Land Rich, Cash Poor: My Family's Hope and the Untold History of the Disappearing American Farmer

The hidden history of an economic and cultural catastrophe that is threatening our very food supply--the disappearance of the American farmer. n Taking on this story of heart and hardship, award-winning writer Brian Reisinger weaves forgotten eras of American history with his own family's four-generation fight for survival in Midwestern farm country. Readers learn the truth about America's most detrimental and unexplained socioeconomic crisis: How the family farms that feed us went from cutting a middle-class path through the Great Depression to barely making ends meet in modern America. Along the way, they'll see what it truly takes to feed our country: accidents that can kill or maim; weather that blesses or threatens; resilience in the face of crushing economic crises, from inflation to COVID-19; and the tradition that presses down on each generation when you're not just fighting for your job, you're fighting for your heritage. n n With newly analyzed data, sharp historical analysis, conversations with some of modern farming's most notable champions and critics alike, honest debate, and personal storytelling, Reisinger reveals the roots of a problem with stakes as high as they come. A vulnerable food supply chain, soaring prices for American families, environmental and ecological dilemmas, the security of our farmland from foreign adversaries, farmer suicides, addictions, a deepening urban-rural divide, and more worries than ever about what's for dinner. These are all becoming the hallmarks of a food system that has long stood as a modern miracle. Land Rich, Cash Poor offers the honest truth about these issues, and a candid look at what we can do about them--before it's too late.n