A Bold Return to Giving a Damn

May 1, 2023

A fourth-generation farmer, Harris became concerned with the cruelty, excesses, and environmental and small-town devastation wrought by conventional farming when he inherited White Oak Pastures in Georgia. He has sought a different way, an approach he calls radical traditional that works with nature and brings people closer to the food they eat. The result is both manifesto and multigenerational memoir from a man the New York Times calls "Justin Bieber of new agriculture." Prepub Alert.

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August 15, 2023
A farmer revitalizes his family's farm. Livestock farmer Harris, owner of White Oak Pastures in southwest Georgia, makes his book debut with an impassioned plea for regenerative agriculture and resilient food production--i.e., farming in harmony with nature. Now comprising thousands of acres, and tens of thousands of animals and employing nearly 200 people, the farm was started by his great-grandfather in 1866 and continued as "a highly local, producer-to-consumer food system" through the next generation. The author's father, though, heading the farm at a time when "manufactured" seemed better than homemade, and "sterile better than living," began industrializing the farm, applying chemical fertilizer, treating cattle with hormones and antibiotics, and selling his calves to the commodity beef industry. In 1990, Harris took over, and in a few years had a sudden epiphany. Certain that what he was doing wasn't right for the animals, he decided to walk away "from the altar of technology," heal the land that chemicals had harmed, and reverse "the downhill plummet" of environmental damage. From being a cattle rancher, he evolved into raising 10 species of livestock, providing them with a "natural diet, natural environment, constant movement, little stress." Harris recounts the "very steep and expensive learning curve" involved in regenerative agriculture. "Switching [your] system," he admits, requires "sheer grit" and determination. He encountered unforeseen risks (and costs) to raising poultry, for example, and he faced the challenge of finding grocery chains willing to stock his products--no easy task in the rural South. Still, he discovered that the changes benefited the larger community when he hired local labor and brought in new people who spent money on the town's goods and services. The author provides an appendix of resources for consumers who want to rethink the quality of the food they eat and question the impact of their food choices. A compelling argument for real food.

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September 1, 2023
There is a growing body of literature decrying American eating habits and recommending healthier menu choices, as well as bemoaning our diminishing natural food resources and touting meatless meat and lab-produced victuals. This contribution is a solution-based offering from a Georgia farmer who has practiced regenerative agriculture for over three decades. Deploying methods that predate factory farms and the era of Big Food, Harris and his family reverted to natural cycles, using techniques that respect the land and animals in their care and center respect for humans and inclusion. Harris is blunt, swears a lot, and uses a folksy tone to tell his stories. (Take, for instance, this description of his work crew: "We put the cult in agriculture.") He shares expertise, comparing his eco-conscious approaches to destructive and inhumane corporate cost-cutting practices, and details challenges, risks, and successes, essentially laying out a business plan. Throughout, Harris pushes readers to have the courage to give a damn about the future. Two of his adult daughters came back home to farm; inspired readers will want to join them.

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