What will Kentucky Book Festival visitors find on your table?
Visitors will find copies of my newest book Love for the Land: Lessons from Farmers Who Persist in Place (Yale Univ. Press), which explores why some small and midsized farmers continue to care for their land in the face of tremendous adversity. There are some troubling trends in our food and farming system, trends that tend to discount the importance of community, good stewardship, and justice. For example, we’re losing millions of acres of farmland to rampant real estate development and sprawl, and large-scale industrialized farms and corporations are increasingly dominating, and erasing, smaller-scale family farms. My book explores these challenges and others, such as racial injustice in agriculture. But it doesn’t stop there. It also lifts up stories of resistance and resilience—and it shows us a better path forward. Against long odds, the farmers featured in this book continue to persist in place. They refuse to “get big or get out,” and their affection for and fidelity to the land help us understand why. We’d do well to learn from and emulate their example.
Oh, I almost forgot: I’ll also have some limited edition Love for the Land bookmarks at the table. These bookmarks were designed by Hank Miles Smith, a talented artist and good friend, and they feature a snippet of one of his most impressive paintings. I’ll gladly give a bookmark to anyone who stops by!
Whom do you invite to stop by? Who will benefit from reading your book?
Since this is the Kentucky Book Festival, I’ll quote a Kentuckian. Wendell Berry says, “Eating is an agricultural act.” The implication? We all eat, so we’re all involved in agriculture. Cultivating a better future for farming and rural communities should matter to all of us because it affects all of us. Toward that end, I’d invite anyone who eats, which is to say everyone, to stop by!
More specifically, people interested in agricultural and environmental issues might take special interest in the book. Those who like on-the-ground stories and public-facing social science research may be interested, too. I also draw on and reference philosophy, history, and policy, so if you’re a fan of these fields, Love for the Land has something for you.
Do you like all the topics above? Please stop by. We’ll have some fun.
Could you please tell us something curious about you and/or your book?
I grew up on a small family farm in rural Tennessee. I’ve spent my fair share of time in hay fields, tobacco patches, and barn lofts. My wife and I live in Memphis now, at least until we can afford a farm of our own. (Land affordability, or “land access,” is a huge issue for aspiring and beginning farmers. I work on this every day in my job with American Farmland Trust.) All that to say, I can empathize with farmers because I am one, in mind and spirit when not in practice.
Is this your first time participating in Kentucky Book Festival? If yes – what are you looking forward to the most? If you’ve participated before – what was your favorite experience at the Festival?
Yes, this is my first time at the Festival, and I’m grateful for the chance to be here. Besides getting back to Kentucky and seeing some dear friends—my wife and I lived in Louisville from 2021 to 2022—I’m most looking forward to conversations with attendees. The discussions on stage are fun and important, but I’ve found that the most interesting and fulfilling connections often occur in the in-between times: while standing in line for the bathroom, after signing a book for someone’s best friend or loved one, during a lunch or coffee break. I value getting to meet new people, and I enjoy discovering bonds, whether it’s a common experience or a mutual love of a book or a shared respect for an author. I also love “small world moments,” where I learn that someone has been through my hometown or has a mutual friend. Come find me at the Festival and let’s look for those connections.
