An Agricultural and Conservation Prophet

By Reviewed by Rupert Cutler

Wendell Berry is a towering figure among those of us who appreciate the beauty and productivity of a landscape of small farms and farm woodlots. Like others concerned about the health of land and the welfare of those who farm it, he has grieved to watch the land’s original wealth of deep topsoil washed away, its rivers degraded and its farming- and forestry-dependent small rural communities wither and die, in part because of environmental mismanagement. Unlike many others, he has done something about it.

For more than three decades, and particularly since publication of “The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture” in 1977, Berry has been recognized as an eloquent voice crying in the American political wilderness for the adoption of better agricultural policies and better ways to farm, to maintain an ecologically sound and sustainable agriculture-based economy across rural America. This book, “Wendell Berry: Life and Work” — a collection of essays on the many facets of Berry’s life and times by 30 author-friends of his — is powerful testimony to the high regard in which he is held by his peers.

It is also a valuable introduction to the writing styles and core beliefs of the contributors who include Bill McKibben, Wes Jackson and Barbara Kingsolver. It opens doors to a universe of books by these authors that one can’t wait to read, given this taste of their writing. That the editor of this book, Augustana College associate professor of English Jason Peters, gained the cooperation of such a rich variety of scholars and writers, to appraise Berry’s essays, novels and poems and describe his profound influence as an activist and artist, is a tribute to his perseverance.

Berry was born in 1934 in Henry County, Ky. After he earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in English from the University of Kentucky, he attended Stanford University’s creative writing program and studied under Wallace Stegner. Between 1964 and 1977 he taught creative writing at the University of Kentucky. In 1965, he moved to a farm he purchased on the bank of the Kentucky River near Port Royal, Ky., near his parents’ birthplaces. There, he has farmed, resided and written to the present day.

His writing reflects his belief that one’s work ought to be rooted in and responsive to one’s place.

The good life, according to Berry, includes sustainable agriculture, appropriate technologies, healthy rural communities, connection to place, the pleasures of good food, husbandry, good work, local economies and the interconnectedness of life.

I was pleased when I received this book to review because Berry and I, it seems, have gone down different paths to tackle some of the same problems. We are the same age, share a lifelong devotion to conserving our natural resources legacy and taught at the university level. But I took the path to service in environmental protection advocacy groups and government agencies where I worked directly on passage of environmental protection laws.

His path has been through inspired writing — some 16 novels, 30 works of nonfiction, 30 works of poetry — and the creation of a large, informed and energized audience that in turn has influenced, and continues to influence, the political process. And he is still going strong.

I recommend this book to all who love the land and its hard- working stewards.

WENDELL BERRY: Life and Work Edited by Jason Peters. The University Press of Kentucky. 349 pages. $35

RUPERT CUTLER of Roanoke was an assistant secretary of agriculture in the Carter administration.

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