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A Bold Return to Giving a Damn

One Farm, Six Generations, and the Future of Food

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A Bold Return to Giving a Damn

By: Will Harris
Narrated by: Will Harris
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About this listen

 "If I could have one wish it is that every eater in America would read this book." —Ruth Reichl

From a pioneer of the regenerative agriculture movement, a memoir-meets-manifesto on betting the farm on a better future for our food, animals, land, local communities, and our climate

Raised as a fourth-generation farmer, when Will Harris inherited White Oak Pastures he was a full-time commodity cowboy who played hard and fast with every tool the system offered – chemicals, antibiotics, steroids, and more. His ancestors had built a highly profitable, conventionally-run machine, but over time he found himself disgusted with the excess, cruelty, and smalltown devastation this system entailed. So he bet the farm on forging a different way of doing things. One that works with nature not against it, and bridges the quickly widening delta between consumers and their food. Armed with tenacity, conviction and an outsized tolerance for risk, Harris called his approach “radical traditional” and it made him the pioneer of regenerative agriculture long before the phrase existed.

At once an intimate, multi-generational memoir and a microcosm of American agriculture at large, A BOLD RETURN TO GIVING A DAMN offers a pathway back to producing food the right way. At a time when food supply chains are straining, climate-induced catastrophes are playing havoc with harvests, and concern around who owns America’s farmland are more prescient than ever, Will Harris urges us to consider where the food we eat really comes from, and to re-connect to the places and people who raise what we eat each day. With keen storytelling, a good dose of irreverence, and an unflinching willingness to speak truth to power, Harris shows us why it’s never been more important to know your farmer than now.

Featured in Food and Country directed by Laura Gabbert and Ruth Reichl Business Business Development Business Development & Entrepreneurship Professionals & Academics
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Most relevant
Amazing and eloquent story telling from someone who has walked a hard line for a better future.

Inspirational Grit

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This book was on my favourite subject of regenerative farming so was an easy sell. In saying that the journey and struggle of this farm is an eye opener and I learned a lot from it and a bit more about the food industry in the US. Took me a little while to get used to the accent but I loved it.

My favourite subject

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a bit of hope for a future. will Harris is an inspiration and his ideas will correct my path

beautifully written and read

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I've long been interested in a future of farming. This book is an inspiration to do it the right way. After seeing Will on Rogan, I've been meaning to get to this book. Listened to it twice. Delivered with energy and passion. The land can do great things for us when treated the right way. Look forward to visiting the farm next trip to the states!

Inspiration to Farm

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A great book that will open your eyes to the on going destruction of farm land and the change in food systems bought about by “big food”. Will has turned his practices around for the better of human health, land health and the animals well being.

The message of regenerative farming and a return to healthy food.

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.