BY JACQUELINE JARIK
AGATE PUBLISHING
AUBURN — On Friday, Aug. 23 at 6:30 p.m., Auburn Oil Co. Booksellers will celebrate the release of award-winning journalist and local author Roger Thurow’s newest book, Against the Grain. Thurow will discuss his new book, answer questions, and sign copies.
Against the Grain draws on the author’s four decades of journalism and humanitarian experience to explore how the practices of modern agriculture often turn against the farmers themselves, leading to malnutrition in their families, degradation of their soil and other environmental calamities that threaten their lives and their livelihoods. The result is a profound narrative of heroic farmers around the world confronting the collision of humanity’s two supreme imperatives: nourishing us all and preserving the planet from the very consequences of growing our food.
As rising global temperatures break records and disrupt global weather patterns, farmers have been forced to face the effects of modern-day agricultural practices on the land they till and the environment at large. A focus on high-yielding, fast-growing crops has created a chemical-reliant, monocropping system that contributes to depleted soils, dwindling water resources, vanishing forests, endangered biodiversity and the release of greenhouse gases.
Against the Grain spotlights shareholder, indigenous and family farmers who have turned away from that system, focusing instead on regenerating the soil and growing more diverse, nutritious food. Author Roger Thurow brings readers on a transcontinental journey through the pioneering efforts of these farmers to farm against the grain of industrial agriculture, to terrace and diversify fields, to embrace agroforestry and to restore community traditions in the fight against abiding hunger and changing climates.
Booklist noted, “Providing essential knowledge about the power of regenerative soil and ecosystem health in a world where far too many experience hunger, Thurow shares the perspectives of individuals trying to effect changes that will have lasting, positive impacts on global food supplies.”
To learn more visit https://auburnoilbooksellers.com/
