Word: grained
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...give up (see box). Since 1970, farm debt has doubled to $101 billion. An Agriculture Department survey of the wheat belt last summer showed that 73,000 farmers were having trouble repaying loans, with some 14,000 of them likely to lose their farms. Edward H. Melroe, a Colorado grain farmer, reports: "I went to the bank last week for another $10,000 loan, and the banker told me: 'That's it. No more...
Facing such prospects and resentful of the seeming indifference of the rest of the country, farmers are understandably in the mood to beat their plowshares into swords. Talk of a farm strike began last July as grain elevators filled to capacity; excess wheat spilled into the main streets of rural towns and prices began to slide seriously. Disgruntled farmers staged impromptu demonstrations. In Clarkfield, Minn., a tractor caravan of 500 farmers spearheaded a protest. Jon Wefald, a former Minnesota agriculture commissioner, urged the protesters: "Do like the sheiks did with the oil. One day they sat down and said...
Yokum farms 1,360 acres near Vilas, Colo., which have been in his family for three generations. He has 200 acres planted in corn, 200 in grain sorghum and 300 in wheat. He also has 150 head of mixed heifers. Yokum's wife, Carlyn, 32, helps with chores in addition to taking care of their two children: Danni, 4, and Bobie...
...sense, Yokum is a victim of his own efficiency. "In 1974 the Government told us to plant fence row to fence row," says Yokum. "They needed all the grain we could produce to aid a starving world." The farmers did as they were told. The upshot: a huge surplus of grain that drastically reduced prices. In 1973 the Government was concerned about the increasing price of meat, and imposed ceilings. "Every time we begin to get a fair price for one of our products," says Yokum, "the Government steps in and puts a ceiling on it." To counteract the price...
...Yokum sees it, he may as well go on strike as try to keep farming. Even if he does not plant his 1978 crops, he can apply for a price-support loan on his current grain. He would get $2.04 per bu. of corn as opposed to the market price of $1.80. He would get $2.12 per bu. of wheat instead of $2.01, the current local price. "This will give us some of the capital we'll need," he admits, but he feels it is only a temporary reprieve...