Big Team Farms: Growing Farms Differently

by Sarah K Mock

Though the small family farm is an American ideal, they’ve never actually been very successful. Yet the obsession with trying to save them continues, prompting the What if small family farms aren’t the best way to organize American agriculture?

From New Mexico’s high desert to Iowa’s hill country to the grassy expanses of the Carolinas, there is evidence that a better way exist. Big Team Farms is a journey among farm and food businesses that are challenging convention when thinking about growing food, working together, and caring for landscapes. These farms are not obsessing about small scale and family ownership, but instead prioritizing their customers, employees, and success as businesses.

Informed by deep research and personal experience, Big Team Farms tackles questions it possible to empower farmworkers without driving up food prices?How do we craft environmental protections without threatening the existence of farms?Are small, family-run farms the best option?In this captivating sequel to Farm (and Other F Words), Sarah K Mock explores alternative farm business models and shines a light on the often underestimated roles of collaboration, collectivism, and democracy in American agriculture, offering a hopeful vision for a future that’s more inclusive, resilient, and better for workers and consumers alike.

Genres: Nonfiction

183 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 9, 2022

About the author

The seed for Sarah K Mock’s passion for farming was planted on her family’s farm in Wyoming. As it grew, so too did her need to find the answer to a critical question: is it possible to farm without exploiting farmers, farmworkers, the environment, or communities? Mock’s search for answers took her around the globe, working in and around agriculture for non-profits, government organizations, Silicon Valley companies, the national news media, and directly with farms.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mock acknowledges in the preface and throughout the book the difficulties of the proposed solutions she offers given the policy and climate of the modern US. I know it's not necessarily what she sought out to do, but I would have liked a section about what specific policy changes at a state or federal level could help enable the vision of more equitable farms.

Certain recommendations feel a bit wishy-washy, but the general principles are sound.

[Gail Holman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank God someone is writing about and asking the right questions. Wish the solutions were simpler. Living in a rural ag community I almost am afraid for my safety, should I speak out. We have a long long way to go to build the relationships necessary for transformation. But thankfully, my neighbor grows tomatoes 😉