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Deeply Rooted: Unconventional Farmers in the Age of Agribusiness
A century of industrialization has left our food system riddled with problems, yet for solutions we look away from the land — to nutritionists and government agencies, scientists and chefs. In a groundbreaking departure, Deeply Rooted finds answers by looking to the people who actually grow our food.
Hamilton makes this vital inquiry through the stories of three unconventional Harry Lewis, an African-American dairyman in Texas who plays David to the Goliath of agribusiness corporations; Virgil Trujillo, a tenth-generation rancher in New Mexico struggling to restore agriculture as a pillar of his community; and the Podolls, a modern pioneer family in North Dakota breeding new varieties of plants to face the future’s double global warming and biotech food.
Together, these remarkable characters and their surprising stories make the case that in order to correct what has gone wrong with the food system, we must first bring farmers back to the table.
Hamilton makes this vital inquiry through the stories of three unconventional Harry Lewis, an African-American dairyman in Texas who plays David to the Goliath of agribusiness corporations; Virgil Trujillo, a tenth-generation rancher in New Mexico struggling to restore agriculture as a pillar of his community; and the Podolls, a modern pioneer family in North Dakota breeding new varieties of plants to face the future’s double global warming and biotech food.
Together, these remarkable characters and their surprising stories make the case that in order to correct what has gone wrong with the food system, we must first bring farmers back to the table.
320 pages, Paperback
First published March 25, 2009
14 people are currently reading
1211 people want to read
About the author
Lisa M. Hamilton
4 books18 followersFor more than ten years, writer and photographer Lisa M. Hamilton has been telling stories of farmers in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Her work has been published in National Geographic Traveler, Harper's Magazine, The Nation, Orion, and Gastronomica. She lives in Northern California."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
March 13, 2010
Beautifully written. I think it's worth picking up for the craftsmanship alone. But it's also a fascinating, clear-eyed and yet emotional look at how farming has changed in the United States, and how some family farms are still trying to find a place within this new landscape.
Hamilton takes us to meet a dairy farmer who believes that letting his cows out to pasture is not just an environmental good, but a spiritual necessity. We meet a New Mexico rancher struggling to preserve his family tradition of stewardship of the land. And we meet a family of organic farmers, cheerfully living by their own standards amidst a community that is hostile to their ideas -- even as agribusiness backs the town and neighborhing farmers into an ever-tightening corner.
I rooted for these people, and wished that the current farming landscape were an easier place for them to succeed. Larger food producers with different priorities are often just doing what they must to survive. But Hamilton's subjects show that there is another way. Maybe it is time to start considering our options.
Hamilton takes us to meet a dairy farmer who believes that letting his cows out to pasture is not just an environmental good, but a spiritual necessity. We meet a New Mexico rancher struggling to preserve his family tradition of stewardship of the land. And we meet a family of organic farmers, cheerfully living by their own standards amidst a community that is hostile to their ideas -- even as agribusiness backs the town and neighborhing farmers into an ever-tightening corner.
I rooted for these people, and wished that the current farming landscape were an easier place for them to succeed. Larger food producers with different priorities are often just doing what they must to survive. But Hamilton's subjects show that there is another way. Maybe it is time to start considering our options.
December 5, 2021
The kind of book where you read each sentence really slowly to fully appreciate it.
