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

by Brian Reisinger Narrated by Brian Reisinger

Overview

The hidden history of an economic and cultural catastrophe that is threatening our very food supply-the disappearance of the American farmer.

Taking on this story of heart and hardship, award-winning journalist 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.

With newly analyzed data, sharp historical analysis, honest debate, and personal storytelling, Reisinger reveals the roots of a problem with stakes as high as they come. A vulnerable food supply, soaring prices for American families, environmental and ecological decay, 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.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

An anthem to the family farm in America . . . The book follows a procession of efforts by other authors laboring to explain America’s farm troubles but few are as lyrically written or as deeply and personally detailed.” —Jeff Rowe, The Associated Press Book Review

“This deeply personal tale of a family farm—and family—teetering on the brink succeeds by showing us this is not a rural crisis, this is an American crisis bound to touch city mice and country mice alike. The dramatic elements strike to the bone, the history and context establish a complexity not addressable by simplistic politics, and by avoiding sentimentality and caricature, Reisinger leaves us with a green shoot of hope.” —Michael Perry, New York Times-bestselling-author of Population: 485

“In rich and lyrical prose, Brian Reisinger tells the engrossing story of his family’s 100-year quest to establish and preserve the Wisconsin dairy farm that has sustained four generations of Reisingers in body and soul. He shares the moments of joy, disappointment and doubt that define modern farm life in America and he digs deep to discover his own place in that world. Land Rich, Cash Poor is a beautiful book. You won’t want to put it down.” —Peter Slevin, contributing writer for The New Yorker, author of Michelle Obama: A Life

"An excellent book on the variety of struggles faced by family farmers." —Stephanie Mercier, economist and senior adviser to the Farm Journal Foundation

“A beautifully written and very personal story of the multigenerational struggles of one family owning and operating a small family dairy farm in Wisconsin. The author, Brian Reisinger, uses his family’s experience to call attention to the alarming reduction in small to mid-sized farms in America, and the impact that loss has on America’s food security. With no easy answers available, he does offer suggestions as to what America can do to help farms survive and preserve the valuable tradition of family farms in America. This is a must read for anyone interested in one necessary component in helping Make America Healthy Again.” —U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (Wisconsin) 

“A highly personal story of the disappearing American farmer. Well worth reading for those who care about what we eat and where it comes from.”  —Mike Gousha, Emmy-award-winning journalist and PBS documentarian

“A call from rural America, Brian Reisinger's love of family, farming and Wisconsin shines through as he unspools a four-generation saga of hard work on a hard land set against the backdrop of relentless economic change.” —Bill Glauber, National Headliner Award-winning journalist

“[A] beautifully told, unflinching account . . . digestible data and spectacular prose.” —Maggie Ginsberg, Madison Magazine

“Land Rich Cash Poor manages to weave a rich, century-long compelling family tapestry while binding it up with cold-eyed assessments of the external forces that pushed all farm families to the brink—or over it. By consulting agri-business leaders, advocates and farm economists, he presents a well-defended thesis as much as a love story for the land.”—Brad Todd, CNN contributor and co-author of The Great Revolt

“Fills me with admiration for the resilience of Wisconsin farmers . . . Reminds us not only how physically demanding farming is, but also how dangerous it can be, with harrowing accounts of falls and accidents to adults and children. As Reisinger describes the lives of ancestors, farming also can be isolating and lonely, especially for taciturn men who feel the emotional weight of this perilous occupation. . . . If you've complained about the post-COVID increase in food prices, spending some time with Reisinger's book will help you understand what and why you're bemoaning.” —Jim Higgins, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“Only a farm boy could tell this story this well. Brian Reisinger’s Land Rich, Cash Poor is a remarkable portrait of how rural families live, work and struggle with issues that confront most families. A fascinating glimpse of American life.” —Lamar Alexander, author and former U.S. senator

“In a book that is both prodigiously researched and deeply personal, Brian Reisinger examines America's farming crisis through the lens of his own family's farm. The result is informative, highly readable, infuriating, and heartbreaking. His farming ancestors would be proud.” —Doug Moe, national award-winning journalist and author of Tommy: My Journey of a Lifetime (with Tommy G. Thompson) and The Right Thing to Do

“Land Rich, Cash Poor: My Family’s Hope and the Untold History of the Disappearing American Farmer helps the reader, rural and urban alike, to appreciate what is going on in rural America as we see fewer and fewer family farms. Author Reisinger helps us understand the importance of this issue, in a compelling narrative.” —Jerry Apps, national award-winning historian and author of On Farms and Rural Communities

“As the number of family farms dwindles, author Brian Reisinger shares a poignant account of his family’s agricultural heritage in Wisconsin spanning four generations. He reflects on the joys and hardships that come with farming, and his deep attachment to land first chosen by his great-grandfather. Reisinger also sheds light on the challenges that threaten to erase this cherished legacy, and sincerely vows ‘I am here to share this with you because I will forever be a farmer’s son.’” —Sara Rath, author About Cows, The Complete Cow, The Complete Pig

Product Details

BN ID:	2940192148792
Publisher:	Oasis Audio
Publication date:	08/13/2024
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

Copyright © 2024 Brian Reisinger. Excerpted by permission of Skyhorse Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.
 

Chapter 5 

Back-Breaking Work

1950s–60s: Becoming the Little Guy in an Ever-Changing World

Only a dark set of curtains separated Jim from his father.

Jim was eight years old and had been sent away—to live in town with his aunt, after Albert fell off the corn crib and cracked his back on the frozen ground. They didn’t tell Jim why or that anything was wrong, and he got to play with his cousins. However, it wasn’t long before he asked to go home, where there were baby calves to play with and clean country air. When they wouldn’t take him home, he wondered why. He asked again, over and over, for a time longer than a young child could measure. Finally, one day, they took him home to the white farmhouse on the hill to see the truth. He stood before his parents’ bedroom, that set of brown curtains concealing what they’d hidden from him. Jim crept forward and pushed through.

What he saw on the other side was a world different from the one he’d left: his father, in bed, flat on his back. Jim stood there and stared. Then his mother grabbed him.

“Get outta there.”

The curtains fell back into place, and Jim could no longer see his father. But the new world on the other side of that curtain remained—a world where his father’s back was broken and where his family needed his help; where a little boy would work alongside the uncle and neighbor who came to help with the milking every morning and night, and alongside his fast and fearsome mother; where he’d haul hay bales and scoop corn and oats from a wheelbarrow to feed the cows, scrape the barn’s driveway of manure, and struggle now with the rowdy calves he loved, to make them drink milk from a bucket; where the days were so long, Jim would miss too much school to pass out of third grade; where all the while his father laid in bed, shattered somewhere deep inside. It was a world where a boy would learn to do the work of his father, and not stop until he was grown himself, and then continue on. And nothing would be the way it was before.

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