Lawmakers - May 27, 1982 - Farm Crisis
Lawmakers - May 27, 1982 - Farm Crisis
Lawmakers - May 27, 1982 - Farm Crisis
Lawmakers - May 27, 1982 - Farm Crisis
Paul Duke gives intro to a story on farmers in trouble with high interest and low prices. Farmers are traditionally heavy borrowers, but interest means many farmers can't pay back early season loans with their crops.
Lawmakers - May 27, 1982 - Farm Crisis
A farmer getting out of an old ford pickup truck. CU of a letter from USDA, refusing farmer s request for an emergency loan.
Lawmakers - May 27, 1982 - Farm Crisis
Farmer explaining his credit situation. They just said I owed too much money and there is no way for me to ever work out from under it and they couldn t let me have any more. That was the only reason they give me. There was nothing wrong with my records. No misuse of money or anything, just that one reason. I just owed too much money, they said, to ever work out from under it. Of course I had some plans at that I give them that showed that I could work out from under it as good as any farmer could, but they didn t see it like that. All the way up to the top, from the local office all the way to the national office said the same thing.
Lawmakers - May 27, 1982 - Farm Crisis
Pan over farm fields, lying fallow. Shots of rusting, idle tractors and other farm equipment. Shot of empty field.
Lawmakers - May 27, 1982 - Farm Crisis
Reporter, standing in field next to tractor, irrigation rig in background. Reporter gives litany on farm liquidations for debt repayment and farm bankruptcy.
Lawmakers - May 27, 1982 - Farm Crisis
Farmer climbing ladder on top of grain silo, checks grain inside.
Lawmakers - May 27, 1982 - Farm Crisis
Larry Spann, farmer in Donaldsonville, Georgia. I don t know, maybe it s too deep for me to really understand, but it seems like to me, everything that we have to buy is just way out of proportion to what we get out of what we sell. It s all out of proportion.
Lawmakers - May 27, 1982 - Farm Crisis
Farmer s wife, Rebecca Spann agrees that low prices and expensive supplies are the big problems. Well, I have to agree with Larry. It s low prices and the cost of production being so much higher than what we get for it and the drought disaster. You can t cope with that.
Lawmakers - May 27, 1982 - Farm Crisis
Shots of the farmer s house, with swimming pool, trampoline in yard, car in carport.
Lawmakers - May 27, 1982 - Farm Crisis
Rural produce stand.
Lawmakers - May 27, 1982 - Farm Crisis
Farmer unlocks gate & walks to a shed.
Lawmakers - May 27, 1982 - Farm Crisis
Farming family, Spann family, mom, dad and two young sons sitting on front steps. Rebecca Spann, At one time, we had our farming operation in such a position that our banker in 1976, which is 6 years ago, he sit down with Larry, he says Larry what you should do is this; you should sell all of your equipment, you should sell your cattle, you can keep your land, you can keep your house. You can retire. You would have your home, your land and everything paid for and clear, plus you could put $300,000 in the bank on 8% interest. That would be $24,000 a year interest that we could live on, but we thought we were too young to do that. We didn t want to give up farming. We wanted to keep farming that was our way of life. You don t want to just sit and do nothing. So we didn t do it. And ever since that time we have gone further and further downhill until now our net worth is "zero-minus". We have nothing left that we can call our own.