PASTORAL SONGA Farmer’s JourneyBy James RebanksFar too little of the ink spilled on the ethics of food production has come from those who are closest to the subject: farmers themselves. Thank the gods of agriculture for James Rebanks, whose new book, “Pastoral Song: A Farmer’s Journey,” tackles the confounding problem of how to make money from land without wrecking it. It became a best seller, and since then, Rebanks has used his platform to address the complex issues of sustainable agriculture. His grandfather, who taught him the craft of farming, worked the land as the era of small-scale mixed farming that had been the traditional standard for centuries was coming to an end. Rebanks’s difficult job in the third generation is to reinvent the farm in a way that balances the ecological, social and economic accounts.

Source: New York Times August 01, 2021 09:00 UTC