Louis Bromfield

Pulitzer-prize winning novelist Louis Bromfield became a voice for a new agriculture after witnessing the Dust Bowl’s devastation. Through his writings such as Pleasant Valley (1945), Malabar Farm (1948), and Out of the Earth (1950), Bromfield spoke for the need and the possibility of restorative farming and ranching. Through on-the-ground demonstration work at Malabar Farms in Ohio, he taught regenerative techniques like contour plowing, crop rotation, cover cropping, and composting. With backing from the Oklahoma oilman Lloyd Nobles, Bromfield took this effort to semi-arid north Texas in 1949, establishing the 411-acre Malabar Experimental Farm near Wichita Falls. Unfortunately, the demonstration ceased within 3 years due to water shortages, litigation, and financial challenges, but key lessons of stewardship ethics and practices remained.