In December 1938, Bromfield purchased 600 acres of worn-out farmland near the town of Lucas in Pleasant Valley, Richland County, Ohio.
He built a 19-room Greek Revival-style farmhouse that he dubbed the Big House.
Using expertise and labor from New Deal agencies like the Soil Conservation Service and Civilian Conservation Corps, Bromfield rehabilitated his land and in the process learned the principles of soil conservation.
He later turned Malabar into a showcase for what he called the “New Agriculture.”
Among the novel farming techniques that he promoted at Malabar were the use of green manures, contour plowing, “trash farming,” sheet composting and strip cropping.


In 1941, Bromfield became first vice president of the Friends of the Land, a new national volunteer organization allied with the U.S. Soil Conservation Service, that sought to correct the ruinous farming practices that had culminated in the Dust Bowl and other incidents of widespread soil erosion in the 1930s.
The organization brought together many prominent voices in 20th century ecology and agriculture, including Paul B. Sears, Hugh Hammond Bennett and Aldo Leopold.
Bromfield used his celebrity to promote the work of agricultural reformers, including Edward Faulkner, whose 1943 book Plowman’s Folly criticized the moldboard plow and advocated “trash farming” (a forerunner to no-till agriculture) to avoid erosion and maintain soil fertility.
Bromfield also helped popularize the organization’s journal, The Land, which featured contributions from E.B. White, John Dos Passos, Henry A. Wallace, Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson, among many others.

Bromfield established Malabar’s national reputation in 1945 by hosting the wedding of his good friend Humphrey Bogart to Lauren Bacall.
Bromfield served as best man.
Malabar was often visited by celebrities, including Kay Francis, Joan Fontaine, Ina Claire, Mayo Methot and James Cagney.
E.B. White captured the atmosphere of the farm in a 1948 poem in the New Yorker:  
Strangers arriving by every train,
Bromfield terracing against the rain,
Catamounts crying, mowers mowing,
Guest rooms full to overflowing,
Boxers in every room of the house,
Cows being milked to Brahms and Strauss,
Kids arriving by van and pung,
Bromfield up to his eyes in dung,
Sailors, trumpeters, mystics, actors,
All of them wanting to drive the tractors,
All of them eager to husk the corn,

Some of them sipping their drinks till morn […]
In December 1938, Bromfield purchased 600 acres of worn-out farmland near the town of Lucas in Pleasant Valley, Richland County, Ohio. He built a 19-room Greek Revival-style farmhouse that he dubbed the Big House. Using expertise and labor from New Deal agencies like the Soil Conservation Service and Civilian Conservation Corps, Bromfield rehabilitated his land and in the process learned the principles of soil conservation. He later turned Malabar into a showcase for what he called the “New Agriculture.” Among the novel farming techniques that he promoted at Malabar were the use of green manures, contour plowing, “trash farming,” sheet composting and strip cropping. 

In 1941, Bromfield became first vice president of the Friends of the Land, a new national volunteer organization allied with the U.S. Soil Conservation Service, that sought to correct the ruinous farming practices that had culminated in the Dust Bowl and other incidents of widespread soil erosion in the 1930s. The organization brought together many prominent voices in 20th century ecology and agriculture, including Paul B. Sears, Hugh Hammond Bennett and Aldo Leopold. Bromfield used his celebrity to promote the work of agricultural reformers, including Edward Faulkner, whose 1943 book Plowman’s Folly criticized the moldboard plow and advocated “trash farming” (a forerunner to no-till agriculture) to avoid erosion and maintain soil fertility. Bromfield also helped popularize the organization’s journal, The Land, which featured contributions from E.B. White, John Dos Passos, Henry A. Wallace, Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson, among many others. 
Bromfield established Malabar’s national reputation in 1945 by hosting the wedding of his good friend Humphrey Bogart to Lauren Bacall. Bromfield served as best man. Malabar was often visited by celebrities, including Kay Francis, Joan Fontaine, Ina Claire, Mayo Methot and James Cagney. E.B. White captured the atmosphere of the farm in a 1948 poem in the New Yorker:  
Strangers arriving by every train,
Bromfield terracing against the rain,
Catamounts crying, mowers mowing,
Guest rooms full to overflowing,
Boxers in every room of the house,
Cows being milked to Brahms and Strauss,
Kids arriving by van and pung,
Bromfield up to his eyes in dung,
Sailors, trumpeters, mystics, actors,
All of them wanting to drive the tractors,
All of them eager to husk the corn,

Some of them sipping their drinks till morn […]
Louis Bromfield