Accounts of Wrath
The Family Farm Under Siege

Year Published:  1983   First Published:  1983
Resource Type:  Article/Report/Letter
Cx Number:  CX2773

Abstract:  This article chronicles the devasting effects of the economic crisis on the family farm, and the efforts of farmers to fight back through groups like the Canadian Farm Survival Organization.
The easy-money loan policies of the banks of the 1970s were designed to lock farmers into a system of farm financing that demanded ever greater outlays of capital. Production costs soared, and farming became a capital-intensive business. When interest rates sky-rocketed, famers were on the hook and foreclosures swept across previously stable farm regions.
The result was desperation and anger among famers, and increasingly militant action by at least some of them. The Farm Survival Organization hit the headlines as farmers physically stopped equipment serizures, bank foreclosures, and bankruptcy auctions.
As well, they are demanding changes in laws and policies that would permit fair settlements of debts and would establish a guaranteed minimum price for farm products.

Subject Headings

• Agriculture
• Family Farms
• Farming/Farm Economy