I can’t pretend to have thought deeply about modern farming. Like many people, I’m aware in general terms of what the industrialization of farming and the demands for ever cheaper food have done to our environment and to rural communities. James Rebanks, on the other hand, has thought deeply about the subject. His family has farmed in England’s Lake District for more than 600 years. Just think about that. Six centuries of uninterrupted labor on the land, striving to eke a living generation after generation. English Pastoral is his sustained reflection on farming’s past, present, and future. It’s simply an extraordinary achievement and one that has been lauded since its publication last year. I’m not sure I would have become aware of it if it wasn’t being so widely promoted in London’s bookshops when I was there recently. Pretty much every store I entered had it displayed prominently, no doubt to capitalize on the huge interest in books about nature that we see at the moment.

Rebanks writes with deep compassion for his family, his land, his livestock, his community, and the wider world. He asks the tough questions. How do we feed a planet without destroying it? How do farming families make a decent living while respecting and preserving the lands they love? Rebanks doesn’t have all the answers. He doesn’t pretend to. Weaning the world from a diet of cheap food may be a commendable goal, but how do you achieve it when poverty is on the rise? English Pastoral is one man’s reflection on the serious challenges we face, informed by expertise, decency, and a determination to preserve the land for future generations. It’s a must-read.