family farm

Journalist Ted Genoways spent a year on a small farm in rural Nebraska, and he says American nostalgia for the family farm overlooks the pressures farmers face and the realities of food production.

Heirloom peach trees, and an essay about them, turned one California farm into a landmark of local food. It's now the scene of another unconventional choice: a daughter's return to take the helm.

The percentage of female farmers is climbing — slowly, according to federal figures. But those numbers don't take into account the many new roles women are filling on multigenerational family farms.