November 15, 2023
Makes me wanna garden and produce my own food
June 16, 2024
A MARVELOUS PORTRAIT OF “TRADITIONAL” FARMERS AND RANCHERS
Writer and photographer Lisa M. Hamilton wrote in the Introduction to this 2009 book, “emptiness is what we’ve come to expect of farm towns… We know that things used to be different---that in 1950 there were 162 people living in [towns like Balfour]; that six days a week there were farmers in those fields and that on Sunday mornings the church was so full that the building didn’t seem oversized at all. But we also know that those days are gone… with industrialization and consolidation and combines navigated by GPS, agriculture doesn’t really need people anymore---at least not like it used to… humans have become mere inputs, useful only when applied efficiently in relation to the outputs they create. Of all these people once filling the church … conventional agriculture needs only the handful in the front row. The rest are fat to be trimmed.” (Pg. 3)
But she continues, “As a person who writes about agriculture, I spend a fair amount of time in places that have grown quiet over the past fifty years… [But] what happens is not dull. What happens if we talk. Or, typically, they talk… ‘They’ are farmers and ranchers… that select few who remain in conventional agriculture… As they see it, agriculture is not an industry on the periphery of modern civilization. It is a fundamental act that determines whether we as a society will live or die. What binds these people together is … the conviction that as humans, the contributions they make are essential… this book is about… the faithful, the ones who believe… that what they are doing is worth it---it is vital… they do not just fade away… ‘To hell with what you’ve decided is convention, they say. We are unconventional farmers.’” (Pg. 3-5)
She interviews a black farmer named Harry, and reports, “The value Harry holds highest… is that of fairness and equality---in the most literal, fundamental application of the words… every person should have the same fair chance to make that life as good as he or she can… As he sees it, the only true hierarchy is between God and man. ‘After that,’ he says, ‘we all even-steven.’ … At the end of our conversation, he told me something he had learned from his father, a dairyman before him… ‘I learned from him that you worked not to be rich… but to be free.’” (Pg. 13-14) When young, Harry dropped out of college, “then went to the streets, did drugs, hung out, all for too long… eventually he came to appreciate what he had left behind. At thirty-four, he moved home… I asked him once if he moved home to save the farm and he told me no. He moved back because he needed to be saved, and only the farm could do it.” (Pg. 30-31)
She explains, “given the choice, most people would choose the milk from the cow that is on green grass. It’s a major part of what people think when they pay a premium for organic milk. It is true that the USDA mandates that milk certified as organic come from cows that have access to pasture, but… that’s as specific as they have chosen to be… some dairies … have found loopholes large enough to slide in their multi-thousand-cow herds, for which the only thing they have resembling pasture is a lawn in front of the company’s office. Farmers and consumers who believe in cows on green grass have campaigned for the USDA to more concretely define the pasture requirement….” (Pg. 42-43)
She observes, “Of course dairies were growing throughout the country---it was part of the evolution of agriculture… These new operations in Southern California changed the scale of dairy farming by building a system that had no natural limits. The first step was to cease running a whole farm, and instead specialize solely in housing, feeding, and milking cows… If they needed more humans, they hired them. Having transcended the family scale, limitation was merely a matter of money.” (Pg. 54-55)
Of the one thousand farmers who made up a cooperative, she records, “They spoke about the good times, of doing chores with their kids before school in the morning and of lying on the grass with their cows in the evening. They spoke about the bad times, of groveling with bankers and watching their neighbors sell out and waking up each morning at four o’clock only to work sixteen hours and wonder the whole time ‘Why the hell am I still doing this?’” (Pg. 78-79)
She points out about the co-op: “The greatest benefit of the system they’ve created is … In the conventional system, farmers have no idea what they’ll be paid from month to month… prices can fall so fast it makes their stomachs drop… [In the co-op] farmers collectively set their own prices in the beginning of the year, according to what they need to make a decent living… If there is a profit at the end of the year, it’s divided into a bonus they all share.” (Pg. 81-82)
She says of a 1962 report written by “an influential group of businessmen and educators,” that sought to solve “the farm problem”—too many farmers. “The report recommended the ‘retraining and movement’ of two million of the nation’s five and a half million farmers.’ Farmers were outraged… The world went on, predictably, inevitably. And yet so, too, did the farmers. Despite what could be called either attrition or extinction, many farmers continued to believe deeply that they were the indispensable heart of American society.” (Pg. 95-96)
Virgil, the “range manager of the land grant… isn’t envisioning a return to subsistence farming. It’s about the deeper rewards the land offers: Independence. Purpose. Community. The notion is so clear to him he can’t believe no one else seems to feel this way… Meaning, at least you have a home, a place to call your own.” (Pg. 161-162)
She notes, “Farmers and ranchers are now less than 1 percent of the population… So deeply are they in the minority that their concerns and priorities rarely make it to the table… the general public usually hears from agriculture only when there’s a controversy; more often than not, the farmer/rancher is the bad guy.” (Pg. 185) She explains, “In order to survive, the farms that grow the crops are forced to expand. Because there is only so much arable land, that expansion requires a certain cannibalism within the community; either you buy out your neighbor’s form or he buys out yours… since 1950, farms have doubled in size and the number of farmers has been cut in half.” (Pg. 215)
She recounts, “When [David] converted to organic farming he didn’t know what he was doing, nor was there anyone around to help him… Things have changed since those early days. Organic food has become mainstream and organic farming methods have been proven in many people’s eyes. Agribusiness has replaced its bullying with a strategy of disdain and dismissal rooted in the certainty that organic farming cannot feed the world the way it does.” (Pg. 226) “As David saw it, his neighbors’… need to grow trumped preexisting values like community and cooperation. The only way to get more land was to take it from someone. Covetousness, once a sin, became a survival skill.” (Pg. 232)
She says of a local diner called Wanda’s, “There is a Wanda’s in every small town … that’s big enough to have a restaurant… it’s not a chain… the place fees personal, intimate in a way that McDonald’s is not… The food is important… but what matters most is the experience. People are hungry for authenticity.” (Pg. 258)
This is a wonderful, heartfelt book, that will be “must reading” for anyone interested in small farmers/ranchers, and organic farming.
