What It's Like To Be A Farmer These Days

 In this May 5, 2011 file photo, a farmer plants corn near Yutan, Neb. Farmers have planted the second-largest corn crop in nearly seven decades this spring.

Ted Genoways spent a year in York County, Nebraska trying to understand the many challenges farmers face as they our food. He tells the story of Rick Hammond and his family in his book This Blessed Earth: A Year in the Life of an American Family Farm. Genoways details how farmers struggle against weather and soil as much as shifting market prices and corporate influence in order to make a living.