Mary Ridder, Roots of Change: Nebraska’s New Agriculture

Richard Florida, author of a series of books on the relationship between the ‘‘creative class’’ and economic development, argues that the path to economic vibrancy lies in creating the conditions that catalyze social diversity and cultural creativity. Florida confines his thesis to urban areas, but Roots of Change: Nebraska’s New Agriculture is a testimony to rural residents who are also harnessing a creative impulse to culturally enliven and economically renew their communities. Mary Ridder’s brief book is a nice compliment to Florida’s work. Just as a creative class has emerged inside metropolitan circles, Ridder shows us that this is not distinctly an urban phenomenon, but that rural America is rich with its own ‘rural creative class.’ Move over Austin, Seattle, San Francisco, make room for North Star, St. James, and Ord. In a very brief and readable monograph, Ridder has attempted to showcase numerous examples of agrofood creativity that are adding value to Nebraska agriculture. Ridder offers up what can be summarized as a smorgasbord of agrofood innovations that are intended to set a ‘‘new’’ agriculture apart from an ‘older’ agriculture. While the author does not explain what characterized the ‘old’ agriculture of Nebraska, she delights in spreading the gospel of value-added agriculture. The book is organized into 28 chapters. After an initial chapter introducing the reader to the origins of the Nebraska Cooperative Development Center (NCDC) which served as the catalyst for promoting value-added agricultural products in the state, the next 27 chapters are devoted to case studies which provide a brief profile of a variety of inspirational agro-entrepreneurial endeavors. The strength of this volume lies in the vast overview of new initiatives that Ridder has sought out, from a perch cooperative to a youth-run grocery store. Each chapter is very short (3–4 pages typically) but clearly the author has spent numerous hours interviewing rural entrepreneurs throughout the state. This suggested to me that she is very knowledgeable about Nebraska agriculture. After having read only two or three chapters I began to feel as if I were reading a travel book intended for agro-gourmands. As a matter of fact, I went to the bookcase and pulled out a map of Nebraska so I could visually follow Mary Ridder on her value-added trail. Some might refer to Ridder’s case studies as examples of a ‘‘civic agriculture’’ for which Lyson (2004) argued so eloquently; he viewed it as holding the promise for serving both the social and economic needs of rural communities and their residents. For instance, Ridder claims that the North Star Neighbors’ Natural Meat Cooperative fosters a ‘‘sense of community’’ (p. 46) or the Year Round Market Cooperative members say that they value getting to know their customers better so they can ‘‘put a face with the product’’ (p. 26). Just as its title promises, Roots of Change: Nebraska’s New Agriculture chronicles many of the changes taking place in agriculture and food in the Cornhusker state. It does not, however, as its title suggests, get at the roots of the change. If you are looking for explanations concerning drivers of change you will not find such a discussion here. Moreover, I am not sold by Ridder’s central premise that value-added agriculture constitutes a ‘‘new agriculture.’’ She does not tell us how this new entrepreneurialism for which she holds such unbridled enthusiasm departs from previous efforts. In many ways I see lingering impulses of W. Wright (&) Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA e-mail: wrightwy@anr.msu.edu