When I began this study, the American farm crisis was baffling for much of the
public, and with good reason. In the late 1970s, tractorcade spokespersons pre-
dicted that failure to help farmers would result in massive foreclosures and a
hungry country, but years passed with neither result. By 1981, after several disas-
trous drought years, many Georgia farmers predicted that if the situation did not
improve, they would be forced out of business. But conditions got no better and
most farms continued in operation. Media coverage of the crisis told stories of
bankrupt family farms and tragic suicides, but the pressing questions remained un-
answered: Are family farms doomed? Did the crisis decimate the ranks of our most
competent farmers? Or is it true that only inefficient farmers were weeded out,
those who deserved to be forced out of business? Will the agribusiness superfarm
become the way of the future and transform America's rural regions?

This book finds answers to these questions and takes a critical look at trends
in American farming, their impact on rural community vitality, and the effects of
federal farm legislation. Through a long-term study of Dodge County, Georgia, I
have tried to take the full measure of the damage from this decade of crisis. From
1982, when the 156 farm families participating in the project were first contacted,
to 1989, when the study ended, one-third of the full-time operations were forced
out of business. The crisis has been baffling -- for reporters and researchers -- be-
cause many farms on the edge managed to hang on, struggling with their creditors
and supported by suppliers, family, and friends. At the same time, some farm
operators continued to make a profit throughout these difficult years. Most part-
time farmers and retirement farmers cut back their reliance on the operation and
avoided any threat of foreclosure or bankruptcy.

The mid- 1980s saw a new federal Farm Bill that poured millions of dollars
into the farm sector with disastrous effects on the national deficit. Farm incomes

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