Charles Walters was the son of a Kansas farmer and grew up during the end of the Dust Bowl. His love of farming lead to him joining and working for the National Farmer's Organization (NFO), a group dedicated to the idea of using collective bargaining to obtain a better deal for the family farmer. Eventually, frustrated with the NFO's bureaucracy, he founded his own publication--Acres U.S.A. Walters single-handedly started the company, and used it to publish dozens of books and to use his magazine to inform the world about eco-philosophy. He eventually turned over day-to-day operations to his son, but remained an active part of Acres until his death in 2009.