Deeply Rooted: Unconventional Farmers in the Age of Agribusiness [Hardcover]

Lisa M. Hamilton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2009

A century of industrialization has left our food system riddled with problems, yet for solutions we look to nutritionists and government agencies, scientists and chefs. Lisa M. Hamilton asks: Why not look to the people who grow our food?

Hamilton makes this vital inquiry through the stories of three unconventional farmers: an African-American dairyman in Texas who plays David to the Goliath of agribusiness corporations; a tenth-generation rancher in New Mexico struggling to restore agriculture as a pillar of his crumbling community; and a modern pioneer family in North Dakota who is breeding new varieties of plants to face the future’s double threat: Monsanto and global warming. Threads of history and discussion weave through the tales, exploring how farmers have been pushed to the margins of agriculture and transformed from leaders to laborers.

These unusual 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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Journalist and photographer Hamilton presents a multicultural snapshot of the American sustainable agriculture movement, profiling a Texas dairyman, a New Mexican rancher and a North Dakotan farmer, all who have converted from conventional to sustainable agriculture for economic and personal reasons. Harry Lewis, born to a family of former slaves who began farming in a Texas freedom colony, switched to organic farming to avoid price-gouging by agribusiness but also to support his core philosophical tenets. Virgil Trujillo, whose Native Americans ancestors were the first settlers of Abiquiu, N.Mex., practices holistic resource management at a dude ranch/retreat center. David Podoll set out to prove organic agriculture wrong, but instead was converted; he and his brother now buck the North Dakotan trend of farm consolidation and corn, soybean and wheat monoculture by focusing on the family garden and breeding plants for diversity, beauty and strength. The book vividly shows how these stubborn individualists rooted in the soil struggle are forging a path away from monolithic agribusiness to sustainable agriculture for its promise of spiritual integrity, community and food security. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Agriculture is journalist and photographer Hamilton’s beat, and alternatives to environmentally and economically detrimental agribusiness have become her passion. Accordingly, she profiles farmers and ranchers who believe that “agriculture is not an industry” but, rather, “a fundamental act that determines whether we as a society will live or die.” East Texas dairyman Harry Lewis’ commitment to keeping his organic dairy operation small and in the family stems from his forebears’ role in the freedom colonies founded by former slaves. Virgil Trujillo’s family has owned land and cattle in what is now Abiqui, New Mexico, for 10 generations, and he believes that small ranches managed with an eye to the “health of the land” are the key to ending the area’s bone-deep poverty. The Podoll family in North Dakota rejects “brute-force agriculture” in favor of “enduring” practices, certain that the knowledge and skills of hands-on farmers are essential to coping with climate change. Hamilton’s in-depth portraits of independent farmers offer invaluable perspectives on American agriculture, past and present, while offering hope for a life-sustaining future. --Donna Seaman

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Counterpoint; First Edition edition (May 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593761805
• ISBN-13: 978-1593761806
• Product Dimensions: 1.1 x 5.6 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #734,803 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Much praise April 13, 2009

By snowy owl books

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

From the first pages of the introduction in North Dakota I know I have hit the exact source of a deeply wounded beauty belonging to traditional agriculture and the author who will stitch it together for us and give us the voice that often gets stuck in our own throat and is not easily pieced together from broken up memory. These chapters immediately make us familiar to the survivors, and all of the history we need to make sense of them. How does a 1950s style dairy farmer live on his principles that stem from a traditional land consciousness? How does a New Mexican stockman navigate ancestral lands where two distinct systems of old and new world property ownership have clashed and left him some impossible dream? In a sea of bio engineered and chemically dependent conventional crop fields, how does one North Dakota farmer feed his family using only natural methods?

It is not by a matter of methods that these men survive, though the methods are important, it is their convictions and their character that lead them to independence. Harry Lewis understands that prosperity isn't something you create, prosperity is the form of our green earth; and true prosperity is received through shepherding our earth. Virgil Trujillo understands that "fitness" is "survival of the fittest" as he adapts to the cultural, political and economic forces that gash his land and his history. David Podoll has a deep spiritual sense of what is right and what is wrong, he knows that tilling massive acres of earth is a wasteful proposition if done in the conventional manner of which maximization for profit is the only god.

It's also a perfect travel narrative, with a painted scenic view and a conversational style that offers absorption into the mindset and the reality of remarkable individuals.... It is details that quicken the heartbeat, like the art of Georgia O'Keefe's sun bleached bones and mountains of Abiquiu, New Mexico where a surviving ejido (a form of community land ownership granted by the Spanish Crown in the 18th century) still exists in a tenuous position of holding off the government Forest Service and paying taxes. It is preparing cattle for winter rangelands and weighing in the stock, and dealing with the holier than thou environmentalists that drip in the gates to "save" the land. - Take for example the cattle in the scrubby desert, we have too often heard that cattle rampage all the vegetation and create desiccation, but as Virgil Trujillo has proven, grazing cattle in imitation of the bison using a rotational manner, may actually improve the conditions for scrub growth rather than harm them permanently. To know the land you have to be there working it.

