Lentil underground

renegade farmers and the future of food in America

298 pages

English language

Published Nov. 8, 2015

ISBN:
978-1-59240-920-4
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OCLC Number:
880861481

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5 stars (1 review)

Forty years ago, corporate agribusiness launched a campaign to push small grain farmers to modernize or perish, or as Nixon's secretary of agriculture Earl Butz put it, "get big or get out." But 27-year-old David Oien decided to take a stand when he dropped out of grad school to return to his family's 280-acre farm, becoming the first in his conservative Montana county to plant a radically different crop: organic lentils. A cheap, healthy source of protein and fiber, lentils are drought-tolerant and don't require irrigation. Unlike the chemically dependent grains American farmers had been told to grow, lentils make their own fertilizer and tolerate variable climate conditions, so their farmers aren't beholden to industrial methods. Today, Oien leads thriving movement of organic farmers who work with heirloom seeds and biologically diverse farm systems. Under the brand Timeless Natural Food, their unique business-cum-movement has grown into a million-dollar enterprise that …

2 editions

Review of 'Lentil underground' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I really want to buy a farm now and try some of the techniques described here. And I grew up on a farm and know how much never-ending work having a farm is actually. No romanticizing. That's how convincing this book is.
I was sometimes a bit lost with all the different players and who dropped out or in when and ehy and how they fit into the picture, but the overall narrative worked just fine.

Subjects

  • Agricultural diversification
  • Small Farms
  • Agricultural ecology
  • Farm corporations
  • Agricultural development projects

Places

  • United States