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Article: Farm Crisis
- Article from:
- American Decades
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 The Gale Group, Inc. 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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FARM CRISIS
The Family Farm
Farming has always held a special, and unusual, place in America. Thomas Jefferson's perhaps naive view of the farmer as a virtuous citizen who served as the cornerstone of the republic has been preserved in the American national culture. The romantic image of the farm family working the soil is not the only reason for the prominence of farming in American society. Taken as a whole, agriculture is the nation's largest industry. More people work in businesses related to agriculture than in steel and automobile manufacturing combined. During the 1980s agriculture accounted for 20 percent of the gross national product but also faced a serious crisis.
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