Brooks Lamb

Brooks Lamb is the author of Love for the Land: Lessons from Farmers Who Persist in Place (Yale Univ. Press, 2023), a book that reviewers have called “excellent,” “hopeful,” and “more necessary than ever.” Brooks is also the author of Overton Park: A People’s History (Univ. of Tennessee Press, 2019), and he has published many essays, articles, reports, poems, and op-eds.

In addition to his work as a writer and author, Brooks is the Land Protection & Access Specialist at American Farmland Trust. In this role, he leads local, state, and national efforts to advance farmland protection, enhance access to land for new, beginning, and underserved farmers, and address challenges associated with heirs’ property. He earned his master’s degree at Yale School of the Environment — where his award-winning research focused on understanding small and mid-sized farmers’ stewardship in the face of systemic adversity — and his undergraduate degree at Rhodes College. Through various professional, educational, and personal experiences, including his selection as a Truman Scholar, Brooks has nurtured a commitment to serving people and places. He is passionate about exploring the intersecting topics of land, farming, virtues, justice, conservation, character, community, environmentalism, and more.

Although he now lives in Memphis, Brooks grew up on a small farm in rural Tennessee, and he remains active in the farm’s stewardship. His family and the farm have helped him cultivate a strong work ethic, an understanding of hope, and a commitment to community.