if we are to have a future at all.
Philip Lymbery is ideally-placed to write this important and timely investigation into the present and future of food and farming. As Chief Executive of Compassion in World Farming he has a wealth of knowledge and experience; he's travelled widely in his investigations, spoken at international conferences and written two previous books on different aspects of this subject: Farmageddon and Where the Wild Things Were (both of which are on my shelves).
His latest book is already receiving more attention than its predecessors - coinciding, as it does, with George Monbiot's equally important Regenesis, published earlier this year, and with a general rising of awareness of the links between food production and climate breakdown. It's not a message the majority of the public wants to hear, but for those willing to listen it's ever clearer that the planet can't sustain regular meat-eating in the affluent countries of the world: animal agriculture is responsible for 14.5-16% of global emissions and is a major driver of habitat destruction. And meat-eating is due to increase drastically as developing countries aspire to the excesses set by the US, UK and Australia. We have to make the connection between what's on our plates and the climate crisis that's all too evident. "I fear for those who will bear witness to the next ninety years, if we continue living as we are doing at present" - David Attenborough, quoted again.
Backed up by studies and references, Sixty Harvests Left could have been offputtingly dense, so it's a tribute to Philip Lymbery's skill that he makes it compellingly readable. The title is taken from a stark warning given in 2014 by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation that topsoil is being lost at such a rate that only 60 more harvests could remain, and both Lymbery and Monbiot stress the importance of soil structure and how its importance has been underestimated, the drive for increased productivity leading to overuse of fertiliser and the removal of trees and hedgerows. Lymbery's book illustrates this by opening with a vivid description of the American Dust Bowl of the 1930s, immortalised in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Although the impoverishment of the soil caused by over-ploughing and the destruction of native vegetation proved devastating, we don't seem to have learned from it. More intensive farming, higher yields and bigger output have been the goal for so long that the cost to ecosystems has barely been questioned. 'So much of our societal thinking is based around the economy,' Lymbery writes: leaders seem to imagine that infinite growth on a finite planet is somehow possible.
Industrial scale animal farming produces cheap meat but at a high environmental cost. "Factory farming is a cruel and wasteful process ... Animals reared in this way eat vast quantities of grain and waste most of its value in its conversion to meat. In this way, we waste crops enough to feed an extra 4 billion people." Lymbery doesn't dwell here on the cruelties of intensive farming but clearly that's another factor. "Long-hidden behind a veil of closed-door secrecy, misleading labelling and opaque government handouts, factory farming will come to be seen as the cruellest folly of our times. Like the slave trade, we will wonder how we let it happen."
There's hope, though, if we're prepared to adapt. Like Monbiot, Philip Lymbery enlarges on the possibilities of precision fermenting, which is being developed to produce what looks and tastes increasingly like meat and can provide protein for a fraction of the environmental cost. Yes, we'll have to get past public squeamishness at the notion (illogical though it is to feel revulsion at fermented protein while happily consuming slaughterhouse products); but this will surely be an important way to feed future populations. It's one of several solutions we need, another being regenerative farming, or agro-ecology. Lymbery visits farmers for whom sustainable land management means reintroducing wildlife, re-establishing native vegetation and treating the soil as the precious resource it is. For such farmers as Jake Fiennes in Norfolk, the presence of grazing animals is important, though they aren't viewed primarily as a source of meat. Sheep on Fiennes' farm are seen mainly as tramplers of the soil, providers of dung and lawnmowers for conservation grazing. Nature can respond, if given a chance.
Sixty Harvests Left is structured around the seasons, beginning in summer and ending in spring, each section introduced by Lymbery's reflections and observations on rural walks with his dog Duke (he wrote the book during lockdown). It's inspiring as well as informative - I'd say a must-read for anyone concerned about nature, animals and the future of food. But do we, and especially policy-makers, care enough to listen, and make the necessary shifts in behaviour?
"At the heart of sustainable change lies a recognition that all life on our planet is interconnected, and that our future depends on treating it with compassion and respect."
"This is now our planet, run by humankind for humankind," David Attenborough has written, quoted by Philip Lymbery. "There is little left for the rest of the living world." Our food systems are part of that domination, and Lymbery outlines powerful reasons for transforming the way we farm, eat and live if we are to have a future at all.
