I'd like to claim that it was wisdom and experience that turned me into a contrarian, but it may simply be due to an ornery streak. It surely wasn't a desire for ease and comfort; when you start giving credence to non-standard points of view, quite often you end up concluding that the world at large is wrong and possibly crazy—and it doesn't take much of that to start you questioning your own sanity.
The story of Sir Albert Howard is both a great case study for contrarians, and a great puzzle. Howard is unquestionably the father of organic agriculture; the great popularizer of the organic movement, J.I. Rodale, acknowledged him as such and saw himself as building on Howard's foundation. And yet Howard is not only long-forgotten by organic advocates, a comparison of Howard's ideas with the character of today's organic operations will leave you scratching your head, wondering whether there was ever a connection at all.
As a young man Sir Albert Howard was well along the way to a brilliant career in agricultural research when he became increasingly unhappy in his work, thinking of himself as a "laboratory hermit" without any opportunity to see his work applied in real life. At age 32 he was given charge of an experimental agricultural station in India, and spent the next 25 years developing methods to improve the farms under his control, with spectacular results. After retiring from active research, Sir Albert began a sixteen-year campaign to promote his understanding of proper farming to England and the world at large.
What Sir Albert had learned was surprising then and astonishing today, namely that insects and plant diseases were not enemies to be fought and conquered, but instead indications that the plants were simply not healthy; once a farmer concentrated on promoting healthy conditions for plant growth, disease and insect problems simply disappeared. This conclusion is based not only on experience but also on a deep understanding of how nature operates, an understanding that Sir Albert manages in his books to convey in a simple and straightforward manner.
Although Sir Albert wrote a large number of scholarly articles, he also wrote two books intended for general audiences. The second book, The Soil and Health, was written just before he died, and is a magnificent achievement, combining brief but clear explanations of the operations of nature, the history of agriculture, his own experiences as a farmer, and his philosophy of organic agriculture. Jerome Lange has said that if he had to give up all his books but one, this would be the one he kept. Long out of print, it is now available in a fine new edition from University Press of Kentucky, and we have Wendell Berry to thank for getting it published once again.
The Soil and Health is definitely the place to start when approaching Sir Albert Howard, and for many readers it may be sufficient. But some will want more details about Sir Albert's experiences in India, and for them his book An Agricultural Testament, a precursor written about five years ealier, will be invaluable.
Although SIr Albert Howard is mostly forgotten today, some important people remember him and consider him a hero, including Wendell Berry, Joel Salatin, Eliot Coleman, and Jerome Lange. As you learn about the principles that originally constituted organic agriculture you will be surprised to find how effectively the industrial culture was able to co-opt organic ideas and transform them into something more suitable for turning a profit. As with most alternatives to industrial modernity, Sir Albert's approach to farming had the unacceptable characteristic of having nothing to sell—it cost nothing to employ organic principles as originally conceived, while yielding great benefits to the farmer. But unsurprisingly modern industrial culture has managed to transform organic farming into a very expensive proposition, where as usual everyone but the farmer stands to profit mightily.
