The Social and Ecological Correlates of Bankruptcy During the Farm Fiscal Crisis, 1970-1987

Abstract

For the last two decades, social scientists have accepted the premise that farm modernization resulted in larger, technologically sophisticated, and capital intensive farming units. In addition, it was a foregone conclusion that modernization led to fewer farm units. Several historians (Danbom, 1979; Shover, 1976; Fite, 1984) have described the historical origins of the process of farm modernization. A classic analysis of the structural and ideological change in American agriculture was presented by Rohrer and Douglas (1969) in The Agrarian Transition: Dualism and Change. This work generated a rethinking of the centrality and persistence of Agrarian ideology (Flinn and Johnson, 1974; Buttel and Flinn, 1975). While the general thesis of an agrarian transition is widely accepted, questions remain about the pace or rate of the transition. Some historians have viewed this transition in epochal terms; the transition is likened to an "agrarian twilight," a slow fade. Other historians and social commentators have noted an uneven, non linear path for farm modernization and agricultural development in general. Some events like a technological breakthrough or a fiscal crisis can hasten the rate of modernization in the agricultural sector (Campbell, et al., 1984). Agricultural growth or decline, then, can be viewed in stages, and the factors that influence each stage can be studied. Despite the torrent of press releases about increased farm income and government transfer payments, after 1981 it became apparent that the farm sector and rural communities were facing dire straits. The "fiscal crisis" of the early 1980's actually emerged slowly after 1978. It was an institutional crisis that involved the farm sector and agribusiness. It was not a simple problem of low cash flow for a select group of poor managers as it has been viewed by economists and management specialists. To understand the impact of the fiscal crisis, one needs to conceive of farming as a family business and an occupation that is fostered and nurtured by the parent generation, community and the state. When a farmer leaves farming, it is far more complex than in prior years because