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  • The American Scholar

    Sowing the Grain Revolution

    Sep 03, 2019 4 minutes
    REBECCA McCARTHY

    Growing up in Washington, D.C., David Shields dreamed of becoming an archaeologist. Now an English professor at the University of South Carolina, Shields is part of an agricultural revolution with a future that lies in the past—one focused on preserving plant landraces, old cultivars that adapted to local conditions over generations.

    “I got involved as the researcher because I thought it would be an interesting challenge,” says Shields. “Little did I know I would be consigning huge portions of my life away.”

    Poring over 18th- and 19th-century farming journals, Shields has uncovered complex planting schedules and crop rotations employed in the preindustrial South. In researching stories about merchants, restaurants, and

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