The Consequences of the Farm Crisis for Rural Communities

Abstract

The farm financial crisis of the 1980s will change forever the face of communities in rural America. The purpose of this paper is to explore empirically some of the more important changes that are occurring as a result of the farm crisis and to discuss how these changes affect rural community development needs. Specifically the paper examines: (1) the characteristics of those failing in agriculture, (2) changes in farm production practices resulting from the crisis and (3) the problems being experienced by farmers and their families. For each of these changes the implications for businesses and services in rural communities are discussed. It was found that farmers who were less well-educated and innovative and who were operating smaller farms were more likely than others to leave agriculture as a result of the farm crisis. Further, it appears that farmers leaving agriculture are not drawn randomly from the population of financially stressed farmers, but are those with particularly disadvantaged socioeconomic characteristics. In addition, many financially stressed farmers have made production changes likely to affect rural communities. Finally, it was found that the farm crisis is having important consequences for the personal lives of many farm operators and their families. The implications of these findings for rural communities are discussed and program suggestions for community development efforts are developed.