Philip Lymbery is ideally-placed to write this important and timely investigation into the present and future of food and farming. As Chief Executive of Compassion in World Farming he has a wealth of knowledge and experience; he's travelled widely in his investigations, spoken at international conferences and written two previous books on different aspects of this subject: Farmageddon and Where the Wild Things Were (both of which are on my shelves).
His latest book is already receiving more attention than its predecessors - coinciding, as it does, with George Monbiot's equally important Regenesis, published earlier this year, and with a general rising of awareness of the links between food production and climate breakdown. It's not a message the majority of the public wants to hear, but for those willing to listen it's ever clearer that the planet can't sustain regular meat-eating in the affluent countries of the world: animal agriculture is responsible for 14.5-16% of global emissions and is a major driver of habitat destruction. And meat-eating is due to increase drastically as developing countries aspire to the excesses set by the US, UK and Australia. We have to make the connection between what's on our plates and the climate crisis that's all too evident. "I fear for those who will bear witness to the next ninety years, if we continue living as we are doing at present" - David Attenborough, quoted again.
Backed up by studies and references, Sixty Harvests Left could have been offputtingly dense, so it's a tribute to Philip Lymbery's skill that he makes it compellingly readable. The title is taken from a stark warning given in 2014 by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation that topsoil is being lost at such a rate that only 60 more harvests could remain, and both Lymbery and Monbiot stress the importance of soil structure and how its importance has been underestimated, the drive for increased productivity leading to overuse of fertiliser and the removal of trees and hedgerows. Lymbery's book illustrates this by opening with a vivid description of the American Dust Bowl of the 1930s, immortalised in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Although the impoverishment of the soil caused by over-ploughing and the destruction of native vegetation proved devastating, we don't seem to have learned from it. More intensive farming, higher yields and bigger output have been the goal for so long that the cost to ecosystems has barely been questioned. 'So much of our societal thinking is based around the economy,' Lymbery writes: leaders seem to imagine that infinite growth on a finite planet is somehow possible.
Industrial scale animal farming produces cheap meat but at a high environmental cost. "Factory farming is a cruel and wasteful process ... Animals reared in this way eat vast quantities of grain and waste most of its value in its conversion to meat. In this way, we waste crops enough to feed an extra 4 billion people." Lymbery doesn't dwell here on the cruelties of intensive farming but clearly that's another factor. "Long-hidden behind a veil of closed-door secrecy, misleading labelling and opaque government handouts, factory farming will come to be seen as the cruellest folly of our times. Like the slave trade, we will wonder how we let it happen."
There's hope, though, if we're prepared to adapt. Like Monbiot, Philip Lymbery enlarges on the possibilities of precision fermenting, which is being developed to produce what looks and tastes increasingly like meat and can provide protein for a fraction of the environmental cost. Yes, we'll have to get past public squeamishness at the notion (illogical though it is to feel revulsion at fermented protein while happily consuming slaughterhouse products); but this will surely be an important way to feed future populations. It's one of several solutions we need, another being regenerative farming, or agro-ecology. Lymbery visits farmers for whom sustainable land management means reintroducing wildlife, re-establishing native vegetation and treating the soil as the precious resource it is. For such farmers as Jake Fiennes in Norfolk, the presence of grazing animals is important, though they aren't viewed primarily as a source of meat. Sheep on Fiennes' farm are seen mainly as tramplers of the soil, providers of dung and lawnmowers for conservation grazing. Nature can respond, if given a chance.
Sixty Harvests Left is structured around the seasons, beginning in summer and ending in spring, each section introduced by Lymbery's reflections and observations on rural walks with his dog Duke (he wrote the book during lockdown). It's inspiring as well as informative - I'd say a must-read for anyone concerned about nature, animals and the future of food. But do we, and especially policy-makers, care enough to listen, and make the necessary shifts in behaviour?
"At the heart of sustainable change lies a recognition that all life on our planet is interconnected, and that our future depends on treating it with compassion and respect."
March 13, 2024
Very convincing. On certain issues, Philip Lymbery turned me from mildly negative to totally positive. This does not happen so easily with me...
