THE LAST FARMER <i> by Howard Kohn Harper & Row: $8.95</i>

In a series of visits to the family farm in Saginaw, Mich., Kohn discovers the plight of an independent farmer--and comes to grips with his rural upbringing. His sympathetic portrait of his stiff-necked, conscientious father captures the mentality of a rapidly disappearing group which feels that farming is a calling, rather than a job. For the elder Kohn, daily labor is a blend of physical and spiritual tasks that embodies his steady Lutheran faith.

But father and son must grapple with the realization that a 120-acre farm--even a well-run one on fertile land--may no longer be economically viable. Agriculture has become agribusiness in the United States: The small farmer must struggle against monopolistic practices of large corporations, tax inequities and foreign competition. Kohn suggests that the implications of his bittersweet memoir extend beyond the fate of the individual farmer: Like Antaeus, America risks losing certain strengths as its people lose contact with the earth.