Running a farm is like running a factory, except you're not quite sure how much you'll produce until the season is over.
That's just one of many challenges in agriculture, and there are many more, especially for smaller family farmers. Agri-giant businesses have economies of scale that the small farms lack.
But plenty of people are still dedicated to growing crops and a livelihood with them, just on a smaller scale.
Ted Genoways follows a farm family in Nebraska in his tookThis Blessed Earth: A Year in the Life of an American Family Farm. Through the author, we meet the Hammond family as the fifth generation prepares to hand off to the sixth.