June 29, 2024
This book is thorough, very well researched and cited, and provides a good balance of dire prediction and hopeful solutions. However, I feel that the scope of the book is overly broad, while still leaving out important discussions. The topic of the book is our declining potential to provide food for the global population, but there is very little discussion of nutrient cycles, and I don't recall any discussion of the phosphorus shortage. There are some good discussions about soil and organic matter, but then there are long digressions into the other problems with factory farming, such as animal cruelty and emissions. No doubt, those are important, but that is a different book than the one described by the title and the summary. It kind of felt like the author relied too much on their broader knowledge of factory farming, and they skimped on research into soil and nutrient cycling. I was also not fond of the discussion of tech-focused solutions such as cultured meat. It felt like the author was enamored with tech bro-led startups that are great at promising their expensive new solution will save the world, but in reality we already have all the technology we need to solve this problem. What we lack is humility on the part of world leaders and a willingness of the world's wealthy to admit that they are taking more than their fair share. As a whole, I think the book is a good contribution to the literature on climate change and agriculture. But sadly I was disappointed that it didn't quite live up to what I was hoping for.
July 10, 2025
Leider dreht sich Lymbery immer wieder im Kreis. Einen roten Faden lässt das Buch ebenfalls vermissen.
Trotzdem bleibt es ein eindringlicher Weckruf, gefüttert mit Fakten und Anekdoten.
Trotzdem bleibt es ein eindringlicher Weckruf, gefüttert mit Fakten und Anekdoten.
February 21, 2024
Though the message of this book is urgent and serious, Phillip Lymbery’s style of writing actually managed to make it an easy and enjoyable read. Spanning various continents he shows us the consequences of our global food production systems and I found the historical accounts such as the great dust storms really interesting.
This book shows how our current system of factory farming is inefficient and wasteful and after reading this book I am shocked that such a system persists.
There are no benefits to our current system apart from it makes some people a lot of money. But because of the inefficiencies, suffering and destruction of nature that it causes we cannot let business carry on as usual.
We learn about the importance of healthy soil and how it can be preserved and regenerated. This book is really hopeful as it focuses on innovative methods of food production and we meet practitioners of regenerative farming.
I think anyone and everyone ought to read this book. Buy a copy and pass it on!
This book shows how our current system of factory farming is inefficient and wasteful and after reading this book I am shocked that such a system persists.
There are no benefits to our current system apart from it makes some people a lot of money. But because of the inefficiencies, suffering and destruction of nature that it causes we cannot let business carry on as usual.
We learn about the importance of healthy soil and how it can be preserved and regenerated. This book is really hopeful as it focuses on innovative methods of food production and we meet practitioners of regenerative farming.
I think anyone and everyone ought to read this book. Buy a copy and pass it on!
August 30, 2022
Thoroughly engaging, very well researched & thought provoking.
I hope the people that need to implement systematic changes read this book & stop selfishly thinking only of themselves. We need to make changes now, not put it off for future generations to worry about.
This book should be compulsory reading in schools because it is that generation and their children that will suffer if the world doesn’t change. Maybe that generation can talk some sense to the policy changers.
I hope the people that need to implement systematic changes read this book & stop selfishly thinking only of themselves. We need to make changes now, not put it off for future generations to worry about.
This book should be compulsory reading in schools because it is that generation and their children that will suffer if the world doesn’t change. Maybe that generation can talk some sense to the policy changers.
September 11, 2023
Essential reading for anyone who cares about our future. Although frightening about how fast we have damaged our planet and how little time there is before it is too late, Lymbery also offers hope and answers to what can be done and has found those who are making changes. We just need everyone to be on this path.
September 7, 2022
Excellent treatment of a tricky subject. Right mix of alarm and optimism, and the right amount of open-mindedness. Thoroughly recommended.
April 8, 2023
I like this book so much I have written one more extensive review, which can be found in ECOS (https://www.ecos.org.uk/book-review-s...).
In summary, in this the third in a trilogy following on from Dead Zone (2017) and Farmageddon (2014), Philip Lymbery examines the reasons behind the increasing loss of soil, detailing its historical antecedents (Libya and the American mid-west dustbowl of the 1930s) and current trajectories. In the east of England fens we are losing one inch of soil per year, and, globally, such trends may result in only 5 per cent of farmland being left by the 2050s.
Who is responsible? In a sense we all are, or those of us who eat cheap factory farmed meat. But Lymbery aims his fire mainly at ‘Big Ag,’ whose crimes – and they are crimes – include appalling animal welfare, dislocation of local economies, erasion of wild habitats, and being a major driver behind climate change.
