ABSTRACT
The agricultural crisis is primarily an economic crisis and all farm operators are faced with the pressures and hardships related to inflation and high interest rates, cost-price squeezes and the uncertainties of federal policies and "mother nature." the nation has looked to the federal government for direction with respect to farmers and the farming/agricultural industry. The onset of the Great Depression only served to further cement dependence of farmers and the agricultural industry on the federal government's assistance. For subsequent decades, farming was viewed as an essential industry and to make sure that farmers stayed in business, the federal government began to develop policies to ensure stable, relatively inexpensive food supply for the nation's consumers and to keep farming communities intact. Many farmers, black and white, desperately need assistance—loans and credit—in order to purchase the inputs needed to get them through the production year.