Perhaps the best vibes from this book is that we should all want to crave being as adventurous in our work and unstoppable for the truth as the embracing Lisa Hamilton has been introducing us to these unique men and women who live honorably. If we can't drive out to North Dakota, we can certainly do a little searching in our own hometowns. I may look no further than the nearest pumpkin patch run by the last farmer in the township, or the old cider mill that has pressed for nearly 140 years.

As a side bar here that is personally relevant to me - I thank the author for the small-minded quote taken from the Chairman of the House Agricultural Committee -Collin Peterson (D-Minnesota) - This quote exposes the extent of his wisdom.
Sadly, Monsanto pays him for those kinds of opinions. Read more ›

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Traveling the middle of the country with a great writer April 16, 2009

By Paul Dooney

Format:Hardcover

I tore through this book in just a couple days, and when I was done I only wanted more. I've been watching Lisa Hamilton's writing and photography in Orion and her book is even better: great characters brought to life before my eyes. What a treat. We can only hope that this is the first in a long line of books from her, and that she keeps going to places we don't usually go and bringing back characters like these farmers. Highly recommended, if you care about food, or farming, or just good stories from the heart of America.

Bonus: you can see some photos of the farmers in the book on her website, something I wish more non-fiction authors would do.

My only beef, small as it may be, is that the people at my local bookstore in LA didn't know about this book. Is Counterpoint hard to track down? I bought a second copy as a gift through Amazon, but I can't decide who to give it to.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Asking the hard questions about food April 27, 2010

By Arthur Sido

Format:Paperback

I finished Lisa Hamilton's Deeply Rooted last night. It was a thought-provoking work. Ms. Hamilton singled out three unconventional farmers, farmers who bucked the trend of constantly increasing the size of their operation and spent quite a bit of time watching what they do and more importantly finding out why they do what they do. All three buck conventional wisdom and while they might not make as much money as the huge commercial farms they still retain their connection to the land and their community, something Ms. Hamilton argues and I largely agree has taken place in most of the agribusiness world.

I think Ms. Hamilton does a great job painting the picture of each of these farms for the reader. Her vivid imagery is sometimes raw but life on a farm is not all setting suns and green pastures. Life on a farm is dirty sometimes, sometimes ugly and unpleasant. When you eschew the methods of modern agribusiness, it can make life even harder. In a country where meat and milk come from the grocery store in sanitary foam packages and plastic jugs, Deeply Rooted is a welcome reminder of just how much has changed in the world of food.

The three farmers she selected are kind of characters, each with a pretty interesting personality. I am sure that is intentional, after all the book needs to be readable as well as educational. I don't think these three are typical of non-confirming farms but they do provide a great insight into the mindset of people who were raised to be farmers and ranchers but decided against getting on the economy of scale treadmill. It is one thing to woodenly detail the operations of a farm, which is only mildly interesting. Getting into the minds of these farmers is where the really interesting stuff happens....

It is indisputable that the agricultural world has changed dramatically over the last century and the pace of change shows no sign of letting up. Ms. Hamilton does a very good job of telling us about the downside of this revolution, farmers becoming producers, people disconnected from the land and from where their food comes from. On the other hand, feeding your family has become, at least for the majority of people in Western nations, something of an afterthought. I can get up from my computer and get to four grocery stores in less than ten minutes, each one chock full staple foods, dairy products and fruits and vegetables. The food is consistent, predictable and cheap. How healthy it is, well that is a different story but the market delivers what people demand. I am confident in saying that short of a major crisis, we are never going back to a world of gardens and small farms, of local produce. Perhaps Deeply Rooted will serve as an encouragement to others, as it has been for me, to think more about food and the choices we make. Food, water and shelter are the essentials of life and we really only pay attention to one of those. As bad as the mortgage crisis was, a food or water crisis is infinitely worse. Deeply Rooted is, pun intended, food for thought. Read more ›

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Keenly observant view of three fascinating Americans May 16, 2009

By country lover

Format:Hardcover

The book profiles three very different people who have chosen to try to make it as independent farmers in today's America. Despite the fact that they could have gone with the mega-farm flow, they have tried to remain true to themselves, their respective heritages, and their desires to produce true quality products, and have chosen the roads less travelled on. Their various paths to success are fascinating, and an inspiration to the farmers of the future, as well as to the consumers who want them to succeed. If you care about the food you eat, you will want to read this book!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Read! May 16, 2010

By Craig C. Brandau

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have soft hands, well-manicured nails and a small balcony that's too dark to grow anything. Yet, I read and enjoyed every word of this book. I'm fascinated with sustainable farming and the like, and pass information from this book and others from it genre to my high school students.

Again, it's an excellent read!