Reconnecting to Nature, Food, and Community in a Modern World
May 20, 2024
In this vibrant report, journalist Grayson (Unlatched) profiles farmers across the U.S. who are developing sustainable approaches to agriculture. Lamenting that the average price of farmland doubled between 2000 and 2020, Grayson explores how some farmers are doing more with less, describing how spouses Carys Wilkins and Benji Nagel maximize the productivity of their one-acre Oregon farm by planting crops close together and rotating them seasonally so that all plots are always in use. The profiled farmers value community as much as sustainability. For instance, Bonita Clemens founded a South Carolina program that teaches Black women how to grow crops for “themselves and their communities,” aiming to build solidarity among participants while alleviating the dearth of healthy foods available in the state’s Black neighborhoods. Grayson provides colorful accounts of the farmers’ life stories, recounting how Alexandra Rosenberg-Rigutto dropped out of high school and struggled with drug addiction before becoming the director of a northern Michigan farm that teaches Jewish children how to grow produce, and how Natalie Bogwalker spent five years “in a hand-built dwelling, cooking roadkill over a stick-sparked fire, cloaked in buckskin” before starting a North Carolina permaculture school. Unfortunately, the biographical background can crowd out the often brief descriptions of what makes the farmers’ techniques notable and environmentally friendly. Still, it’s a spirited look at the lives of small, eco-conscious farmers.