A book published this week sets out the case that ‘large-scale’ farming and agriculture can be sustainable and part of good conservation practices.
Published on September 6, Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman: Conservation Heroes of the American Heartland, is by Miriam Horn, who works at the Environmental Defense Fund and was formerly with the U.S. Forest Service. She argues that it is the U.S. families who run the tractors and barges and fishing boats who are stepping up to make “the most consequential efforts to conserve and restore America’s grasslands, wildlife, soils, rivers, wetlands and fisheries”.
The book tells the stories of five representatives of producers and fishermen – a Montana rancher, a Kansas farmer, a Mississippi riverman, a Louisiana shrimper and a Gulf fisherman. Each story explores the subject’s family histories and the land and geographies they protect.
One reviewer said that Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman “challenges pervasive and powerful myths about American and environmental values” by demonstrating the forward-looking practices adopted by the producers and fisherman. In the case of the crop farmer from Kansas, Ms. Horn shows how “industrial-scale farming — and yes, even the pesticides that come with it — can be sustainable”.