| Title | : | This Blessed Earth: A Year in the Life of an American Family Farm |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0393292576 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 0393292576 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 240 pages |
| Publication | : | W. W. Norton Company; Illustrated edition (September 19, 2017) |
Is there still a place for the farm in today’s America?
The family farm lies at the heart of our national identity, yet its future is in peril. Rick Hammond grew up on a small ranch, and for forty years he has raised cattle and crops on his wife’s fifth generation homestead in York County, Nebraska, in hopes of passing it on to their four children. But as the handoff nears, their small family farm―and their entire way of life―are under siege. Rising corporate ownership of land and livestock is forcing small farmers to get bigger and bigger, assuming debt and risk. At the same time, after nearly a decade of record high corn and soybean prices, the bottom has dropped out of the markets, making it ever harder for small farmers to shoulder their loans. All the while, the Hammonds are confronted by encroaching pipelines, groundwater depletion, climate change, and shifting trade policies. Far from an isolated refuge beyond the reach of global events, the family farm is increasingly at the crossroads of emerging technologies and international detente. Following the Hammonds from harvest to harvest, Ted Genoways explores this rapidly changing landscape of small, traditional farming operations, mapping as it unfolds day to day. This Blessed Earth is both a concise exploration of the history of the American small farm and a vivid, nuanced portrait of one family’s fight to preserve their legacy and the life they love.
8 pages of illustrationsThis Blessed Earth: A Year in the Life of an American Family Farm Reviews
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So my life has been all over, born in Cincinnati, lived in semi large cities throughout my early years, but then smack dab in the middle of a corn field in central Nebraska between Minden and Kearney in my early teenaged years. So I'm a city boy but a country boy at the
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This work of non fiction follows a real Nebraska farm family for a year as they balance the complexity of family, farming, technology, and community. It provides in depth excursions into the historical record that illuminates current policies, practices and politics. Yet
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I ordered this book after hearing author Ted Genoays interviewed about the work on NPR. It was a terrific interview that emphasized the time Genoways spent with the main subjects of the book farmer families in Nebraska. At the time, it struck me as a better explanation
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The farm in Nebraska homesteaded by my great grandfather was sold about 10 years ago as none in our family continued in the agricultural business. I currently live in Nebraska. Despite that, I knew precious little about the fields of corn and beans, farm machinery, center
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As a Nebraska resident for the last 20 years,(15 or them rural) I thought I had a good idea of what the farmer here was up against. I'm gratified by how much I not only know but also by how much I have yet to continue learning.Thank you for showing me real lives behind my
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From the very first page of this poetically brilliant work, the reader is drawn into a saga that is at the heart of how civilization came into being. The unsung heroes being farmers, mostly family farms handed down for generation, and it is they who allowed a division of
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My College selected this book for my Comp class and I must say, I hated it. Not that it's not a good book but it's complicated to process, hard to read, and the timeline was so confusing. The author talked alot about farming but also focused on the American history which
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For anyone who wants to know about modern farming. It is a complicated business. It will make you think twice when you drive through farm country at 80 miles an hour. Genoways provides historical context to help you see how we got to where we are today. Special shout out
