Gary Holthaus - From the Farm to the Table: What All Americans Need to Know about Agriculture

from the farm to the table

Publication of this volume was made possible in part by funding from the Experiment in Rural Cooperation, the University of Minnesota Southeast Regional Sustainable Development Partnership.

Culture of the Land

A Series in the New Agrarianism

This series is devoted to the exploration and articulation of a new agrarianism that considers the health of habitats and human communities together. It demonstrates how agrarian insights and responsibilities can be worked out in diverse fields of learning and living: history, science, art, politics, economics, literature, philosophy, religion, urban planning, education, and public policy. Agrarianism is a comprehensive worldview that appreciates the intimate and practical connections that exist between humans and the earth. It stands as our most promising alternative to the unsustainable and destructive ways of current global, industrial, and consumer culture.

Series Editor

Norman Wirzba, Duke University, North Carolina

Advisory Board

Wendell Berry, Port Royal, Kentucky
Ellen Davis, Duke University, North Carolina
Patrick Holden, Soil Association, United Kingdom
Wes Jackson, Land Institute, Kansas
Gene Logsdon, Upper Sandusky, Ohio
Bill McKibben, Middlebury College, Vermont
David Orr, Oberlin College, Ohio
Michael Pollan, University of California at Berkeley, California
Jennifer Sahn, Orion Magazine, Massachusetts
Vandana Shiva, Research Foundation for Science,
Technology and Ecology, India
William Vitek, Clarkson University, New York

WHAT ALL AMERICANS NEED TO KNOW
ABOUT AGRICULTURE

GARY HOLTHAUS

Paperback edition 2009

Copyright 2006 by Regents of the University of Minnesota

Published 2006 by The University Press of Kentucky

Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth,

serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre

College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University,

The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College,

Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University,

Morehead State University, Murray State University,

Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University,

University of Kentucky, University of Louisville,

and Western Kentucky University.

All rights reserved.

Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky

663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008

www.kentuckypress.com

13 12 11 10 095 4 3 2 1

All images courtesy of Gary Holthaus.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

Holthaus, Gary H., 1932

From the farm to the table : what all Americans need to know about agriculture / Gary Holthaus.

p. cm. (Culture of the land: a series in the new agrarianism)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-0-8131-2419-3 (hardcover : alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 0-8131-2419-0 (hardcover : alk. paper)

1. AgricultureUnited States. 2. FarmersUnited StatesAnecdotes. 3. Sustainable agriculture. I. Title. II. Series.

S441.H65 2006

630.973dc22

2006025092

ISBN 978-0-8131-9226-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)

This book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting
the requirements of the American National Standard
for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

For Dick Broeker

(19422004)

entrepreneur of ideas,
realizer of dreams

Farmers who do not steward their plants, animals, and nutrients lack the longheadedness, the sense of the future, required to build a republican nation.

Steven Stoll, Larding the Lean Earth

Thats How We Came to Have This Place

I came out of that door right there, a Sunday morning in 1974, and I looked across at that field way over... and I thought, That tractor looks kinda funny, but I got the car, and the wife came, and we went on in to church. When I got there, the neighbor came right up and he said, Elton, your son-in-laws tractors turned over, and its laying on him. I said, Is he dead? and he said, Yes. Weve got to tell the pastor we cant stay. So we talked to the pastor and got the sheriff and the coroner and we went back and got the tractor hoisted up. It broke his neck. Boy... Ill tell you... That was tough....

Months later, my daughter decided she didnt want to stay, she couldnt handle it all on her own, even with all of us trying to help, and talked to me about selling the place. She felt she ought to offer it to the neighbors first, cause that was the neighborly thing, so I said, OK, you offer it to them and if they arent interested or wont pay enough, you come back to me. So she did, and the neighbors werent interested. We made a deal. She needed income every year for a while, so I bought the place on a ten-year note, so much a year till it was paid off. Thats how we came to have this place.

Elton Redalen, Fountain, Minnesota

So much depends / on a red wheelbarrow, says William Carlos Williams in a famous poem. In telling these farm stories, practically everything has depended on folks other than me.

Special thanks to the board of directors of the Experiment in Rural Cooperation, who approached me about writing this book and made it happen. Their wise counsel and guidance throughout the project made itwhatever flaws it may still havea far better book than I could have achieved on my own. Dick Broeker, executive director of the Experiment in Rural Cooperation, not only facilitated the work but enhanced it in every conceivable way and made my job easier than it could have been in any other circumstance. His careful reading, good humor, and perpetually positive outlook strengthened this project daily. His successor, Erin Tegtmeier, has also been supportive and helpful in every way.

Special thanks as well to those farmers and farm families who gave of their time and hospitality to talk with me about their concerns and values, their farms and histories. Their openness and generosity were striking and greatly appreciated.

Gary Snyder started this book toward publication with his suggestions. Jack Shoemaker, of Shoemaker and Hoard, kindly steered us to the University Press of Kentucky, where Stephen Wrinn, director of the press, and his staff have offered their insight, enthusiasm, and expertise. Everyone at the press has been easy and gracious to work with and has my gratitude. Norman Wirzba, series editor of Culture of the Land: A Series in the New Agrarianism, has been helpful and supportive throughout. Special thanks to copyeditor Anna Laura Bennett for her patience, professionalism, and generous spirit.

Gary Nabhan, director of the Center for Sustainable Environments in Flagstaff, Arizona, read the whole text, and his comments strengthened it. Fred Kirschenmann, director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, read the entire text, made useful suggestions to strengthen it, and took time to visit with me about it when I had questions. Kamyar Enshayan, adjunct professor at the University of Northern Iowa, read portions of the manuscript and offered his encouragement.