Telling the hidden stories of rural America.

Land Rich, Cash Poor

“An anthem to the family farm in America.” — AP News

“A beautiful book. You won’t want to put it down.” — Peter Slevin, contributing writer for The New Yorker

“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

Just named a C-SPAN Author Series 2024 most important book. The hidden history of an economic and cultural crisis that is threatening our very food supply—the disappearance of the American farmer. Critically acclaimed with praise from across the political spectrum, Land Rich, Cash Poor reveals the urgent, unflinching truth.

Land Rich, Cash Poor weaves forgotten eras of history with the four-generation fight for survival of the author’s family in Midwestern farm country. Readers learn the truth about America’s most detrimental and unexplained socioeconomic crisis: How our family farms went from cutting a middle-class path through the Great Depression to barely making ends meet in modern America. Along the way, they see the working-class grit it takes to survive life on the farm and feed our country: accidents that kill or maim; weather that blesses or threatens; resilience against crushing economic crises, from depressions and recessions 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 new historical analysis, talks with modern farming’s biggest champions and critics, honest debate on both sides of the aisle and everywhere in between, and personal storytelling, Land Rich, Cash Poor reveals how the hollowing out of rural America affects every dinner table. A vulnerable food supply chain, food prices for American families soaring far beyond the rate of inflation, environmental and ecological dilemmas, the security of our farmland, a mental health crisis that includes farmer suicides and addictions, a deepening urban-rural divide, and more. Land Rich, Cash Poor unearths this crisis and its solutions—before it’s too late.

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THE LATEST FROM BRIAN:

Land Rich, Cash Poor has just been named a C-SPAN Author Series most important book of 2024 — watch Brian’s interview here, with callers from across the country on his book and the challenges facing America’s family farms. Sign up for updates from Brian here.

Praise for Land Rich, Cash Poor:

  • “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

  • “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

  • “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 and author of Michelle Obama: A Life

  • “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 of About Cows, The Complete Cow, The Complete Pig