Really enjoyed the new Wes Jackson biopic, and was thrilled to be able to attend the world premiere in Salina, KS this weekend. Each time I go to Salina it feels a little like a pilgrimage. The prairie speaks volumes as you drive across it, but it speaks with a still, small voice.

I’ve met Jackson a few times, through a mutual friend who also teaches philosophy (and who appears in the biopic). Each time I’ve spoken with him I’ve been impressed with how much he says in a few words.

While he’s likely to be remembered for his work on perennial grains like Kernza, I admire his sense of design and connectedness in his Land Institute. The barn there is not for storage, but was built to house an idea, and to be a place of gathering. That’s brilliant.

Similarly, his labs have offices on the periphery and the coffeemaker in the center, so that the scientists don’t work in isolation. Jackson is often called a prophet because he calls us to pay attention to what we are neglectfully destroying.

But he also has a deep sense of mirth, and playfulness infuses all he does. His institute is a place of work, but it’s work with a shared mission, and it feels jovial rather than corporate.

His books express both these moods: urgency about what we are losing, and a practical approach to gathering us together for good work.

This reminds me of Wendell Berry (Jackson’s friend) who wrote in his essay “Racism and the Economy” that we seek technological fixes to our problems “because we have lost each other.”

Jackson and his team don’t shun technology—they’re plant and soil scientists using technology to renew agriculture for the whole world—but they also build things, like Jackson’s idea barn, to help us find one another along the way.

Here are a few photos of my last visit to The Land Institute’s Prairie Festival. I’m already looking forward to the next one in 2026.

People gather inside an unpainted, open barn with soft lights hanging from the ceiling. Outside the barn a long banner shows a plant with very long rootsA group of people is gathered inside and around a rustic wooden barn decorated with string lights, while others are seated on chairs outside.Several people walk beside a shade tree on green grass. A sign in the foreground says “BIG BARN” and behind the sign is a simple barn with metal bleacher seats outside it facing in through open doors.