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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
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English
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THE NEW FARM

Brent Preston

Our Ten Years on the Front Lines of the Good Food Revolution

After years of working at the ends of the earth in human rights and development, Brent Preston and his wife were die-hard city dwellers. But when their second child arrived, the shine came off urban living. In 2003 they bought a hundred acres and a rundown farmhouse and set out to build a real farm, one that would sustain their family, nourish their community, heal their environment, and turn a profit.
The New Farm is Preston's memoir of a decade of grinding toil and perseverance. Farming is a complex and precarious business, and they made plenty of mistakes along the way. But as they learned how to grow food, and to succeed at the business of farming, they also found that a small, sustainable, organic farm could be an engine for change, a path to a more just and sustainable food system. Today, The New Farm supplies top restaurants, supports community food banks, hosts events with leading chefs, and grows extraordinary produce. Told with humor and heart, The New Farm is a joy, a passionate book by an important new voice.

Brent Preston worked as a human rights investigator, aid worker, election observer, and journalist on four continents before finding his true calling as a farmer. With his wife, he runs The New Farm outside Creemore, Ontario.
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Book

Published 2018-03-27 by Abrams Press

Book

Published 2018-03-27 by Abrams Press

Comments

Preston uses brilliant storytelling and brutal honesty to describe what it takes to create both a viable organic farm and a more meaningful life for himself and his family. The New Farm is the kind of book that will inspire people to make positive change.

Film/tv rights were optioned to Northwood Production, the producer who did "Anne with an E" for Netflix.

Civil Eats talked to Preston about the lessons he and Flies learned from their first decade of rural experience, advice for other well-intentioned (and sometimes naïve) aspiring farmers, and what it might take to bridge the seemingly unbridgeable gap between conventional and organic farming.... Read more...

Brent Preston's TED Talk - "The World needs LESS Food" Read more...

Both a book about the food system and a tell-all of his journey... The ups, and mostly downs, he describes might have been a trial but they do make for a good read. Read more...

An inspiring, galloping story of a farm that works - for everyone.

A must-read story told with honesty, humor, and humility by a passionate farmer who reminds us what our food system can and should be about.

The New Farm: Author Q&A - An Abrams Audio Extra Read more...

Article: THE NEW FARM: BRENT PRESTON, STORYTELLER, AND FARMER OF A NEW KIND OF FARM... Forget factory farms and chasing bigger and bigger yields year after year. The New Farm is all about values and stewardship and keeping your eyes on the prize. It does well by doing good... Read more...

This book is a must-read for new and aspiring organic farmers and those who care about organic food. ... informative and thoroughly entertaining book Read more...

Article about The New Farm: Here's what dinner looks like at The New Farm, a 100-acre organic farm in Creemore... Read more...

A terrific book. This city-slickers-struggle-to-become-farmers tale turns out to be so much more. Brent Preston recognizes that 'food is everything' and offers proof that individuals working small plots of land can transform that very food, which we rely on for our health and happiness. The New Farm is a compelling memoir, told in a fresh, original voice, about what matters most in life.

A great gift for anyone interested in how their food is raised... [Preston] is a gifted writer with a fully intact sense of humor, so the story rolls right along. ...If we are ever to find a real alternative to the devastations of industrial agriculture, Mr. Preston's is exactly the kind of voice we need to hear. Read more...

The book was on various Canadian bestseller lists: #1 Independent Bookstores Overall Bestseller, #1 Independent Bookstores Canadian Nonfiction Bestseller, #2 Globe and Mail Canadian Nonfiction Bestseller, #4 Globe and Mail Overall Nonfiction Bestseller.

...the book teaches us the kind of persistence and dedication running a farmor any businessdemands. It teaches us that, if you hang in there, even when the going gets tough, things can work out. The New Farm also provides thought-provoking insight into why people choose to farm organically and eat organic food, and how organic food and farming offers a solution to many environmental and food system issues we face. Read more...