Download Lentil Underground: Renegade Farmers and the Future of Food in America AudioBook Free
The story of the "Lentil Underground" starts on the 280-acre homestead rooted in America's Great Plains: the Oien family farm. Forty years back, corporate agribusiness told small farmers like the Oiens to "get big or get out." But 27-year-old David Oien made a decision to take a stand, becoming the first in his conventional Montana county to place a radically different crop: organic and natural lentils. Unlike the chemically based mostly grains American farmers have been told to expand, lentils make their own fertilizer and tolerate adjustable weather conditions, so their farmers aren't beholden to commercial methods. Today, Oien leads an underground network of organic and natural farmers who work with heirloom seed products and biologically diverse farm systems. Beneath the brand Timeless Natural Food, their unique business-cum-movement is continuing to grow into a million buck enterprise that sells to Full Foods, a huge selection of self-employed natural foods stores, and a bunch of renowned restaurants. From the heart and soul of Big Sky Country comes this motivating story of a small number of colorful pioneers who've effectively bucked the chemically established food string and the entrenched electricity of agribusiness's one percent. Journalist Liz Carlisle weaves an eye-opening and richly reported narrative which will be welcomed by everyone concerned with the continuing future of American agriculture.