Writer and photographer Lisa M. Hamilton wrote in the Introduction to this 2009 book, “emptiness is what we’ve come to expect of farm towns… We know that things used to be different---that in 1950 there were 162 people living in [towns like Balfour]; that six days a week there were farmers in those fields and that on Sunday mornings the church was so full that the building didn’t seem oversized at all. But we also know that those days are gone… with industrialization and consolidation and combines navigated by GPS, agriculture doesn’t really need people anymore---at least not like it used to… humans have become mere inputs, useful only when applied efficiently in relation to the outputs they create. Of all these people once filling the church … conventional agriculture needs only the handful in the front row. The rest are fat to be trimmed.” (Pg. 3)
But she continues, “As a person who writes about agriculture, I spend a fair amount of time in places that have grown quiet over the past fifty years… [But] what happens is not dull. What happens if we talk. Or, typically, they talk… ‘They’ are farmers and ranchers… that select few who remain in conventional agriculture… As they see it, agriculture is not an industry on the periphery of modern civilization. It is a fundamental act that determines whether we as a society will live or die. What binds these people together is … the conviction that as humans, the contributions they make are essential… this book is about… the faithful, the ones who believe… that what they are doing is worth it---it is vital… they do not just fade away… ‘To hell with what you’ve decided is convention, they say. We are unconventional farmers.’” (Pg. 3-5)
She interviews a black farmer named Harry, and reports, “The value Harry holds highest… is that of fairness and equality---in the most literal, fundamental application of the words… every person should have the same fair chance to make that life as good as he or she can… As he sees it, the only true hierarchy is between God and man. ‘After that,’ he says, ‘we all even-steven.’ … At the end of our conversation, he told me something he had learned from his father, a dairyman before him… ‘I learned from him that you worked not to be rich… but to be free.’” (Pg. 13-14) When young, Harry dropped out of college, “then went to the streets, did drugs, hung out, all for too long… eventually he came to appreciate what he had left behind. At thirty-four, he moved home… I asked him once if he moved home to save the farm and he told me no. He moved back because he needed to be saved, and only the farm could do it.” (Pg. 30-31)
She explains, “given the choice, most people would choose the milk from the cow that is on green grass. It’s a major part of what people think when they pay a premium for organic milk. It is true that the USDA mandates that milk certified as organic come from cows that have access to pasture, but… that’s as specific as they have chosen to be… some dairies … have found loopholes large enough to slide in their multi-thousand-cow herds, for which the only thing they have resembling pasture is a lawn in front of the company’s office. Farmers and consumers who believe in cows on green grass have campaigned for the USDA to more concretely define the pasture requirement….” (Pg. 42-43)
She observes, “Of course dairies were growing throughout the country---it was part of the evolution of agriculture… These new operations in Southern California changed the scale of dairy farming by building a system that had no natural limits. The first step was to cease running a whole farm, and instead specialize solely in housing, feeding, and milking cows… If they needed more humans, they hired them. Having transcended the family scale, limitation was merely a matter of money.” (Pg. 54-55)
Of the one thousand farmers who made up a cooperative, she records, “They spoke about the good times, of doing chores with their kids before school in the morning and of lying on the grass with their cows in the evening. They spoke about the bad times, of groveling with bankers and watching their neighbors sell out and waking up each morning at four o’clock only to work sixteen hours and wonder the whole time ‘Why the hell am I still doing this?’” (Pg. 78-79)
She points out about the co-op: “The greatest benefit of the system they’ve created is … In the conventional system, farmers have no idea what they’ll be paid from month to month… prices can fall so fast it makes their stomachs drop… [In the co-op] farmers collectively set their own prices in the beginning of the year, according to what they need to make a decent living… If there is a profit at the end of the year, it’s divided into a bonus they all share.” (Pg. 81-82)
