In the depths of a dark January, this was a powerful read.

"I had inherited a complex bundle of economic and ecological challenges - and that, perhaps, was what it really meant to be a farmer...a farm swallows you up, takes everything you have, and then asks for more. It is also an exercise in humility: you can’t do it alone."

In his mid-forties, now a father, the author looks back at what it means to be a farmer in present-day England, but also what it means to bear the weight of the inheritance of farming he has received from his father and grandfather. Men who inhabited and raised him in what is now an unrecognisable world.

There is a real sense of poignancy in this text, and I think I received this book better now I'm closer to the author's age, than I would if I was a younger reader. He writes of being born into a farming world that was already passing away when he was young. Yet, beyond the land owned by his family, farming beyond England was changing, and this book is his record of how he - unlike those before him - have had to deal with these changes, and profoundly adapt - changes related to mechanisation and the economy, but more ominously, of the irrevocably changing climate.

Continuity and the break from it is the recurrent theme of the book. I am a city dweller, not a frequent reader of writing on the natural world, but the text and his description of the land and its changes had me transfixed. I had never really considered what an act of faith it is to work the land and how dependant you are on methods, tools, wildlife, and the weather. "A hard way of living made for hard people."

Yet this book shows that change is messy but inevitable. What does it mean to inherit a tradition, to be in love with something ancient and beautiful and painful - and to be unsure if it will even last out your lifetime, let alone that of your children?

Most of all this is a book about what it means to be a son and a father, about dealing with grief, and the weight of these roles, these vocations, even. "We each have but a fleeting moment between those who came before and those who come afterwards." How does one continue a tradition in the wake of death, at the anger of a world passing away, and still have the courage to adapt that tradition and land in ways that could never have been imagined? What does it mean to have the courage to change?

I learnt so much from this book - about the nature of farming, of raising cattle, of the differences in the work done by hand and that by mechanisation and chemicals, of the frightening changes in the breeding and feeding that have gone in my own lifetime, the shift into 'units of production,' the importance of the quality of soil, and the stunning decline of birds, butterflies and hedgehogs.

I eagerly commend this book - and this comes as a shock, as I profoundly disliked the author's first book, a quasi-biography which was greeted by vast acclaim. I found this a better read in every way.

This book could have easily been parochial and depressing, but it is a text founded on realism, of what it means to survive and for the land to survive. He reports of the adaptations that he has made in his work, taking the best of ancient practices and combining them where possible with new, sustainable methods - "to build a new English Pastoral: not a utopia, but somewhere decent for us all."

I really enjoyed this book, especially the evocative descriptions of the author's childhood spent in great part with his grandfather. I could see the fields and smell the meadow. At a time when the environment and human impacts are being scrutinised everywhere, this is a soul searching but true story of one family's life in farming and living well. Everyone should read it.

This is an absolutely marvellous book, the best book I've read this year and although it's still January I can't imagine that I'll read a better book all year. It is inspirational as well as informative and it is beautifully written. I enjoyed his account of his childhood and his nostalgia at looking back at how his grandfather farmed the land. And I was enlightened about current farming practices and the effects they have on the land, depleting the soil of nutrients.

But all is not doom and gloom as Rebanks also explains what can be done to put things right, how we can achieve a balance of farmed and wild landscapes, by limiting use of some of the technological tools we've used over the last 50 years so that methods based on mixed farming and rotation can be re -established. By encouraging more diverse farm habitats, rotational grazing and other practices that mimic natural processes we can transform rural Britain.

I loved this book and came away with much to think about and also hope for the future.

What a beautifully written book. The story it tells - of how British farming has changed over the past few decades, and the toll this took on the environment and farmers - is very familiar, almost to the point of cliche. But it's so well-excuted, well-written, and heartfelt that you can't mind. I read this book in one entire sitting, and it's stayed with me ever since. It does make you think differently about farming, ecology, and heritage.

