Who's Minding the Farm?

A heartwarming informative and engaging account of sustainable farming down under.

Tim Flannery

Patrice Newell's account of life on the family farm in this era of climate change is as evocative as ever, but written with new urgency. This is the raw, unadulterated truth for all of us to absorb, because this is as basic as it gets. The future for our land and our food.

Kerry O'Brien

Throughout Who’s Minding the Farm? Newell offers a critical appraisal of our current fossil-fuel powered agricultural and industrial systems. More than criticisms, however, Newell offers a multitude of suggestions as to how we can make nutrient-rich and healing foods right here in Australia by restoring healthy soil and improving our agricultural practices. Moreover, Newell suggests that by using local, holistic knowledge, and by encouraging more young people back onto the land, regenerating the land will also mitigate the effects of climate change by storing carbon in the soil.

Michael McLoughlin, Readings Carlton

Newell’s rhetorical title question is a vital one. She can’t give us a conclusive answer, but by giving her readers knowledge of different farming practices and asking them to think about their effect on this wide brown land, she is doing the soil she loves a great service.

Candida Baker, The Age