Book review: ‘The Running Hare’ by John Lewis-Stempel

This book recounts writer and farmer John Lewis-Stempel’s one-year experiment farming rented arable land in a traditional way. His aim is to restore fertility and local native species by farming less intensively—and, presumably, to write a book in the process!

Such farming initiatives are to be encouraged—preferably through legislation and financial support—if we ever hope to undo some of the immense harm wreaked on our native flora and fauna by changes in agricultural practices during recent decades. But I have to question the worth of carrying out such an initiative for just a single year on somebody else’s land. I would have been more interested to read about a longer-term project.

That said, The Running Hare is an enjoyable read.