As I was reading “From the ground up” by Stephanie Anderson for the last edition of Women in Ag Magazine, I was reminded of December 2020. In late November of that year, I suffered a microscopic brain hemorrhage, small enough that nothing serious happened, but bad enough for a reality check. During the weeks of rest prescribed by the doctor, I was often brooding about how I would have liked to have continued my grandparents’ floristry business, but also about our common agricultural practices. I read “One size fits none” by Stephanie Anderson during that period, in addition to “Dirt to soil” by Gabe Brown and “The third plate” by Dan Barber. These three books opened my eyes and helped me make choices for our own microfarm.
“One size fits none” is a nonfiction book that, for me, reads as smoothly as a good fiction book. They are not fantasies but real stories from the field, and because of Stephanie Anderson’s writing style, the stories are tangible. Stephanie grew up on a traditional American Midwest farm, her father following the Earl Butz mantra: ‘Get big or get out’. That mantra is at the root of many problems our industry is struggling with in the U.S., Canada, as well as in Europe and other parts of the world. With her book, Stephanie shows that agriculture can be done differently. The book goes far beyond a simple critique of industrial agriculture; it constitutes a plea for regenerative farming methods – approaches that strengthen rather than deplete soil, biodiversity and local communities.
Anderson describes in clear, accessible language how mainstream agricultural practices in the United States often revolve around large-scale monoculture, reliance on fertilizers and pesticides, and increasingly heavy reliance on mechanization. She shows how this “one size fits all” approach leads not only to soil and natural resource depletion, but also to social and economic problems for farmers.
What makes the book so compelling is how Anderson connects these general problems to concrete, human stories. She travels the country interviewing farmer after farmer – from a bison farmer in South Dakota to an organic vegetable grower in Florida to a small-scale urban farmer in New Mexico – and shows how diverse practices beyond conventional agriculture are not only ecologically valuable, but also socially meaningful. This makes the theme not abstract, but relatable and inspiring.
The different stories also clarify the book’s title. When farmers break away from conventional practices, “one size fits all” no longer holds true. Clearly, “one size fits none”!
I re-read the book for this edition of Women in Ag Magazine, and the hope I felt after the first read in 2020 came back to me. There is hope and a bright future for our industry, and the stories in this book prove it.
One size fits none – A Farm Girl’s Search for the Promise of Regenerative Agriculture By Stephanie Anderson
Published by: University Of Nebraska Press
Paperback – 312 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1496205056
