Bet the Farm Audiobook By Beth Hoffman cover art

Bet the Farm

The Dollars and Sense of Growing Food in America

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Bet the Farm

By: Beth Hoffman
Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
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About this listen

Beth Hoffman was living the good life: she had a successful career as a journalist and professor, a comfortable home in San Francisco, and plenty of close friends and family. Yet in her late forties, she and her husband decided to leave the big city and move to his family ranch in Iowa—all for the dream of becoming a farmer. There was just one problem: money.

Half of America's two million farms made less than $300 in 2019. Between rising land costs, ever-more expensive equipment, the growing uncertainty of the climate, and few options for health care, farming today is a risky business. For many, simply staying afloat is a constant struggle.

Bet the Farm chronicles this struggle through Beth's eyes as a beginning farmer. She must contend with her father-in-law, who is reluctant to hand over control of the land. Growing oats is good for the environment but ends up being very bad for the wallet. The couple also must balance the books, hoping that farming isn't a romantic fantasy that takes every cent of their savings.

Bet the Farm is a first-hand account of the perils of farming today and a personal exploration of more just and sustainable ways of producing food.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Beth Hoffman (P)2022 Tantor
Politics & Government Public Policy Sociology Growing Farm
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So timely. Beth takes a long view of farming that opens eyes, brings into view experiences that are seldom seen and does it all with compassion and community building.
Great work!

Loved this book!!

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Such an engaging overview of the reality of life for so many American Farmers and rural communities. Without healthy rural economies and independent farmers, our American future is weakened, but the news we get from mainstream media is not even close in the telling. From the horse's mouth, well-told and narrated, this is where food comes from, and we all need to know how. `

From the Farmer's perspective, a must-read.

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If you want to hear a white, liberal, self-hating woman from San Francisco mangle basic history and economics while obnoxiously trying to thread the story with woke revisionist strokes broadly painted, this one's for you! I had to stop listening 4/5's of the way through. She complains about the rigorous mental and physical realities of farming via her own shortcomings and desire for a modern "balanced life" (read, being a cosmopolitan transplant way out of her depth) while simultaneously tearing down the success of others as being privileged white men with big families to help spread the labor; and that childless urbanites like herself (through their own choices) can't compete....which then leads to a discourse on silly pseudo-communist land sharing schemas that somehow all failed because of boogeymen like "racism." Take your time and attention to other authors, this one isn't worth it.

Woke Panegyric Disguised as Farming Book

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