Author. Advocate. Agrarian.

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." He is also the author of Overton Park: A People's History (Univ. of Tenn. Press, 2019), and he has published many essays and articles, including in the New York Times, Oxford American, Gravy, and other respected outlets.

In addition to his work as a writer, Brooks is the Director of Food Systems and Agriculture Policy at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator. In this role, he and his team use coordinated communications, strategic programming, and courageous policy development to push for a better future for family-scale farms and ranches, rural communities, and local and regional food systems. Before leading this new initiative at Vanderbilt, he spent five years working with American Farmland Trust in various roles. Brooks earned his master’s degree at Yale School of the Environment and his undergraduate degree at Rhodes College. He now teaches as an adjunct professor at Rhodes, leading a course he created called “American Agriculture: Past, Present, Progress.” 

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