Central to Host Authors Beth Hoffman & Chuck Offenburger

Sep 21, 2022

On Tuesday, September 27, from 7:00-8:30pm, The Jamie Wade Memorial Speaker Series will welcome New York Times bestselling author Beth Hoffman to Central. Hoffman is author of the recent nonfiction book Bet the Farm: The Dollars and Sense of Growing Food in America. She will be in conversation with longtime Des Moines Register columnist Chuck Offenburger. The program will be followed by a reception and book signing.

About the book: 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 40s, 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, to put into practice everything she had learned over decades of reporting on food and agriculture. 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. It is a first-hand account of the perils of farming today and a personal exploration of more just and sustainable ways of producing food.

The first 50 people who RSVP will receive a complimentary copy of Bet the Farm. RSVP to Kimberly Sanford in the church office at 515-279-3658 or ksanford@dmcpc.org.