Overview

Within the decade, 400 million acres of American farmland-nearly half of all farmland in America-will become available as an older generation of farmers retire. The farmers stepping up to steward this land will be faced with issues like rising land costs, soil erosion, dietary health epidemics, food inequality, and more. A Call to Farms is an investigative travelogue of these new American agrarians who are modeling what a better, more sustainable future could look like. In this optimistic narrative, journalist Jennifer Grayson introduces readers to farmers across America turning to practices both ancestral and cutting-edge that preserve the environment and make healthy, fresh food accessible to all. From a 1-acre ""market garden"" in Oregon to a Japanese American no-till farm in Connecticut, to a master gardener combatting food apartheid in South Carolina, these narratives are a must-read for those interested in American foodways and reimagining our agricultural system.

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9781682688465

Table of Contents

Reviews

"""A Call to Farms is a pivotal exploration into the heart of the new agrarian lifestyle, a topic close to my own journey. Grayson captures the essence of what it means to be a modern, small-scale farmer, intertwining the challenges and triumphs faced by those committed to nurturing the land. Her eloquent narrative not only highlights the importance of sustainable practices but also celebrates the joy and satisfaction found in this crucial work. This book is an essential read for anyone passionate about the earth, its caretakers, and the sustainable-food movement."" -- JM FORTIER, author of The Market Gardener and advocate for small-scale organic agriculture ""A Call to Farms is a transformative act of journalism. An eloquent page-turner, it erases shopworn stereotypes of farms and farmers, gracefully leading into a boots-on, magical culture crucial to the well-being of society, the land, and our future."" -- PAUL HAWKEN, New York Times–bestselling author of Regeneration and Drawdown ""Food, farming, and a purposeful life all come together in this inspiring tour that visits America’s new generation of regenerative pioneers."" -- DAVID R. MONTGOMERY, MacArthur fellow, author of Growing a Revolution, and coauthor of What Your Food Ate ""In this deeply inspiring book, Jennifer Grayson examines the motives, practices, problems, and successes of a diverse collection of young, small-scale farmers growing food sustainably and achieving enormous satisfaction and joy in the process. The farmers provide abundant reasons for hope in the future of food that’s healthier for producers, people, and the planet. If you’re looking for hope, here it is."" -- MARION NESTLE, PHD, MPH, professor emerita of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University and author of Slow Cooked: An Unexpected Life in Food Politics ""A Call to Farms makes the case for the urgent necessity to return to organic, regenerative agriculture, as it was prior to the introduction of GMOs and chemical inputs. As Jennifer Grayson persuasively and authentically explains, as we restore the terrain, we will restore our own health."" -- MICHELLE PERRO, MD, integrative physician, cofounder and CEO of GMOScience.org, and author of What’s Making Our Children Sick? ""This is a wonderful book, perhaps a milestone in the gathering movement for a sane, agroecological food system. Each chapter is its own little jewel, glinting with the joy and energy of people finding connection among land, food, and community. Bittersweet jewels they are, though, because Jennifer Grayson knows the painful histories that have sundered these connections and still are shaping our world. That she can face this squarely while conveying such hope is a testament to her skills as a writer and also to the power of the new stories that the farmers whom she describes are writing."" -- CHRIS SMAJE, author of A Small Farm Future and Saying No to a Farm-Free Future"

