Word: tractorized
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...particular day until midmorning of that day, or even until after events had taken place. As one Texan said, "It is the most unorganized, disgusting thing I've ever been in." But he added, "It still works." It worked in the sense that, despite the lack of organization, tractor-drivers were able to block traffic with the help of sympathetic truckers, and farmers were able to overflow conferences arranged with Congressmen and Department of Agriculture officials...
...companies in which Smith held shares included International Business Machines, Caterpillar Tractor, General Motors, and Firestone...
Meanwhile, inflation has relentlessly pushed up the prices that farmers must pay for machinery, energy and fertilizer. Farm production costs have jumped in ten years from $37 billion to almost $82 billion. A tractor that cost $9,000 in 1966 sells for $32,000 today; the diesel fuel to run it has climbed from 16.20 per gal. to 44.90. According to the Agriculture Department, though farmers' gross income is expected to surpass last year's record high of $103.5 billion, their net income will drop to an estimated $20.1 billion, from $22 billion a year...
...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: 'It's all over, boys. We're going to start charging...
...make a gym, Shavers cleaned the bales of hay out of the barn and set up a ring and bags. Around the ring several wooden chairs filled up the space not required by tractor equipment...