Brooks Lamb

Brooks Lamb, based in Memphis, Tennessee, works to elevate the importance of conservation and community in agriculture. Through writing, speaking, and partnership cultivation, he uses strategic thinking and storytelling to reach broad audiences and advocate for a better future for farming. He is especially focused on advancing efforts to increase and improve farmland protection, enhance next-generation land access and ease generational farm transfers, and strengthen rural culture, economies, and wellbeing.

Brooks is the author of Love for the Land: Lessons from Farmers Who Persist in Place (Yale Univ. Press). The book explores small and midsized farmers' commitments and connections to place through in-depth interviews, historical context, and other methods. Brooks also wrote Overton Park: A People's History (Univ. of Tennessee Press), which tells the story of Memphis's most beloved public space. He continues to publish essays, articles, and op-eds, mostly on topics related to agriculture, environmentalism, and community. He also teaches as an adjunct professor.

Brooks earned his undergraduate degree from Rhodes College and his master’s degree from Yale School of the Environment. He grew up on a small family farm in rural Tennessee and remains an active caretaker of that place.