She says of a 1962 report written by “an influential group of businessmen and educators,” that sought to solve “the farm problem”—too many farmers. “The report recommended the ‘retraining and movement’ of two million of the nation’s five and a half million farmers.’ Farmers were outraged… The world went on, predictably, inevitably. And yet so, too, did the farmers. Despite what could be called either attrition or extinction, many farmers continued to believe deeply that they were the indispensable heart of American society.” (Pg. 95-96)
Virgil, the “range manager of the land grant… isn’t envisioning a return to subsistence farming. It’s about the deeper rewards the land offers: Independence. Purpose. Community. The notion is so clear to him he can’t believe no one else seems to feel this way… Meaning, at least you have a home, a place to call your own.” (Pg. 161-162)
She notes, “Farmers and ranchers are now less than 1 percent of the population… So deeply are they in the minority that their concerns and priorities rarely make it to the table… the general public usually hears from agriculture only when there’s a controversy; more often than not, the farmer/rancher is the bad guy.” (Pg. 185) She explains, “In order to survive, the farms that grow the crops are forced to expand. Because there is only so much arable land, that expansion requires a certain cannibalism within the community; either you buy out your neighbor’s form or he buys out yours… since 1950, farms have doubled in size and the number of farmers has been cut in half.” (Pg. 215)
She recounts, “When [David] converted to organic farming he didn’t know what he was doing, nor was there anyone around to help him… Things have changed since those early days. Organic food has become mainstream and organic farming methods have been proven in many people’s eyes. Agribusiness has replaced its bullying with a strategy of disdain and dismissal rooted in the certainty that organic farming cannot feed the world the way it does.” (Pg. 226) “As David saw it, his neighbors’… need to grow trumped preexisting values like community and cooperation. The only way to get more land was to take it from someone. Covetousness, once a sin, became a survival skill.” (Pg. 232)
She says of a local diner called Wanda’s, “There is a Wanda’s in every small town … that’s big enough to have a restaurant… it’s not a chain… the place fees personal, intimate in a way that McDonald’s is not… The food is important… but what matters most is the experience. People are hungry for authenticity.” (Pg. 258)
This is a wonderful, heartfelt book, that will be “must reading” for anyone interested in small farmers/ranchers, and organic farming.
November 2, 2009
Three cheers for this superb book, which combines close-up portraiture with first-rate reportage. Presenting the nearly heroic--no, not nearly, just heroic--struggles of three small farmers (an African-American dairy farmer in Texas, a Hispanic cattle rancher in New Mexico, and two families preaching and living the organic life in North Dakota) to swim against the tide of big-farm agribusiness, the book manages to be both intimate in its descriptions and sweeping in its subject matter. I learned a lot about modern agriculture, and a little about not-so-modern agriculture; for example, did you know that most dairy farming in the US takes place not on those picturesque, green-hilled pastures of Wisconsin or Vermont, but on mega-ranches in the bone-dry deserts of New Mexico and Texas? (That's because most dairy cows no longer graze, and dry conditions reduce the likelihood of disease.) Hamilton is clearly sympathetic to her subjects and their possibly quixotic fights, and this book shows how very necessary those fights are. It's worth adding that Hamilton, a sometime contributor to Harper's, writes beautifully, letting the story carry the cause and never letting polemic overwhelm the book.
July 16, 2012
Maybe not as hard-hitting as "Omnivore's Dilemma," "Fast Food Nation," or "Eating Animals"; but, this was still an interesting read. I felt a little like some of the more artistic flourishes presented in some of the passages seemed a little out of place.
There are three stories in the book: those of a dairy farmer, a rancher, and a organic farmer. My aunt gave me this book because we share an interest in the importance of food and how it's grown and because the organic farmer lives in her small, North Dakota farming community. I found his story to be the most interesting. It discusses the importance of heritage farming and the balance of nature when it comes to producing food.
As with just about any book dealing with the topic of food production in the modern age, I recommend it. We're far too ignorant and apathetic a people when it comes to what we eat. Reading more about it is an important step.
There are three stories in the book: those of a dairy farmer, a rancher, and a organic farmer. My aunt gave me this book because we share an interest in the importance of food and how it's grown and because the organic farmer lives in her small, North Dakota farming community. I found his story to be the most interesting. It discusses the importance of heritage farming and the balance of nature when it comes to producing food.
