A Century for One Family Farm and the Challenges Kept Quiet

It’s a sunlit day in Sauk County, Wisconsin, and the Reisinger family’s Hilltop Farm is serving as both a place to celebrate while also sharing an important call to action. Maggie Daun, host of The Maggie Daun Show, is “live on the farm” for a special broadcast featuring tough discussions about the challenges that are often kept quiet, how resilience has carried the family forward, and the fate of farms in the future. 

---

Watch the entire episode here:

The Reisinger family’s legacy goes back more than a century. Four generations have worked the land around their Spring Green farm. Brian Reisinger grew up here and wrote the book Land Rich, Cash Poor: My Families Hope and the Untold History of the Disappearing American Farmer. It traces the personal pressures facing farmers, including his parents – from mental health to volatile markets and government inaction. 

“We’ve been losing 45,000 farms a year,” he says. “Farmers can produce themselves out of prosperity, whether crops are plentiful or scarce, the economics keep squeezing.”

Darin Von Ruden is a third-generation organic dairy farmer in the Westby area. He is currently transitioning ownership to his son and shares pride in continuing their legacy while also trying to navigate the hardships that threaten it.  

“It’s great to see that next generation take over,” he says. “But when prices drop steeply, you worry about your neighbors. Sometimes, all it takes is a word of encouragement, or a shoulder to lean on, to help someone through.”

Von Ruden is also president of the Wisconsin Farmers Union. The group’s advocacy ranges from supply management in the dairy industry to strengthening local food systems. But he is especially frustrated with delays in the federal farm bill.  

“Farmers handle uncertainty daily, but when the government drags its feet, it weighs even heavier, especially on younger farmers just starting out,” Von Ruden explains. 

The conversation includes concerns about depression in rural communities. A founding chapter of the Farmer Angel Network is based in South Central Wisconsin. It works to create farmer-to-farmer fellowship while also shedding light on the number of farmers who are facing sadness, isolation, and the critical need for support. 

Yet this day includes a personal milestone and a reason to celebrate. It is the 49th wedding anniversary for Jim and Jean Reisinger, the farm’s patriarch and matriarch. Their daughter, Malia, is now helping lead the operation. And she reflects on her role as a woman in farming. 

“My dad never treated it as a man’s world,” she says. “He always believed I could figure it out,” though some outside business interactions revealed lingering biases. “If someone won’t work with me, that’s their loss. There’s always someone else willing to.”

“Family farms are not just about food production, but about community, heritage, and national health,” Daun adds. “If you’re eating good food, thank a family farmer.”

The blend of personal legacy and broader advocacy serves as a reminder that while challenges are many – from corporate consolidation to federal gridlock – the fight for family farms will have to continue being rooted in resilience and carried forward by the next generation.