Land Rich, Cash Poor: My Family 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.

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.

Brian Reisinger grew up on a family farm in Sauk County, Wisconsin and lives to tell the hidden stories of rural America. A columnist and consultant, Reisinger worked with his father from the time he could walk, before entering the worlds of business journalism and public policy. He has been published by the USA Today Network, Newsweek, Yahoo News, PBS/Wisconsin Public Radio’s ＂Wisconsin Life,＂ and many other news, policy, outdoor, and cultural publications. Reisinger’s writing has won awards from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, first place in the Seven Hills Literary Contest, a Solas Award, and more. He lives with his wife Rachael, and serves as President & Chief Content Officer of Midwestern-based Platform Communications, splitting time between a small town in northern California and the family farm in southern Wisconsin. Land Rich, Cash Poor is his first book.