As with just about any book dealing with the topic of food production in the modern age, I recommend it. We're far too ignorant and apathetic a people when it comes to what we eat. Reading more about it is an important step.
October 31, 2010
This is the story of 3 different farmers. Each of them very different in their focus, methodology and region, but all of them with the same basic principles of loving the land and the food it produces.
If you enjoyed The Omnivore's Dilemma, this should go next on your to be read pile. Now that you know why you should support local farms that grow food sustainably, and now that you know why that food is better for you than a box of something off the grocery store shelf, this book can help you dig in a little further. You'll learn more about the local economies that buying local food supports. You'll learn more about dairy farming and ranching and how new varieties of vegetables can be created without splicing genomes.
Told in an engaging and interesting way, you really care for the people who are making these sustainable food practices a reality. A highly recommended book.
If you enjoyed The Omnivore's Dilemma, this should go next on your to be read pile. Now that you know why you should support local farms that grow food sustainably, and now that you know why that food is better for you than a box of something off the grocery store shelf, this book can help you dig in a little further. You'll learn more about the local economies that buying local food supports. You'll learn more about dairy farming and ranching and how new varieties of vegetables can be created without splicing genomes.
Told in an engaging and interesting way, you really care for the people who are making these sustainable food practices a reality. A highly recommended book.
January 3, 2011
Readable and interesting, but the purpose of the book was vague. It describes three farmers from three industries (dairy, beef, seeds) and how their lives and attitudes are different from most farmers in their industry. The weakest chapter was the one on beef, as what made the rancher distinctive was not his farming style, and also his life was closely tied to some slightly confusing history of Native American land rights. The book would've held together better and felt more purposeful if she'd been looking for a clearer ethical mission amongst the farmers. The dairy and vegetable farmers were organic family operations, but sometimes it felt more like the author just wanted to showcase their personalities and daily lives rather than the merits of their work.
June 18, 2011
I found this book difficult to read at times, and found myself putting it dow for several days at a time. Overall, I think it was well-written, and it reveals to us facts that most of us have forgotten or perhaps never knew. Yet, I found it depressing. The book features three different farmers/ranchers, and gives excellent insight into how agribusiness came to be and why it persists. What I found hopeful in the book was how there are those out there working the land who have held onto (or rediscovered?) wisdom, and are taking a strong stance to stay true to what's best long-term.
July 24, 2012
This was an interesting biography/travel type of book about farmers avoiding the agribusiness trend. It didn't provide as much analysis as I had expected, but that may have been for the best since there are plenty of books providing that kind of analysis without the in-depth examples.
This probably would be 3.5 stars if I had that option.
This probably would be 3.5 stars if I had that option.
October 9, 2025
This book was written nearly twenty years ago but parts of it could have been written yesterday. My only problem with this book is that is it three magazine articles expanded into book length by repetition and addition of extraneous details. Hamilton visits a Sulphure Springs, Texas dairyman who has a very small herd that he raises sustainably. She travels to Abiquiu, New Mexico to meet with a ranch manager for a large company who also has his own small herd of cattle. Finally, she goes to La Moure, North Dakota to learn about organic farming in the land of huge fields of wheat and corn. In each place, she finds the same problem. The food Americans eat is produced on a massive scale, based on plants and animals that must be identical for efficiency in harvesting and processing. Or as the author writes, “Machines were not made to harvest crops, in reality, crops must be designed to be harvested by machine.”
All the corn plants must mature at the same time and all the plants must be at the very same height. Uniformity means greater efficiency and predictability. So every farmer buys the genetically modified seed that produces the corn that processors accept. The same is true for the milk producers and meat producers. The people who process the raw materials (milk, carcasses) call the shots. A small farmer is expected to meet the same standards as industrial agriculture or no one will buy their products, or they will be forced into “take it or leave it “ situations.
Even though the book is overlong, it is an excellent discussion of the American food industry.
All the corn plants must mature at the same time and all the plants must be at the very same height. Uniformity means greater efficiency and predictability. So every farmer buys the genetically modified seed that produces the corn that processors accept. The same is true for the milk producers and meat producers. The people who process the raw materials (milk, carcasses) call the shots. A small farmer is expected to meet the same standards as industrial agriculture or no one will buy their products, or they will be forced into “take it or leave it “ situations.