While Lymbery’s diagnosis is simple, his remedies are many fold, centring perhaps on releasing farm animals from factories and returning them to the fields, a drastic reduction in meat consumption overall, and welcoming a food revolution which will, in time, eliminate the demand for factory farmed meat by cost efficiencies and behavioural changes.
Lymbery possess that rare gift of being able to combine his obvious passion with a meticulously researched and well-argued book, the outcome being that his is an authoritative voice we should trust implicitly. I cannot praise Sixty Harvests Left too highly, and urge everyone get hold of a copy. Readers will never see the food on their plate in quite the same way again.
In summary, in this the third in a trilogy following on from Dead Zone (2017) and Farmageddon (2014), Philip Lymbery examines the reasons behind the increasing loss of soil, detailing its historical antecedents (Libya and the American mid-west dustbowl of the 1930s) and current trajectories. In the east of England fens we are losing one inch of soil per year, and, globally, such trends may result in only 5 per cent of farmland being left by the 2050s.
Who is responsible? In a sense we all are, or those of us who eat cheap factory farmed meat. But Lymbery aims his fire mainly at ‘Big Ag,’ whose crimes – and they are crimes – include appalling animal welfare, dislocation of local economies, erasion of wild habitats, and being a major driver behind climate change.
While Lymbery’s diagnosis is simple, his remedies are many fold, centring perhaps on releasing farm animals from factories and returning them to the fields, a drastic reduction in meat consumption overall, and welcoming a food revolution which will, in time, eliminate the demand for factory farmed meat by cost efficiencies and behavioural changes.
Lymbery possess that rare gift of being able to combine his obvious passion with a meticulously researched and well-argued book, the outcome being that his is an authoritative voice we should trust implicitly. I cannot praise Sixty Harvests Left too highly, and urge everyone get hold of a copy. Readers will never see the food on their plate in quite the same way again.
June 25, 2025
As it is the book gives a very important message - if we don’t stop the way we are farming nowadays, with a single monoculture and tons of pesticides and herbicides, our soil is likely to be depleted in sixty years. Far from just outlining the problem he also gives a solution - going back to the old ways of crop rotation and always covering grass to prevent soil erosion.
Other key takeaways:
• Serengeti rotational model - large ruminants, small ruminants, chicken.
• Done well, soil can capture co2, but depleting soil releases it
• Similarly, animals produce much less co2 if allowed to roam freely
• Fish farming - salmon are carnivorous and require five to one fish to salmon ratio
• Meat farming intensively takes a lot of feed that might have been otherwise used to feed people / not deplete soil.
Giving it a four because of some final chapters - the book might have been much better if those were shortened - author keeps on repeating the same points in those chapters that gets a little boring.
Other key takeaways:
• Serengeti rotational model - large ruminants, small ruminants, chicken.
• Done well, soil can capture co2, but depleting soil releases it
• Similarly, animals produce much less co2 if allowed to roam freely
• Fish farming - salmon are carnivorous and require five to one fish to salmon ratio
• Meat farming intensively takes a lot of feed that might have been otherwise used to feed people / not deplete soil.
Giving it a four because of some final chapters - the book might have been much better if those were shortened - author keeps on repeating the same points in those chapters that gets a little boring.
October 16, 2023
Had big hopes for this book as I greatly appreciate the author and his work at Compassion in World Farming.
Truly disappointed. This book took me forever to finish and felt unstructured from the beginning. The writing format and the redundancy of this book made it look like a mash-up of short essays rather than a well constructed ''storyline''. Considering the great knowledge of the author I am truly surprised with how this book was written and edited.
I do not recommend it and would suggest one reads some of Michael Pollan's work and the like.
Truly disappointed. This book took me forever to finish and felt unstructured from the beginning. The writing format and the redundancy of this book made it look like a mash-up of short essays rather than a well constructed ''storyline''. Considering the great knowledge of the author I am truly surprised with how this book was written and edited.
I do not recommend it and would suggest one reads some of Michael Pollan's work and the like.
February 19, 2024
This author makes an important otherwise possibly boring topic that is very complex, layered, and nuanced easy to digest and read. I learned a lot from this book and have already thought about the changes I will make in my life when it comes to my eating habits and companies I support. I think this is an important topic that everyone should learn more about so they can make informed decisions about where and what foods they buy. This book is fun, informative, sad, hopeful, just overall good and encourages self reflection.