After a idyllic childhood, and a grandfather who instilled in him a love of the farming life in the Lake District, James Rebanks left his family farm, as a young man.
Having seen other places of the world and seen farming in all its modern guises, he begins to understand what his grandfather saw in the old ways. He remembers the beauty of the lakes area and traditions of dry stone walls and small farms dotted around, so when he returns, he is full of ideas that might bring their farm into the modern era without ruining it’s traditions, but making it a more economic working farm.
His father inherited the farm, and is struggling to keep it going, so James tries to help to modernise, to keep the farm going. This book celebrates the heritage of the past, whilst acknowledging current trends, but as his idea’s formulate he realises that the old traditions have a place in the modern world.

This is a gorgeous and sometimes lyrical book, about what we have lost in the hunt for cheap food, I like his descriptions on the nature of conservation, and the need to enjoy our landscape, and it’s beauty. But
This book also shows us how hard a small farmers life can be to make ends meet, and keep going, but it does leave you with hope, for our future.

This is a Thoughtful and thought provoking book.

I loved this book. For me it’s as important as Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and deserves to be widely read. She warned us about what we were doing to the world and James Rebank’s English Pastoral gives us hope that we can come through the other side before it’s too late.

Seeing things from a farmer’s perspective was very enlightening and his love for his farm shines through. He takes his role as steward of his land and bringing up his children to love it, respect it and treat it properly very seriously and I admire him and his achievements immensely.

Farmers are stuck between a rock and a hard place, A huge population to feed and supermarkets pushing down prices make it hard for them to make a living while being able to look after their land and livestock in the way they would ideally want to. James shows us that it’s possible to find a way to move forwards in a way that maintains diversity and the health of the land. The rewilding of his farm and it’s returning health and wildlife are described eloquently, with feeling and some beautiful turns of phrase. It made me think even more about the food I buy, how it’s produced and what I can do to encourage and allow farmers to look after their farms to benefit them, the environment and ultimately everyone.

Just read it.

I’m not remotely connected with farming, but do live in the country, surrounded by barley fields. This book has a unique combination of poetic writing and hard-headed Northern common sense. Prospects for our environment and biodiversity will make your hair stand on end, but, it’s a hopeful book at heart and not at all depressing . Anyone of any consequence should read this book. This is a book I would not normally pick up to read, but I am glad I did, it pulled me into a world I new not enough about. Highly recommended

This book deals with an overlooked aspect of modern food, how we treat our land and what it means to be a farmer. It was fantastic to see three generations captured (the sign of an authentic farmer). Having worked in farming I am always surprised why people remain in job that receives no thanks yet without this work, we would struggle. Highly recommended reading for anyone interested in food or the environment.

I enjoyed this book much more than the author's previous book. It's definitely a book to make you stop and think, and appreciate the price we have all paid for cheap food. well-written and persuasive this is definitely a book I will (and already have) recommend.

This beautifully written memoir moved me to tears as I read about the destruction of the land, and the dismantling of years of farming knowledge in the wake of mechanisation and a relentless demand for cheaper food.
James Rebanks' Grandfather knew his land and his stock intimately, and all of his farming was based in that knowledge. But James' father found himself stuck in between the old methods and the new: he had to modernise to survive, even when that meant breaking the family connection to the rhythms of the land.
"But for all that, nature is not spent", and James himself has found a balance and a joy in returning to working with the land and seasons, rather than fighting them. This is a hopeful book, in the end, but also a grim warning about greed and short-term gain at the expense of long-term sustainability.

Lyrically written another gorgeous book by the author.A book that takes Uppsala vpback in time to his youth life on the farm with his grandfather and father.A book that involves today’s political climate with his daily life.This is such a beautiful special look at life highly recommended this author his books,#netgalley#penguinpresuj

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and learned so much about farming techniques and the history of land management (and mis-management). Kudos to the author for turning his farm around. The descriptions of the Yorkshire locations made me want to go on holiday there again and walk through those lovely fields.

An atmospheric, lyrical book which is both memoir - telling the story of James' upbringing in an almost vanished world of farming with his father and grandfather, and taking over the family farm - and a sociological/political manifesto, a passionate plea to us all to farm land in a more sustainable way that values farmers' experience and knowledge, and that respects nature over supermarket profits.