Even though the book is overlong, it is an excellent discussion of the American food industry.
March 14, 2019
Beautifully written and well researched. This book tells the stories of three different farmers. Heartbreaking at times, the author does a great job illustrating the passion that each farmer feels for their work.
June 24, 2017
I have an unconventional taste in books, I can admit that. But I'm a gardener, and a farm is really just a big garden . . . right?
January 1, 2020
Really well written and very thought provoking.
April 24, 2020
The first two sections especially were much more about the farmers than the way that they farm, which was't exactly what I was expecting. Did enjoy it though, particularly the last section.
February 1, 2010
I enojyed this book and how 3 families are working to produce a product to fit their niche markets. However, I disagree that they are working outside the confines of traditional agriculture. I think this is the heart of traditional agriculture. These families are all producing a commodity consistent with what the believe is right based on their values and for a specific sector of the population who wants what they produce. Big or small agriculture is doing the same, trying to stay afloat as the minority population who is feeding the nation and the world. I think the message is bigger and would like to have read the same stories with some economics of scale included. I think it is wonderful that two of these families have found markets for the products, but without BIG agriculture we can not feed the population of this world. Whether or not you believe in large farms they are necessary as India sits on the verge of famine for the second time on our lives and many other 1st and 2nd work countries are not far off as populations exceed available land mass for food production. All in all an enjoyable book, but only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the ethics and survival of all types of farming and ranching.
April 6, 2015
I'm glad I stuck with this book because I loved the final section about a North Dakota organic farming family and their quest to survive as a small farm in the midst of big corn and wheat country. The family is involved in both farming and gardening, particularly the breeding and development of seeds. Hamilton does an excellent job summarizing the importance of preserving our oldest seed varies in order to maintain genetic qualities that can be selected in new plant breeding programs. Learning about the particular needs of their North Dakota farm highlights the reasons why regional breeding is important.
Unfortunately this section begins on page 213 and is the most focused piece of the book. The leading 212 pages are beautifully written, but lacks focus. There are some interesting people, history and land described, but what the author is saying about agriculture is not well defined. I almost threw down the book in frustration because I did not feel it met the expectations of the synopsis at all. I ended up doing a lot of skimming and slowing down to enjoy the parts that captured my attention. The author is a fantastic writer. Her prose is excellent. Perhaps marketed differently I would have started the book with more realistic expectations.
Unfortunately this section begins on page 213 and is the most focused piece of the book. The leading 212 pages are beautifully written, but lacks focus. There are some interesting people, history and land described, but what the author is saying about agriculture is not well defined. I almost threw down the book in frustration because I did not feel it met the expectations of the synopsis at all. I ended up doing a lot of skimming and slowing down to enjoy the parts that captured my attention. The author is a fantastic writer. Her prose is excellent. Perhaps marketed differently I would have started the book with more realistic expectations.
February 24, 2011
The book is basically a glimpse in the lives of three farmers trying to farm their land in ecologically supportive fashion.
The author writes very well, and I am particularly enjoying the artistic descriptions of place (east texas, new mexico, north dakota). I appreciate that the author didn't just run with three profiles of young, idealistic eco-farmers now getting much of the press. Instead we get Harry, an African-American dairyman, Virgil, a native New Mexican, and the Podolls, a "modern pioneer family" in North Dakota.
There aren't a lot of how-to's, or suggestions for getting involved, or recommendations for further exploration here, but I have certainly learned much more about the unique circumstances/requirements of farming (dairy, ranching, seeds)in specific locales. It is heartening to be introduced to individuals with a passion and pride for doing things with care and mindfulness.
The author writes very well, and I am particularly enjoying the artistic descriptions of place (east texas, new mexico, north dakota). I appreciate that the author didn't just run with three profiles of young, idealistic eco-farmers now getting much of the press. Instead we get Harry, an African-American dairyman, Virgil, a native New Mexican, and the Podolls, a "modern pioneer family" in North Dakota.
There aren't a lot of how-to's, or suggestions for getting involved, or recommendations for further exploration here, but I have certainly learned much more about the unique circumstances/requirements of farming (dairy, ranching, seeds)in specific locales. It is heartening to be introduced to individuals with a passion and pride for doing things with care and mindfulness.
December 1, 2009
Three long profiles of three unconventional farmers. One in Texas, one in New Mexico, and a household in North Dakota. Very inspiring. It is hard to be a farmer in this day and age, and these farmers are bucking that system, which makes it even harder. If you have to choose which milk to buy, and you buy organic, choose Organic Valley because it's a coop.
