Thesis
1977 Crop Failure (Des Moines Register Photo Archive)
A combination of political, economic, and technological factors triggered the 1980s farm crisis, a devastating decade of failed farms, bank closures, and shuttered storefronts, which represented a tragic turning point for the rural American dream. Although activist pleas brought eventual government intervention that salvaged the overall farm economy, it was too late to reverse damage done to rural America that remains still today.
"Crowd at closing out of a farm sale." (Day, State Historical Society of Iowa, December 1986)
Rural bank closure (The Farm Crisis, Iowa PBS, 1 July 2013)
"Farm Equipment Auction, Ken Lewis, Cresco, Iowa, December 19, 1985. A group of nearly 100 farmers met in Plymouth Rock Church that morning to protest the sale." (Gillette, State Historical Society of Iowa)
"All of us who lived in Iowa at the time saw friends and neighbors lose their family farms and struggle with what to do next to earn a living."
-U.S. Senator (IA) Charles Grassley (Congressional Record, 10 December 2015)