A very enjoyable read, one I'll be thinking about for a long time.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an ARC.

This was my first James Rebanks book, and not necessarily my usual thing. He makes such good justification for farming in a more traditional and sustainable way and does so in a very readable book. I hope all agricultural students have this on their reading list. I particularly enjoyed the story of his upbringing on the farm and his relationships with his father and grandfather and this was woven well into the agricultural discussion. He made a very strong case, but not in a preachy way.

Hear, hear! It’s time the politicians realised that farmers know what is best for their land and stopped the supermarket chains from dictating how our food is produced.
Absolutely loved the down to earth writing and descriptions of the farm evolving back in most ways to how farmers have farmed for perhaps thousands of years.
This should be on the school curriculum!

This struck me for its bravery, good sense and humility. I found Rebanks’ first book, The Shepherd’s Life, overrated; not only is the writing better here, but the topics of the degradation of land and the dangers of intensive farming are of the utmost importance. Daring to undermine his earlier work and his online persona, the author questions the mythos of modern farming, pointing out the ways in which he and his father were drawn into unwise practices and contrasting these with the more sustainable and wildlife-friendly ones his grandfather had espoused. Old-fashioned can still be best if it means preserving soil health, river quality and the curlew population.

Rebanks also recalls trips to Australia and the American Midwest, where he realized the true costs of intensive, monoculture farming, as opposed to the small-scale, mixed rotational farming that is traditional in the UK. Rather than wallowing in nostalgia or guilt, neither of which does anyone much good, he chronicles how he has taken steps to restore his land as part of a wider ecosystem. It takes courage to publicly change one’s mind and follow through on it, and I felt the author was aware of nuances and passionate about working with ecologists to see that his farm is heading in the right direction. He has 200 plant species growing on his land, but planted additional key species that were missing; he hasn’t used artificial fertilizer in over five years; and he’s working towards zero pesticides.

This was a great follow-up to other books I’ve been reading recently about environmentalism and long-term thinking, such as Losing Eden (which, similarly, took inspiration from Silent Spring) and The Good Ancestor, and should attract readers of Wilding by Isabella Tree. I hope it will go far in next year’s Wainwright Prize race.

Favorite lines:

“In a noisy age, I think perhaps trying to live quietly might be a virtue.”

“We are choking to death on our own freedoms. The merest mention that we might buy less, or give anything up, and we squeal like pigs pushed away from the trough.”


[Some unfortunate proofreading issues here, though: he almost always says “[person/people] that” rather than “who”; there are three severe homonym slips (“peddle” for pedal, “yoke” for yolk, and, worst of all, “sewn” for sown!); and he refers to the hymn as “We plough the seed and scatter” - it should be fields.]

James Rebanks has done it again. This book is a glorious thing, it is a memoir about family, place and landscape that pulls you in and you never want to leave. It takes important issues like climate, wildlife, farming, food, biodiversity and interweaves them with memories and family life that bring them alive. An important book that shows the true power and presence of nature writing, it's perfect.

Such atmospheric, lyrical telling of what English family life was like. It was a perfect read with amazing writing.

Rebanks deserves serious praise with this book. If you're interested in the subject. you must read it.

Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.

A vivid description as to what English farming used to be like in the early 20th century alongside a number of suggestions as to which parts of it's past could benefit farming today. Lyrically written by a 3rd generation farmer who clearly loves working with the land and his livestock. James Rebanks blends idealism with realism. In doing so writes he convincingly of he huge responsibility farmers have to balance profitability and preservation on the land they tend. Everyone who reads this will appreciate its gentle telling and come away with great respect for farmers like James. Long may such as he be able to continue leading the pastoral life - we need them.

As with James Rebanks' last book, this is a read everything has to stop for.

My family had to cook their own meals as I just couldn't bear to stop until I had finished it.

James writes with such feeling for the land and animals surrounding him, the history just bubbles up and engulfs you.

I would give it 10 stars if I could, best book of 2020.