Carrie Underwood’s pastoral idyll offers a soothing vision of self-reliance and sustainability, but it also exposes the stark contradictions of our unequal food system and culture under capitalism. The country star’s embrace of homesteading and farm life, while undoubtedly sincere and inspiring on a personal level, is a luxury few working-class families can afford—reminding us that the myth of “traditional country living” often glosses over systemic barriers that keep most people disconnected from land and real food sovereignty.
Underwood’s Tennessee farm is a sanctuary, a symbol of retreat from urban noise and corporate food chains. She can juggle nurturing livestock and composting because she has the wealth, leisure, and privilege to do so. Her husband’s hunting to supplement their meat supply reinforces a lifestyle accessible to a fraction of Americans—but by no means the majority. For those struggling with stagnant wages, precarious jobs, and skyrocketing grocery bills, “sustainable living” is a commodified aspiration pushed by an elite that can afford to indulge it, while many others face food deserts and economic precarity.
The pandemic accelerated her farm projects—a reminder that crisis allows those with resources to consolidate and enrich their own refuges. Meanwhile, essential workers on factory floors, farms, and in grocery stores continued to supply the food system under grueling conditions. The myth of self-sufficiency competed with the reality that the capitalist food economy exploits workers and devastates the environment.
Instead of romanticizing individual “green” lifestyles like Underwood’s as a solution, we must refocus on collective action: robust public investment in sustainable agriculture, workers’ rights for farm laborers, regulation of corporate agribusiness, and equitable access to nutritious food for all. True food justice demands systemic change, not just aspirational farm retreats for the privileged few.
Carrie Underwood’s farm life can inspire us to reconnect with nature and value family and health. But let’s not lose sight: a just and sustainable future requires dismantling the corporate stranglehold on our food system and empowering working-class communities to reclaim land, labor, and democracy — not just individual retreats behind white picket fences with lambs named after TV stars.