In the heart of Chariton County, Missouri, family farms define the landscape and spirit of towns like Keytesville, Salisbury, Mendon, and Brunswick. These small operations, passed down through generations, face relentless threats: soaring input costs, unaffordable land prices, and corporate agribusinesses dominating markets. Brian Reisinger, an award-winning writer and rural policy expert, knows this struggle firsthand. Raised on a four-generation dairy farm in Sauk County, Wisconsin, Reisinger witnessed his family’s fight against economic hardship, from his great-grandfather Alois’s immigrant dreams to his father James’s battle to save their farm. His critically acclaimed book, Land Rich, Cash Poor: My Family’s Hope and the Untold History of the Disappearing American Farmer, named a 2025 Farm Foundation Book of the Year and a C-SPAN Author Series Most Important Book of 2024, warns that America has lost 45,000 farms annually for a century, with family farms at risk of vanishing in 40 years. For Missouri’s small farmers, the Missouri General Assembly’s failure to prioritize their needs—especially by rural representatives such as State Representative (District 48), Tim Taylor and State Senator (District 12), Rusty Black—fuels this crisis. The Chariton Beacon spoke with Reisinger to explore future state policies that could empower Chariton County’s farmers while ...
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