Letters to a Young Farmer

January 15, 2017
Longtime advocates of sustainable agriculture join with new voices for a comradely take on the challenging future of farming.Edited by Stone Barns Center communications director Hodgkins (editor: The Field Guide to the Nature Conservancy, 2003, etc.), with illustrations by Wormell, the title is a riff on Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet. The anthology features contributions by a host of professional and nonprofessional writers with close ties to, or an abiding affinity for, the land, and many of the pieces read rather like a special section of Mother Jones, with a characteristic political slant. The core of the book is an ode to agricultural landscapes and heritage that registers concerns about "feeding people, fostering community, sustaining livelihoods, restoring soil, sequestering carbon, protecting natural systems and reconnecting us to the land." It is also shot through with cautionary tales about the folly of large-scale corporate farming, misguided government programs, the graying of the American farmer, and the precipitous decline in their numbers. But the warnings are balanced by plausible strategies for reforming our food system, practical advice, and optimism regarding farming's future in this noble, difficult field. If occasionally the optimism smacks of wishful thinking, its tenets still may be pivotal in dealing with global ecological change. Some writers rail against the use of chemicals and high-productivity farming that depletes the soil, while others recognize that us-versus-them rancor serves no one and that educated, demanding consumers as well as small-scale farmers can help the big boys see the light (and the rest of us eat more healthily). The themes of the collection make repetition inescapable, which can get tiresome, though many of the less didactic pieces are lovely--e.g., Mas Masumoto's lyrical letter to his farmer daughter. Other notable contributors include Barbara Kingsolver, Bill McKibben, Wendell Berry, Alice Waters, Temple Grandin, Michael Pollan, Rick Bayless, and Marion Nestle. Though the book may scare off almost as many prospective farmers as it encourages, the contributors argue their cases with an effective polemical tenor.

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February 15, 2017

Young farmers are having a moment. These books of essays from legendary names are full of practical advice for those getting started in farming. More than that, they are apologia for the small farmer and a celebration of wisdom transferred among generations. Just like James Rebanks's best-selling A Shepherd's Life, the message in these titles is that farming is hard, important, and needs to be taken seriously and thoughtfully (though with appropriate humor). Farmers, young and old, are speaking up for themselves, and everyone who eats can learn something from them.

The Stone Barns Center is a nonprofit that works to improve American farming, foodways, and soil. With Letters, it has compiled advice to young farmers from an impressive array of writers from various backgrounds, including international and urban. Some contributors take the writing assignment more literally than others do, but by including farmers, chefs, activists, and entrepreneurs, the essays form a cohesive vision of contemporary farming, including real solutions for problems such as climate change and jobs in rural areas.

Farmer, blogger, and journalist Logsdon's (Gene Everlasting; A Sanctuary of Trees) book takes the same tack, with advice based on personal experience and a deep knowledge of farm literature. It is a useful companion to the Stone Barns offering, putting its contributors in context. Logsdon wrote humorous accounts of small-scale farming for decades, and finished this book just weeks before his death in 2016. As a self-styled "contrary farmer," he tells it as he sees it, and his personality shines through in the idiosyncratic conclusions. His portrait of rural America provides much-needed nuance to the rhetoric prevalent in politics lately. VERDICT Anyone who gardens, particularly for food, will take something away from these books. Actual farmers may not need the advice but will appreciate the pep talk.--Margaret Heller, Loyola Univ. Chicago Libs.

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