ABSTRACT
The value of the US dollar declined in relation to both the German mark and the Japanese yen during the late 1970s; consequently the value of total agricultural exports peaked in 1980. These trends encouraged farmers to answer the call of then-Secretary of Agriculture Butz to "plant fence row to fence row" to feed the world and to capitalize on the boom in agriculture. In the early 1980s the expectations of the 1970s were eclipsed by the beginnings of a major restructuring of the family farm sector. Real interest rates went from negative to the highest level in years. This chapter discusses farm families' adaptations to the economic environment and presents a socioeconomic description and a historic overview of the North Central region, its agriculture, and its position in the national economic, demographic, and agricultural picture. The 12 states of the North Central region (the Midwest) historically have been called the corn belt or, more recently, the farm belt.
