A century of industrialization has left our food system riddled with problems, yet for solutions we look away from the land — to nutritionists and government agencies, scientists and chefs. In a groundbreaking departure, Deeply Rooted finds answers by looking to the people who actually grow our food.

Hamilton makes this vital inquiry through the stories of three unconventional farmers: Harry Lewis, an African-American dairyman in Texas who plays David to the Goliath of agribusiness corporations; Virgil Trujillo, a tenth-generation rancher in New Mexico struggling to restore agriculture as a pillar of his community; and the Podolls, a modern pioneer family in North Dakota breeding new varieties of plants to face the future’s double threat: global warming and biotech food.

Together, these remarkable characters and their surprising stories make the case that in order to correct what has gone wrong with the food system, we must first bring farmers back to the table.