Stories of life, land and a farming revolution
Review by Elizabeth Wainwright
As I walk the lanes around my home in Devon, I look at hedgerows, fields and farms, and think about the political and economic forces affecting the British countryside. The challenges of climate change, Brexit, changing farm subsidies, biodiversity loss and falling incomes mean that change is coming. Rooted is Sarah Langford’s moving exploration of these changes, and of what the future holds. She tells the story of leaving her career as a barrister in London and moving, in 2017, with her young family to Suffolk (an unwanted and unplanned move), taking on the management of her husband’s family farm and reconnecting with her farming roots in the process. ‘In the city, we hold two contrasting pictures of a farmer: one from a children’s picture book and one from a poster of ecological destruction,’ she writes. ‘I wonder if anyone knows what being a farmer means anymore. I need to find out because now, unexpectedly, I have been given a chance to become one.’
Langford also tells the stories of farmers who are quietly leading an agricultural revolution. ‘It is a revolution that might just abate a climate crisis, a physical and mental health crisis, and a biodiversity crisis,’ she writes. She shines a light on the human side of farming, on the real cost of cheap food and on the regenerative choices some farmers are making. ‘All of us are connected to farmers, and them to us. They may represent just one per cent of our workforce but they look after 70 per cent of our land. Their choices affect us all.’
The gap between city and country can feel wider than ever today. This book helps to bridge it. It’s an eloquent and absorbing read, suitable for all. ‘As we navigate a lonely online future some [farmers] have learned lessons about life that even those who will never set foot in a field may find valuable.’
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