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Article: Rural frustrations: breeding ground for the far right.
- Article from:
- The Christian Century
- Article date:
- September 27, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 The Christian Century Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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WHEREAS THE FARM and rural crisis of the 1980s captured headlines, not much attention has been given lately to the chronic economic deterioration and stratification that is taking place in the countryside. Family-farm agriculture has been undermined by a public policy which for decades has been crafted not for farmers but for consumers and corporate agribusiness.
Nearly three-quarters of all farms gross below $50,000 a year and lose monev on their farming operations. Sixty percent of farm families rely on off-farm income to keep their operations going. In 1990 over 21 percent of all farm operator households fell below the poverty threshold. Tens of thousands of farms ...