Consulting the Genius of the Place: An Ecological Approach to a New Agriculture

by Wes Jackson

Locavore leaders such as Alice Waters, Michael Pollan, and Barbara Kingsolver all speak of the need for sweeping changes in how we get our food. Also a longtime leader of this movement is Wes Jackson, who, for decades, has taken it upon himself to speak for the grasses and the land of the prairie, to speak for the soil itself. Here, he offers a manifesto toward a conceptual Jackson asks us to look to natural ecosystems — or, if one prefers, nature in general — as the measure against which we judge all of our agricultural practices.

Wes Jackson believes the time is right to do away with monocultures, which are vulnerable to national security threats and are partly responsible for the explosion in our healthcare costs. Soil erosion, overgrazing, and the poisons polluting our water and air — all associated with our contemporary form of American agriculture — foretell a population with its physical health and land destroyed.

In this eloquent and timely call to arms, Jackson asks us to look to nature itself to lead us out of the mess we’ve made. We do this by consulting with the natural ecosystems that will tell us, if we listen, what should happen to the future of food.

Genres: Agriculture, Food, Nonfiction, Nature, Environment, Sustainability, Gardening

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Fernleaf · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not get what I was expecting with this book. Where I was expecting a little bit of farming philosophy I got a lot of it, and where I was expecting more how-to style information I got none of it. Wes Jackson comments on the history of agriculture and ecology, the trajectory of modern man, the flaws in current thinking, and offers some guideposts towards a more stable future.

Wes Jackson has worked with The Land Institute for many years trying to affect change in the way we feed ourselves. His core tenet is that humans should judge all our agricultural activities by a standard set by nature. As part of that he has done all he can to facilitate the development of perennial grain polycultures to replace our current annual monocultures. He strongly believes (and makes a great case for) the need to adjust our agricultural system so that it more closely mimics a natural ecology.

One thing that struck me while reading this was the similar tones I felt as many of the permaculture books that I read. The need for a different system, one much more complex and diverse than what we have, much of his work echoes the same feelings.

[Benjamin Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book from Wes Jackson.

[C. Christopher Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://erb.kingdomnow.org/featured-co...

In a nutshell:
This is a book that we cannot afford to ignore, though its solutions are not magic, but rather are rooted in the sort of wisdom that calls us to deny ourselves and the consumptive patterns of the world into which we have been formed and to allow our minds to be made new and our hearts transformed. Yes, there is indeed a gospel of hope here, one that resonates with the faith to which we have been called in Christ, and like the biblical gospel, we cannot hear the good news clearly until we have come to a deep understanding of the mess in which we find ourselves.

[Kristi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Consulting The Genius is more or less Jackson's manifesto about our need for change in our food system. He advocates for perennializing grains to mimic native prairies, which has been a focus of his research efforts at The Land Institute in Kansas. His jointly proposed visionary 50 year farm bill, submitted to Congress in 2009, is also included in the book. Great insights, but a little wordy, dry, and disjointed at times.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Consulting the genius of the place: listen to the land. Don't try to grow lawns in the desert. Try to avoid monoculture plantings, because if that crops fails, there is nothing to fall back on. Wes Jackson, Wendell Berry. Old school rules.

[Brigid · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read portions of this book, and I found that much of it to be either over my head or not interesting to me.

[Kristen Ridley · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's some deep, deep wisdom here.

The part detailing the developing perennial grains will probably be boring to most, but I enjoyed it.