Dedicated to Dad

MADISON, Wis. — When preparing to deliver the keynote address at Ag Day at the Capitol, Brian Reisinger was not sure which direction he wanted to take.

“I grew up with dairy farming, but these people have lived it, some of them for 50, 60, 70 even 80 years,” he said. “So I told stories about my dad.”

Reisinger, the author of “Land Rich, Cash Poor: My Family’s Hope and the Untold History of the Disappearing American Farmer,” had dedicated the book to his father, Jim. His book was named the 2025 Book of the Year from the Farm Foundation.

The Reisingers farm near Sauk City. The farm had been a dairy farm from 1912 to 2021, when the milking cows were sold. Brian’s sister, Malia, continues to operate the farm, custom raising heifers and beef cattle and cash cropping.

Following his address, he had the opportunity to meet with farmers.

“Afterward, we had people coming through and talking, asking me questions and sharing their stories about diversifying their farms, tears in their eyes,” Reisinger said. “They wanted to talk to me about my dad, and he was standing there, so I introduced them.”

As the younger Reisinger was signing copies of his book, he noticed farmers were also asking his father to sign the book. The book details 100 years of family farm history, condensed down into the most key elements that have impacted farms nationally, woven in with the Reisinger family’s real-life story.

“No matter which awards the book has won, that was the most amazing distinction ever,” Reisinger said. “I dedicated the book to him and people saw the power of his life and his stories. For him to be there was maybe the most meaningful thing to me.”

Working side-by-side with his dad on the family farm, Reisinger continually heard about farms vanishing around his home. It became a problem without a clear answer, but one Reisinger wanted to understand.

“I’d be in the farmyard, helping however a 4-year-old can help,” Reisinger said. “Trucks would pull in and I’d overhear the conversations. ‘This farm went under, that farm sold.’ It didn’t sit well with me, not knowing why.”

After wrestling with the idea of not taking over the family farm, Reisinger channeled his writing career to answer the question that had been on his mind for as long as he could remember.

“I started researching areas of history and trying to reconstruct family stories to see if I could answer why farms were disappearing nationwide, and if I could connect that with any of our family stories,” Reisinger said. “What I found was that our nation’s history and my family’s history wove together in a way that shocked me.”

With a background in public policy and journalism, Reisinger discovered three categories of issues that drove the disappearance of farms, along with hardships on his family’s farm. The challenges were economic crises, government policy and technological changes.

He paired those challenges with the resilience that farm families have demonstrated throughout history.

“The way the country’s history tracks is very similar to what has been going on with farm families on the ground,” Reisinger said. “I learned just how deep that resilience runs. As I dug into it, I learned things about my own family. In interviews to reconstruct our own family history, I discovered things that I couldn’t believe.”

One of the reasons that Reisinger dedicated the book to his father was the resilience Jim showed at the age of 8. Reisinger’s grandfather suffered an injury on the farm, and with Jim being the oldest boy, he started taking on the tasks of a grown man to keep the farm running.

“I knew my grandpa slipped off a corn crib, but I didn’t know how my dad started doing the work,” Reisinger said. “And he never quit, even after my grandpa got back on his feet. At that time in the 1950s and 60s, farms were getting bigger. They had new demands, so my dad never really stopped doing the work.”

Throughout the process of writing this book, Reisinger came to the realization of how special it was that his family was continuing to farm, persevering through challenges and continuing to provide an opportunity for agriculture to be his family’s focal point.

“I’m grateful for growing up on a farm now more than ever,” Reisinger said. “I wouldn’t have been suited to carry the farm forward the way my sister is, but to have a chance to grow up there still means everything. To tell stories and talk to farm families across the country continues to make it meaningful.”

Reisinger splits his time between Sacramento, California, near his wife’s family, and his family’s farm in Sauk County. Sacramento is known as the Farm-to-Fork Capital, promoting sustainable agriculture and cultivating its own agricultural enterprises.

When in Sauk County, Reisinger helps his sister move the farm forward, assisting where he can on the farm, and working behind the scenes on the business side, no matter his location.

Reisinger hopes that his book can illustrate to other farm families that resilience is ingrained in agriculture throughout history, and the book can provide a clear illustration of the challenges that families like his have faced.

“I hope the book can be a small part of a big conversation that leads to change and leads us to find a way to keep more farms going — big, medium, small, and everything between,” Reisinger said. “Farm families are not known for speaking up, and this was a chance to speak up on behalf of my family and hopefully other farm families in a way that will last through whatever happens.”