Author:
DeVore, Brian, author.
ImprintMadison, Wisconsin : The University of Wisconsin Press, [2018]
Descriptionxiii, 205 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Note:Introduction: A day on the farm, a night on the river -- Beyond the pond: how one farm measures success -- A place in the country: improving the view in the midst of an industrial landscape -- Blurring the boundaries: community conservation and the power of a common goal -- Brotherhood of the bobolink: in search of the ultimate indicator species -- Raising expectations: a team's refusal to accept a degraded resource -- Feeding innovation's roots: true believers, late adopters, and the power of the soil pit -- Wrapping around the wrinkles: expanding the land's potential by recognizing its limitations -- Resiliency vs. regret: what domesticated ag can learn from its wild neighbors -- Which came first the farmer or the ecologist? The new Agrarians and their environmental roots -- Hubs of hop: the connection between inebriated grasshoppers and your dinner plate -- Wildly optimistic: it's hard to be a pessimist in a land of new possibilities.
Bibliography Note:Includes bibliographical references and index.
Note:Wildly Successful Farming tells the stories of farmers across the American Midwest who are balancing profitability and food production with environmental sustainability and a passion for all things wild. They are using innovative techniques and strategies to develop their "wildly" successful farms as working ecosystems. Whether producing grain, vegetables, fruit, meat, or milk, these next-generation agrarians look beyond the bottom line of the spreadsheet to the biological activity on the land as key measures of success. Written by agricultural journalist Brian DeVore, the book is based on interviews he has conducted at farms, wildlife refuges, laboratories, test plots, and gardens over the past twenty-five years. He documents innovations in cover cropping, managed rotational grazing, perennial polyculture, and integrated pest management. His accounts provide insight into the impacts regenerative farming methods can have on wildlife, water, landscape, soils, and rural communities and suggest ways all of us can support wildly successful farmers.
