MADERA, Calif. -- The only way of life that Denis Prosperi and his ancestors here have ever known is disappearing. He hears the same unsettling news all the time. Another farmer gives up and cashes out. And more rooftops start rising up in place of the great multitude of crops that have long swept across and sustained this land. Prosperi figured that might be his fate, too. But he is busy this spring tending to fields of almonds and grapes, same as ever. So are all of his neighbors. No one is budging from his farm -- for good....