Clinton P. Anderson, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from 1945 to 1948, pointed to the USDA 1948 Yearbook Grass as part of a “plan for a more secure agriculture in the United States.” He went on to suggest that grasslands were the “foundation of security in agriculture” and that grass not only enhanced conservation but also supported “good farming” and “prosperity.”

The 1948 version of Grass was a visionary text that made the case for the importance of grass in the nation’s life. Grass-based systems, as Henry A. Wallace put it eight years earlier, “must be permanently a part of our agriculture if it is to have the strength it will need in the future.”

In the decades that followed with ample and cheap fossil fuel resources available, agricultural systems no longer relied on grass for its productivity and sustainability. However, energy challenges of the 21st century make this grass-based vision for agriculture newly relevant today.

With a generous grant from the Wallace Genetic Foundation, the Leopold Center’s Ecology Initiative assembled a team to update the 1948 Yearbook of Agriculture, Grass. The new book is Grassland: Quietness and Strength for a New American Agriculture, published in May by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America (ASA-CSSA-SSSA).

The book was edited by Iowa State University Emeritus Professor Walt Wedin, currently adjunct professor in the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics at the University of Minnesota; and ISU agronomy professor Steve Fales. Leopold Center Ecology Initiative leader Jeri Neal and Leopold Center Distinguished Fellow Fred Kirschenmann worked with the team of eight national authorities who provided leadership for the project. More than 65 writers contributed to the project.

“This book makes a compelling case for why grassland should be a permanent component of our agriculture,” Neal said. “It places grassland plants into the ecology of farming. Grass-based systems have a vital role in ensuring the sustainability of our agricultural production systems.”

The complete 1948 USDA yearbook is provided on a searchable CD that accompanies the new book. Wendell Berry, a farmer and author of more than 40 books and essays about culture and agriculture, provides a moving foreword on the importance of educating future farmers about the land and the roles of grasslands. Berry writes:

True farmers have minds that are complex and responsible. They understand and honor their debts to nature. They understand and honor their obligations to neighbors and consumers. They understand and respect the land’s need to be protected from washing. . . . In the time that is coming, we are going to need many more such farmers than we have, and we will need them much sooner than we can expect to get them. We will get them only to the extent that young people come along who are willing to fit their farming to the nature of their farms and their home landscapes, and who recognize the paramount importance of grass and grazing animals to good farming everywhere.

The book is divided into three main sections that highlight the voices of grassland advocates through history, examine the many functions of grassland today, and look at the benefits grass-based agriculture can provide when grass is treated as an essential resource.

• “Past Is Prologue,” tracks the history of grassland farming, emphasizing some of the philosophical arguments that advocate for grasslands as a vital component of an evolving American society.
• “The Present: Transitions over 60 Years,” aims to provide the reader the foundation needed to move into the future, including updated information on cropping systems that include perennial grasses and legumes.
• “The Forward Look: Opportunities and Challenges,” examines the role of grass-based agriculture in maintaining the stability of rural communities, including the human health benefits when grasses and legumes are made a primary resource in the food chain.

The book is available for $80 from ASA-CSSA-SSSA at www.societystore.org, by phone at (608) 268-4960, or by e-mail: books@agronomy.org. Tri-Society members may purchase copies at the membership rate of $64.