Good Spirits

Best known as The Contrary Farmer for the unconventional views he brings to agriculture, Ohio-based Logsdon proposes a simple program: cottage farmers grow grain to make whiskey or fuel, feed grain residues to the livestock, then return the animal's manure to the field to make the crops flourish. The problem, he admits, is that it makes no unearned profits for government or big business. He includes many anecdotes, historical and legendary.