Deeply Rooted: Unconventional Farmers in the Age of Agribusiness by Lisa M. Hamilton

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)

Kirkus Reviews

Journalist Hamilton fashions intimate portraits of three alternative, small-scale farming strategies. A sensitive, well-versed observer of the American agricultural scene, the author doesn't come to these vignettes with an agenda; she lets the farmers set the tone and state the purpose of their acts and beliefs. She does this with a subtle knack for getting under the skins of both her subjects and the land they husband, conveying a natural sense of the farmers' stewardship while painting visceral images of the landscapes on which they work. "All the stories were different," she writes, "but they had a common thread: these people were dead-set on saving their farms, and knew that in order to do so they had to escape the conventional market." They eschew the bigger-is-better philosophy of capitalization for reasons of ethics and practicality: They refuse to burden the land with petrochemicals not only because it is inimical to biorhythms and sustainability, but because it is financially ruinous. Hamilton spends time on a dairy farm in East Texas, a ranch/retreat cattle operation in New Mexico and a grain spread in North Dakota. Each one slowly reveals its history and its evolving moral compass. Convictions on how to relate to the land are commonsensical and passionate, high on independence, continuity, purpose, love of place and community. Frugality steers them clear of indebtedness. Hamilton doesn't strive to make readers love these folks-indeed, they are sometimes pariahs in the communities they wish to foster, because they don't practice business as usual. She simply ushers us into their everyday existence, offering glimpses of new possibilities in agricultural production and where eachmay well lead. A concentrated, evocative look at agricultural methods that place a premium on health and ecology.

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