About the Book

Our industrial food system is failing—hope lies with a new generation of farmers.

Within the decade, 400 million acres of American farmland—nearly half of all farmland in America—will become available as an older generation of farmers retire. The farmers stepping up to steward this land will be faced with issues like rising land costs, soil erosion, dietary health epidemics, food inequality, and more. A Call to Farms is an investigative travelogue of these new American agrarians who are modeling what a better, more sustainable future could look like.
In this optimistic narrative, journalist Jennifer Grayson introduces readers to farmers across America turning to practices both ancestral and cutting-edge that preserve the environment and make healthy, fresh food accessible to all. From a 1-acre “market garden” in Oregon to a Japanese American no-till farm in Connecticut, to a master gardener combatting food apartheid in South Carolina, these narratives are a must-read for those interested in American foodways and reimagining our agricultural system.