Practical Poetry An Interview with Wendell Berry

Readers, to mark our 50th anniversary as a magazine, we’re reprinting some of the more notable stories from our archive. This interview was originally published in the March/April 1973 issue. Wendell Berry is a poet, farmer, and cultural critic who was born and raised in Kentucky. He has lived and worked the land on his farm, Lane’s Landing, since 1965, and he was awarded the 2010 National Humanities Medal.— MOTHER

Mr. Berry, for some time now, you’ve been writing about the meaning of farming in your own life and its importance to the modern world. It seems more and more people are coming around to your point of view. Do you think small-scale farming is finally being reaccepted as a viable and necessary contribution to the stability of both urban and rural life?

I’m not sure. When I first started saying it was important to grow a garden, it seemed like really risky stuff to me. You can defend farming on an aesthetic basis, and say it’s a great thing to go off into the country and breathe good air and lead a healthy life and grow your own vegetables. That’s really nice and lovely. But to get on from there and say that you can learn things of great practical, moral,