December 10, 2022
Such an important subject and well explained. Industrialised farming has caused so much damage to the climate, animal welfare, wildlife, and his most featured point: soil. Everything is sustained by healthy soil, which is a finite resource if we continue as we are. Unless we farm regeneratively our soils will become completely depleted of organic matter and be useless for feeding the world and supporting our diminishing wildlife.
July 5, 2023
Powerfully argued case for changing the way we farm, to reduce animal cruelty and the terrible environmental impacts of intensive animal agriculture. Marked down a star for being a little repetitive and for not fully exploring the benefits of going completely meat-free and the problems with a "less but better meat" argument - should meat really only be for the super rich?
I'm also not a fan of the alarmist title; it doesn't help the argument and will no-doubt not come to pass.
I'm also not a fan of the alarmist title; it doesn't help the argument and will no-doubt not come to pass.
October 13, 2025
Asia on tärkeä ja kiireellinen, mutta tämä kirja, 60 satoa jäljellä on kirjoitettu niin, että se on kuitenkin helppoa ja mukavaa luettavaa. (Tuntuu vähän pahalta sanoa niin. Mutta niin sen koin.)
Philip Lymbery osaa esittä järkyttävätkin asiat mukaansa tempaavasti. Ja tekee mieli saada lisää tietoa, tutustua kaikkeen vielä syvemmin. Ja jos kirja tekee sen, niin mielestäni se on silloin onnistunut tehtävässään.
Philip Lymbery osaa esittä järkyttävätkin asiat mukaansa tempaavasti. Ja tekee mieli saada lisää tietoa, tutustua kaikkeen vielä syvemmin. Ja jos kirja tekee sen, niin mielestäni se on silloin onnistunut tehtävässään.
November 27, 2022
Warning: Sixty Harvests Left will make you feel ALL THE EMOTIONS.
This is a much needed book, full of fascinating individual stories and well researched statistics.
(I only gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because sometimes I felt the style wasn't quite natural)
Off to check out Compassion in World Farming now, as well as Lymbery's previous two books.
This is a much needed book, full of fascinating individual stories and well researched statistics.
(I only gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because sometimes I felt the style wasn't quite natural)
Off to check out Compassion in World Farming now, as well as Lymbery's previous two books.
October 10, 2023
I don’t disagree with overarching argument of this book . But it suffers from cherry picking and a lack of nuance .
There is lots of studies which show that many of the methods suggested don’t work as well as we would like to believe. These are just ignored in favour of quotes and obscure references which drive home the narrative .
There is lots of studies which show that many of the methods suggested don’t work as well as we would like to believe. These are just ignored in favour of quotes and obscure references which drive home the narrative .
July 6, 2025
Mielenkiintoinen, joskin aika toisteinen ja jaaritteleva, kirja ruuantuotannosta. Kirjailija näkee tarpeen maatalouden muutokselle, jossa tehotuotannosta siirryttäisiin kohti maaperää ennallistavaa kiertoviljelyä. Tämä vaatisi hänen mielestään viljelymenetelmien muutosta, lihansyönnin vähentämistä ja lihaa korvaavien tuotteiden kehittämistä.
September 3, 2022
Really important book. Contains hope for the future. if only the ideas in the book are listened to and acted on. All politicians and farmers should read this book.
April 2, 2023
Eye opening but calm and positive. Backed with science and valuable things we need to know.
July 8, 2023
lowkey doesnt tell you whats not already obvious: eat more plants
January 4, 2024
eye-opening but such a grim outlook and not a glimmer of hope for us all
November 22, 2024
fascinating in a scary way
July 15, 2023
A magnificent insight into an under-documented aspect of our climate emergency. I haven't learned so much from 300 pages in a long time. From debunking common consenses such as the majority of Amazonian deforestation owing to acquiring land for crops instead of lumber extraction, to offering well researched and promising solutions for the future. Whilst climate content can be difficult to consume as it makes for harrowing reading, I felt inspired after reading this book and certainly it has informed my studies as an architecture student, and I look forward to implementing its teachings into my dissertation.
January 23, 2025
This is probably the most thought-provoking book I read in 2024. I understand the logic and have been uncomfortable with factory farms for a while. Lymbery makes an effective case for changing behavior, weening ourselves off eating meat every day, only growing food for human consumption, letting animals eat grass. All that being said, I am skeptical that the world will adopt this approach until it is economically necessary.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews