This Blessed Earth

Starred review from July 10, 2017
Journalist Genoways (The Chain) sheds light on the plight of 21st-century American farmers through the story of one Nebraskan family. For a year beginning in October 2014, he followed soybean, corn, and cattle farmer Rick Hammond through the vicissitudes of unpredictable weather, ever-fluctuating crop prices, and preparations to pass his farm down to his daughter, Meghan, and future son-in-law, Kyle Galloway. Genoways adds historical context to their situation, tracing Nebraskan history from the bloody years of the Civil War when President Lincoln signed the first Homestead Act, which coaxed thousands of settlers onto barren prairie, through agriculture’s rapid industrialization following World War II and secretary of agriculture Earl Butz’s dictate to “Get big or get out” in the early 1970s. Although much of this history has been told before, Genoways’s account is unique for his dogged research and for his mastery in showing how these events have impacted farmers, their families, and the land. As the narrative moves to present day, the Hammonds’ fate collides with climate change, the depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer, the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, and the diplomancy of the Bush and Obama adminstrations. By following a single family through time, the book captures the complex reality of farmers in America today both in terms of the future of the industry and of their everyday lives. It is an unvarnished portrait striking for both its depth and humanity.

June 15, 2017
Journalist Genoways (The Chain: Farm, Factory, and the Fate of Our Food, 2014, etc.) returns to further study farming in America.The author's latest book is quieter and more meditative, as he chronicles his immersion in the seasons of a Nebraska family trying to survive on their family acres. Some of the mood conveyed by the up-close narrative reflects the quietness of desperation, as unpredictable weather, international market fluctuations, the changing practices of seed suppliers, the availability of water for irrigation, and government agricultural supports conspire to create greater-than-usual questions about whether patriarch Rick Hammond, his daughter, Meghan Hammond, and her husband, Kyle Galloway, can pay their bills in rural Nebraska. Genoways is a Nebraskan but did not grow up on a farm. He is a master at portraying the unique qualities of this Midwestern state but a novice about the intricacies of earning a living as a family farmer. Rick, Meghan, and Kyle exhibited remarkable patience schooling the author, allowing him to participate in their activities and record their thoughts over the months. Most of the book focuses on the farming of corn and soybeans, but Genoways also devotes interludes to the very different pursuit of raising beef cattle. The narrative is more or less chronological, following the seasons, but the author occasionally diverges to explore the characters of his protagonists and of farmers in general. For example, Rick can be generous to a fault with fellow farmers yet simultaneously competitive about crop growth--in this zero-sum game, every neighbor who sells higher might mean Rick selling slightly lower. Meghan's back story is especially fascinating, as the author chronicles why she intended to leave farming but ended up pulled back in to the profession. Genoways memorably captures the difficult lives nonindustrial farmers lead in order to feed the world.

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August 1, 2017
The American family farm is in trouble. Squeezed between large-scale corporate operations, demanding customers, and environmental issues, farmers face a daunting array of obstacles to keeping their businesses alive. Genoways, a journalist whose lifelong familiarity with farm life grounds his writing, follows one such family through a year of raising corn, soybeans, and cattle on their Nebraska farm. He reveals the complexity that marks agriculture today, from the astonishing array of technology providing up-to-the-minute data to the fluctuating market forces that create a razor-edge difference between success and failure. Along the way, he provides a compelling overview of the historical evolution of farming in America, including how Henry Ford is responsible for the current prominence of the soybean. The heart of this story is the Hammonds, a family preparing to transfer the operation of the farm to the sixth generation. Genoways tells their storyand, through it, the story of farmers all over the countrywith compassion and insight. This Blessed Earth is a cogent, well-reported examination of the forces putting the family farm at risk.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)