"""A Call to Farms is a pivotal exploration into the heart of the new agrarian lifestyle, a topic close to my own journey. Grayson captures the essence of what it means to be a modern, small-scale farmer, intertwining the challenges and triumphs faced by those committed to nurturing the land. Her eloquent narrative not only highlights the importance of sustainable practices but also celebrates the joy and satisfaction found in this crucial work. This book is an essential read for anyone passionate about the earth, its caretakers, and the sustainable-food movement."" -- JM FORTIER, author of The Market Gardener and advocate for small-scale organic agriculture ""A Call to Farms is a transformative act of journalism. An eloquent page-turner, it erases shopworn stereotypes of farms and farmers, gracefully leading into a boots-on, magical culture crucial to the well-being of society, the land, and our future."" -- PAUL HAWKEN, New York Times–bestselling author of Regeneration and Drawdown ""Food, farming, and a purposeful life all come together in this inspiring tour that visits America’s new generation of regenerative pioneers."" -- DAVID R. MONTGOMERY, MacArthur fellow, author of Growing a Revolution, and coauthor of What Your Food Ate ""In this deeply inspiring book, Jennifer Grayson examines the motives, practices, problems, and successes of a diverse collection of young, small-scale farmers growing food sustainably and achieving enormous satisfaction and joy in the process. The farmers provide abundant reasons for hope in the future of food that’s healthier for producers, people, and the planet. If you’re looking for hope, here it is."" -- MARION NESTLE, PHD, MPH, professor emerita of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University and author of Slow Cooked: An Unexpected Life in Food Politics ""A Call to Farms makes the case for the urgent necessity to return to organic, regenerative agriculture, as it was prior to the introduction of GMOs and chemical inputs. As Jennifer Grayson persuasively and authentically explains, as we restore the terrain, we will restore our own health."" -- MICHELLE PERRO, MD, integrative physician, cofounder and CEO of GMOScience.org, and author of What’s Making Our Children Sick? ""This is a wonderful book, perhaps a milestone in the gathering movement for a sane, agroecological food system. Each chapter is its own little jewel, glinting with the joy and energy of people finding connection among land, food, and community. Bittersweet jewels they are, though, because Jennifer Grayson knows the painful histories that have sundered these connections and still are shaping our world. That she can face this squarely while conveying such hope is a testament to her skills as a writer and also to the power of the new stories that the farmers whom she describes are writing."" -- CHRIS SMAJE, author of A Small Farm Future and Saying No to a Farm-Free Future ""In this vibrant report . . . Grayson provides colorful accounts of the farmers’ life stories . . . a spirited look at the lives of small, eco-conscious farmers."" -- Publishers Weekly ""[Turning] to Grayson’s book is like taking a sunny walk on the first spring day after a long, harsh winter. Yet her mostly upbeat profiles play out within a grim subtext. In the coming decade, she writes in the introduction, nearly half of all U.S. farmland will be up for grabs as current owners retire or die. In each of the 10 chapters of A Call to Farms, Grayson delivers richly reported profiles of projects meant to overcome these challenges…But Grayson never loses sight of the harsh economic realities — high land and labor costs, price-sensitive consumers — that make such projects so rare and economically vulnerable. Nor does she focus solely on the latest generation of white back-to-the-landers. A Call to Farms features sensitive portraits of the people behind Black Snake Farm, a cooperative tribal-led operation that arose during the pandemic to supply vegetables and meat to the Catawba Nation in South Carolina; and FarmaSis, a farmer-incubator program for Black women, also in South Carolina."" -- Los Angeles Times"

"""A Call to Farms is a pivotal exploration into the heart of the new agrarian lifestyle, a topic close to my own journey. Grayson captures the essence of what it means to be a modern, small-scale farmer, intertwining the challenges and triumphs faced by those committed to nurturing the land. Her eloquent narrative not only highlights the importance of sustainable practices but also celebrates the joy and satisfaction found in this crucial work. This book is an essential read for anyone passionate about the earth, its caretakers, and the sustainable-food movement."" -- JM FORTIER, author of The Market Gardener and advocate for small-scale organic agriculture ""A Call to Farms is a transformative act of journalism. An eloquent page-turner, it erases shopworn stereotypes of farms and farmers, gracefully leading into a boots-on, magical culture crucial to the well-being of society, the land, and our future."" -- PAUL HAWKEN, New York Times–bestselling author of Regeneration and Drawdown ""Food, farming, and a purposeful life all come together in this inspiring tour that visits America’s new generation of regenerative pioneers."" -- DAVID R. MONTGOMERY, MacArthur fellow, author of Growing a Revolution, and coauthor of What Your Food Ate ""In this deeply inspiring book, Jennifer Grayson examines the motives, practices, problems, and successes of a diverse collection of young, small-scale farmers growing food sustainably and achieving enormous satisfaction and joy in the process. The farmers provide abundant reasons for hope in the future of food that’s healthier for producers, people, and the planet. If you’re looking for hope, here it is."" -- MARION NESTLE, PHD, MPH, professor emerita of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University and author of Slow Cooked: An Unexpected Life in Food Politics ""A Call to Farms makes the case for the urgent necessity to return to organic, regenerative agriculture, as it was prior to the introduction of GMOs and chemical inputs. As Jennifer Grayson persuasively and authentically explains, as we restore the terrain, we will restore our own health."" -- MICHELLE PERRO, MD, integrative physician, cofounder and CEO of GMOScience.org, and author of What’s Making Our Children Sick? ""This is a wonderful book, perhaps a milestone in the gathering movement for a sane, agroecological food system. Each chapter is its own little jewel, glinting with the joy and energy of people finding connection among land, food, and community. Bittersweet jewels they are, though, because Jennifer Grayson knows the painful histories that have sundered these connections and still are shaping our world. That she can face this squarely while conveying such hope is a testament to her skills as a writer and also to the power of the new stories that the farmers whom she describes are writing."" -- CHRIS SMAJE, author of A Small Farm Future and Saying No to a Farm-Free Future ""In this vibrant report . . . Grayson provides colorful accounts of the farmers’ life stories . . . a spirited look at the lives of small, eco-conscious farmers."" -- Publishers Weekly"

Author Information

Jennifer Grayson is an award-winning environmental journalist and the author of Unlatched, winner of the Rachel Carson Environment Book Award. Jennifer has been featured on MSNBC, NPR, and more, and her bylines include the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and other publications. She lives in Los Angeles, California.

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