Oh, and to borrow from another Goodreads reviewer: most dairy farming in the US takes place not on those picturesque, green-hilled pastures of Wisconsin or Vermont, but on mega-ranches in the bone-dry deserts of New Mexico and Texas? (That's because most dairy cows no longer graze, and dry conditions reduce the likelihood of disease.)
And we're talking 3,000 cows per place. Euuehw.
Oh, and to borrow from another Goodreads reviewer: most dairy farming in the US takes place not on those picturesque, green-hilled pastures of Wisconsin or Vermont, but on mega-ranches in the bone-dry deserts of New Mexico and Texas? (That's because most dairy cows no longer graze, and dry conditions reduce the likelihood of disease.)
And we're talking 3,000 cows per place. Euuehw.
August 21, 2016
Well-researched, but also well-written. Hamilton spent a great deal of time with each family, understanding how the unconventional methods being used on a dairy farm, cattle ranch, and grain farm not only buck the current trends of agribusiness but also are actually conventional in approach. Hamilton clearly spent a great deal of time learning about the history of American agriculture, and its metamorphosis since the late 19th century. But she also found three very different families, and placed them in context to their different communities. A truly great book for anyone who wants to better understand how small farmers have to look to the past to retain a future.
*Rounded up from 4.5 stars.
*Rounded up from 4.5 stars.
December 1, 2011
This book had really great stories about the past and how farming used to be versus what it is now. Lisa did such a great job at explaining everything she was going through while talking to all of these folks, you felt like you were there right along side her. If you ever want to explore the difference in how agriculture was back then versus now. This book is worth a read. You really get a sense of where you food comes from, that in itself is quite valuable to know. Give this book a read.
January 10, 2012
Profiles of three farmers from across America who are trying to do things differently than their neighbors. I nearly returned the book to the library without finishing, finding that my interest petered out two thirds of the way through, but am happy that I persisted and finished the book; the final section, about the Podol family of North Dakota, was my favourite in the end. A good profile of men and women doing good work in the world.
September 20, 2012
A unique look at REAL farmers in an age of agribusiness. I emphasize "real" because these are hippies with big gardens and they're not planting row after row of GMO corn. They're living on the land, realistic, productive, and hanging on by the skin of their teeth. It's folks like these that will be our hope when the oil we rely on for traditional ag is gone. For now, we at least deserve to hear their story and know how things should have been working all along.
November 29, 2016
A quick read and overview of the state of agribusiness. I enjoyed the three different profiles of the small farmer revolutionaries and the communities they live in...it made me gain a better understanding of just how different these unconventional approaches are. If you wanted to get more into the discussion of big agribusiness you may want another book but for a quick overview, this does the trick.
April 17, 2015
Journalist Lisa Hamilton tells the story of three different farming families bucking "conventional" agribusiness farming trends: a dairy farmer in Texas, a cattle rancher in New Mexico, and a wheat-and-many-other-things farm in North Dakota. Each family's story is engaging and forms the central focus of the book. Enjoyable, well-written, and informative.
August 20, 2016
Inspirational, educational, a piece of art ....this was one of those books that you didn't want to end. I knew that there were wonderful, hard working folks out there that are trying to help save our food industry in their own quite way. Thank you Lisa. Hamilton for introducing them to us. Let's try to give them all the support we can .
August 3, 2009
I am in the middle of this incredible read. The author spends time with several "salt of the earth" farmers who share their heroic accounts of trying to maintain their integrity and the health of the land in the middle of the rise of Agribusiness.
Truly these are American Heroes.
Truly these are American Heroes.
October 6, 2009
Fans of Omnivore's Dilemma might enjoy the author's fairly in depth look at two ranchers and a farmer, each in different climates and situations, trying to do what's right-- restoring the land, working pesticide-free, renewing long-unused crops and more. I really, really liked this book.
November 16, 2009
not what i thought this would be, a back to the lander's book, but rather a spotlight on 3 families who never left, and how they are dealing with and what they think about the industrial ag of 21st century. very enlightening and hopeful for folks who are concerned about agriculture and food.
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April 1, 2010I can't honestly rate this book because I didn't read it. I kept trying to get into it, but it was clearly more about the politics of farming in the U.S. than about the nitty gritty hands on stuff I enjoy.
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